zclubhouse Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I* am looking at purchasing a decent welder in the near future and a friend has a Miller Dialarc HF AC/DC TIG/arc unit with a foot control pedal. I think its 200amp 100% duty cycle. He wants to get $650 out of the machine without a bottle or regulator. I know it is good operating condition and have seen it used. What do you guys think about this model of welder? Price? Thoughts? *My background- Proficient MIG welder, using a Clarke 140 unit right now. I have never TIG welded before. Im looking to get a more serious (ie high quality) welding set up but I do not want to spend more than $1000 total. I understand this puts me at either a complete used TIG setup or a brand new really nice MIG set up. I will not get anything except single phase 220v. I would be using the welder a few times a month mostly for basic mild steel fabrication (18gauge to 3/16").TIG appeals to me but I am open to suggestions or advice from those wiser and more experienced than myself. Thank you in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zclubhouse Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 No opinions? Any help appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roostmonkey Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 If your only welding steel 18 to 7 ga, then a decent mig is all you need. But, sure as shiz, theres going to be times when you need the tig for stainless or aluminum. Does the Miller come with a torch and ground cable? How about some tungsten's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 can you post a clear picture, theres been several welders by that discription, and in most cases they were all good welders but knowing exactly what your refering to will help btw Im using a miller TIG from the 1980s and it runs just fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zclubhouse Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 If your only welding steel 18 to 7 ga, then a decent mig is all you need. But, sure as shiz, theres going to be times when you need the tig for stainless or aluminum. Does the Miller come with a torch and ground cable? How about some tungsten's? Yes the miller comes with a torch, foot pedal, ground cable and a holder for the stick welder lead. He said he would throw in some tungsten and filler rods to get me started, along with a couple different size tungsten holder tips for the torch. can you post a clear picture, theres been several welders by that discription, and in most cases they were all good welders but knowing exactly what your refering to will help btw Im using a miller TIG from the 1980s and it runs just fine I will try and get a picture but I don't one readily available. I know there are a few with that basic description, sorry I can't be more helpful. I am pretty sure this welder is also from the early 80's Thank you both for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techtron Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I think that's a fair price for the machine. I have a Canox welder at work which is actually a re-badged Miller Dialarc-HF. I think its from the early ninety's. The TIG works fine for steel but it is a little more difficult to weld aluminium with it since it has settings for only high frequency AC or DC with none of the fancy square wave stuff modern TIG machines have. The high frequency works great but you have to set-up the two point-gaps under the front cover for it to work correctly. I think the gap setting is 0.008". You can still get a manual from Millers website which has all the specs, part numbers and maintenance routines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zclubhouse Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Heres a picture of the model/vintage of welder I am trying to describe. This is not the exact welder in question, merely a picture for description purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 I bought a Hobart CyberTig that was bought new in 1975 when the shop opened. I bought it from the shop owner when he retired and closed his shop. IMO, the older stuff is bulletproof, and if you are concerned about functionality I would lay money it will last you the rest of your life if it's currently running and being used (or recently retired). The newer generations of welders use more electronics and this allows them to be much smaller (my cybertig is 5' tall on the cooling cart, and the bottle stands as tall as I am... but 300Amps at 100% Duty Cycle is more than I will ever need!). But smaller IMO means heat. The old machines were sinks of copper to make the power and can stand a lot of use. Hell, for what I bought mine for, I could probably get scrap copper pricing and recover all my money! FWIW when this guy bought