New welder

[jamesbar]

i bought a miller then a hobart and finally settled on a lincoln . i threw them all in the river and then i felt much better. cheers

 

[ABMax24]

I'm considering purchasing this unit with the MEM-301272 aluminum spool gun.

Does anyone have any feed back on this welder?

Lost my job in April, found a shop close to home with cheep rent and I'm going to start up a small fab shop. Can't do anything 'til next April [settlement]

If I had to replace my Squarewave 200 and Millermatic 211 today that Multimatic 220 AC/DC is the unit I'd replace it with, it seems to be a good machine and can literally do everything. I have the Spoolmate 100 spoolgun, it works but nothing exceptional by any means, hopefully the 150 would be better.

That being said this is more a home/hobby type machine, I'd have a hard time considering it to make a living with, the duty cycles are just way too low for production type welding. At full output the 220 is at around 20% duty cycle, at least if you move up to the 255 you get similar outputs as the 220 at max with 60% duty cycle and overhead to spare if you need more heat, except with the 255 you loose AC tig functionality. Quite frankly the 255 is the bare minimum I'd look at for a "basic fab shop" machine. I think if you want to become a do anything shop you'll want at least 2 machines, AC Tig usually requires its own dedicated machine, while pretty much everything else can be run on one unit.

Another thing to examine is what you will have for power, although it seems like a lot a standard 240volt 50amp plug doesn't get you very far. In the shop I run everything is 3-phase 50 amp 208volt plugs, which delivers enough output to weld up to 400 amps with the right machine.

If you are serious have a look at used machines, there are a few shops closing their doors out west right now, something like a Miller XMT350 is a great place to start, they run on single or 3 phase and just about any input voltage you can imagine, add a wire feeder and you can do just about everything minus AC Tig.

Ultimately though what do you intend to weld with it?

 

[Tchetek]

I'm considering purchasing this unit with the MEM-301272 aluminum spool gun.

Does anyone have any feed back on this welder?

Lost my job in April, found a shop close to home with cheep rent and I'm going to start up a small fab shop. Can't do anything 'til next April [settlement]

I picked one up.

No complaints yet. But it’s still in the box.

 

[Beer Slayer]

If I had to replace my Squarewave 200 and Millermatic 211 today that Multimatic 220 AC/DC is the unit I'd replace it with, it seems to be a good machine and can literally do everything. I have the Spoolmate 100 spoolgun, it works but nothing exceptional by any means, hopefully the 150 would be better.

That being said this is more a home/hobby type machine, I'd have a hard time considering it to make a living with, the duty cycles are just way too low for production type welding. At full output the 220 is at around 20% duty cycle, at least if you move up to the 255 you get similar outputs as the 220 at max with 60% duty cycle and overhead to spare if you need more heat, except with the 255 you loose AC tig functionality. Quite frankly the 255 is the bare minimum I'd look at for a "basic fab shop" machine. I think if you want to become a do anything shop you'll want at least 2 machines, AC Tig usually requires its own dedicated machine, while pretty much everything else can be run on one unit.

Another thing to examine is what you will have for power, although it seems like a lot a standard 240volt 50amp plug doesn't get you very far. In the shop I run everything is 3-phase 50 amp 208volt plugs, which delivers enough output to weld up to 400 amps with the right machine.

If you are serious have a look at used machines, there are a few shops closing their doors out west right now, something like a Miller XMT350 is a great place to start, they run on single or 3 phase and just about any input voltage you can imagine, add a wire feeder and you can do just about everything minus AC Tig.

Ultimately though what do you intend to weld with it?

Thanks for your reply. This is the info I'm looking for.
We're basically into medium to smaller jobs [Basic fab shop as you put it]. Rebuilding old muscle cars to fabricating small trailers to weird and wonderful things. We won't be rebuilding Caterpillars so to speak.
I have zero debt right now and need something to keep me busy for the next seven to ten years. To young to retire.
Thought about two separate machines, the Miller all in one looked like it could work...couldn't find any reviews on this unit. Also a bit paranoid about buying used welders...

There's lots of hydro, location was a 100 acre farm with a store up front, huge refrigerators, house, 100x100 repair shop for equipment, irrigation ponds/pumps, green house...
I just bought a used 120 gal 3 phase 600 volt compressor...The guy that owns the building I'm renting from decided he wants to buy it from me for the building and he'll supply me air. He needs very little air and doesn't want me to take it if I leave.

I'll keep looking for now, thanks again

 

[Beer Slayer]

I picked one up.

No complaints yet. But it’s still in the box.

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//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201130/bd07ebf44f8e434fc4944a24adcf6ddf.jpg

lmao! Thanks

 

[ABMax24]

Thanks for your reply. This is the info I'm looking for.
We're basically into medium to smaller jobs [Basic fab shop as you put it]. Rebuilding old muscle cars to fabricating small trailers to weird and wonderful things. We won't be rebuilding Caterpillars so to speak.
I have zero debt right now and need something to keep me busy for the next seven to ten years. To young to retire.
Thought about two separate machines, the Miller all in one looked like it could work...couldn't find any reviews on this unit. Also a bit paranoid about buying used welders...

There's lots of hydro, location was a 100 acre farm with a store up front, huge refrigerators, house, 100x100 repair shop for equipment, irrigation ponds/pumps, green house...
I just bought a used 120 gal 3 phase 600 volt compressor...The guy that owns the building I'm renting from decided he wants to buy it from me for the building and he'll supply me air. He needs very little air and doesn't want me to take it if I leave.

I'll keep looking for now, thanks again

Power shouldn't be an issue then.

Buying used welders isn't as scary as it sounds, particularly with name brand industrial level equipment, parts are replaceable and I know at least Miller has a good service network in the event of issues. But as always buyer beware.

This is why I'd recommend the XMT 350, a good used unit can be bought for around $3k, and there are lots of them around. Being an inverter power source there's little to go wrong, the only thing I've had fail is the cooling fan bearings, we have half a dozen at work and some are approaching 10 years old with a lot of hard welding hours. They are a pretty versatile power sources, add what ever wire feeder you'd like to run mig or flux-core, a stinger for stick, and a tig torch and pedal for DC tig, and since they go up to 425 amps they can even be used for some serious carbon arc gouging. Looking around here there are some almost new used units for $4500 that come with a wire feeder, for $500 more you have a machine far superior to the 220AC/DC.

 

[Stompin Tom]

Power shouldn't be an issue then.

Buying used welders isn't as scary as it sounds, particularly with name brand industrial level equipment, parts are replaceable and I know at least Miller has a good service network in the event of issues. But as always buyer beware.

This is why I'd recommend the XMT 350, a good used unit can be bought for around $3k, and there are lots of them around. Being an inverter power source there's little to go wrong, the only thing I've had fail is the cooling fan bearings, we have half a dozen at work and some are approaching 10 years old with a lot of hard welding hours. They are a pretty versatile power sources, add what ever wire feeder you'd like to run mig or flux-core, a stinger for stick, and a tig torch and pedal for DC tig, and since they go up to 425 amps they can even be used for some serious carbon arc gouging. Looking around here there are some almost new used units for $4500 that come with a wire feeder, for $500 more you have a machine far superior to the 220AC/DC.

XMT350's are an excellent machine, a pleasure to use.

 

[Beer Slayer]

Buddy of mine gave me this ol' girl the other day. His brother [an auto shop teacher from 81 - 87] gave it to him thirty years ago when they closed the shops down in the schools.
The welder was already in the school when his brother started teaching...
I've been trying to figure out the era of this ol' beast. I found a guy that's rebuilt a couple on You Tube and contacted Lincoln head office, both in the U.S.
You Tube guy gave me a link with vintage serial numbers... had no luck. Sent him pics of this unit and he was stumped...
Lincoln gave me basically the same info....they asked me for a "code number". I replied, there isn't a code number only a spec number. They replied, could be inside the unit? I took it apart, no markings/numbers of any kind. Anyone got any ideas?

What I did find...I thought was a broken wire turned out to be a snake stuck in a hole where a heavy wire passes through [pic 5 and 6], dead for years.
Last pic, the shop brother Mickey Moused the wiring to work at his house [what he had lying around] to a four wire plug only using two of the wires, no ground.

 

[Beer Slayer]

Power shouldn't be an issue then.

Buying used welders isn't as scary as it sounds, particularly with name brand industrial level equipment, parts are replaceable and I know at least Miller has a good service network in the event of issues. But as always buyer beware.

This is why I'd recommend the XMT 350, a good used unit can be bought for around $3k, and there are lots of them around. Being an inverter power source there's little to go wrong, the only thing I've had fail is the cooling fan bearings, we have half a dozen at work and some are approaching 10 years old with a lot of hard welding hours. They are a pretty versatile power sources, add what ever wire feeder you'd like to run mig or flux-core, a stinger for stick, and a tig torch and pedal for DC tig, and since they go up to 425 amps they can even be used for some serious carbon arc gouging. Looking around here there are some almost new used units for $4500 that come with a wire feeder, for $500 more you have a machine far superior to the 220AC/DC.

Found an older Miller CP300 for $2200. 600v 3 phase.

...thanks again!

 

[Cdnfireman]

I bought a Miller XMT350 used at an auction recently. Cleaned and function tested it and it seems to work fine in the shop, but bought it to use with the backup generator as a portable welder. Does anyone know how an inverter machine like that will react to being on a generator vs being on the normal grid? It’s a 20kw diesel powered generator so the frequency/voltage drop on loading the generator when starting to weld should be minimal. Just wondering how sensitive the electronics of the inverter control circuitry are.

 

[ABMax24]

I bought a Miller XMT350 used at an auction recently. Cleaned and function tested it and it seems to work fine in the shop, but bought it to use with the backup generator as a portable welder. Does anyone know how an inverter machine like that will react to being on a generator vs being on the normal grid? It’s a 20kw diesel powered generator so the frequency/voltage drop on loading the generator when starting to weld should be minimal. Just wondering how sensitive the electronics of the inverter control circuitry are.

The XMT's are tough in that department, they have autoline which automatically compensate for voltages from 208volts to 575volts, single phase or three phase. We've ran them lots off of generators with no ill-effects. Obviously as long as the generator doesn't trip a breaker due to overloading. A 20kw generator is going to be on the small side if you are trying to air arc at full output, but welding with smaller stick electrodes will be fine, you may even be able to weld with 1/4" electrodes depending on how well the generator handles surge/startup loads.

 

[Cdnfireman]

The XMT's are tough in that department, they have autoline which automatically compensate for voltages from 208volts to 575volts, single phase or three phase. We've ran them lots off of generators with no ill-effects. Obviously as long as the generator doesn't trip a breaker due to overloading. A 20kw generator is going to be on the small side if you are trying to air arc at full output, but welding with smaller stick electrodes will be fine, you may even be able to weld with 1/4" electrodes depending on how well the generator handles surge/startup loads.

Great. Thanks for the info. I’m just gonna be using it as a stick welder for typical farm stuff, probably 1/8 electrodes. Looking at the specs it should only pull around 30 amps for what I want to do.

 

[ABMax24]

Great. Thanks for the info. I’m just gonna be using it as a stick welder for typical farm stuff, probably 1/8 electrodes. Looking at the specs it should only pull around 30 amps for what I want to do.

For that it will be fine, I can't see why it wouldn't run 5/32" or 3/16" electrodes off that generator either though, but those are generally larger than needed for the average farm job.

You got a good unit, the XMT is very commonly used in industry because of their cost effectiveness and durability. We've got units with many thousands of hours on them, and all we've ever changed is a cooling fan or two, they're tough, but the fans will only eat so much grinding dust before they seize.

 

[Cdnfireman]

For that it will be fine, I can't see why it wouldn't run 5/32" or 3/16" electrodes off that generator either though, but those are generally larger than needed for the average farm job.

You got a good unit, the XMT is very commonly used in industry because of their cost effectiveness and durability. We've got units with many thousands of hours on them, and all we've ever changed is a cooling fan or two, they're tough, but the fans will only eat so much grinding dust before they seize.

Good to know, thanks. Only paid $320 for it so if it works well It’ll pay for itself pretty quickly

 

[ABMax24]

Good to know, thanks. Only paid $320 for it so if it works well It’ll pay for itself pretty quickly

That's a steal, I can't say I've ever seen one below $2k.

 

[Cdnfireman]

That's a steal, I can't say I've ever seen one below $2k.

I pulled the cover off and blew the dust out of it, other than that it was fine. Burned half a dozen 1/8 rods with it back to back and worked fine…..hopefully it will continue to live….

 

[Beer Slayer]

I'm looking for a plasma cutter, 240 volt. I've never owned one.
We had an ESAB at work, probably 25+ years old, seemed to work pretty good.
Looking for some opinions from others that use them regularly.

Pros and cons on name brands, parts availability.
ESAB
MILLER
LINCOLN
HOBART
OTHER ...

 

[ABMax24]

I'm looking for a plasma cutter, 240 volt. I've never owned one.
We had an ESAB at work, probably 25+ years old, seemed to work pretty good.
Looking for some opinions from others that use them regularly.

Pros and cons on name brands, parts availability.
ESAB
MILLER
LINCOLN
HOBART
OTHER ...

As far as I'm concerned Hypertherm is the only option when it comes to plasma cutters, not to say the others don't work, but ours are step one in the fabrication process, they need to work all the time and when they don't I need access to parts and service, Hypertherm has had excellent service for us and all our suppliers carry hypertherm parts and consumables. We have a Powermax 45 and 85 for hand-operated work, and we have an XPR 300 (that power supply alone is the size of a typical kitchen stove) that powers our combination pipe cutter and plasma table.

It really depends on what you need it for though, if its just used occasionally on thinner material a small 30amp unit might get you by, if its for production type work on thicker material you're going to want much more amperage.

 

[brianm]

We have thermal dynamics at work, had them for years. They work well and parts are easy to come by .

 

[Cdnfireman]

I’ve got a Lincoln 25 amp plasma cutter. Good for thin stuff it will sever 3/8” but that’s it for thicker stuff. Works great on thinner sheet metal kind of work. I got it for such a deal I couldn’t say no. If I had to do it again I’d get a bigger one. Never had a problem getting consumables
Welder buddy has a hypertherm and it’s a sweet machine.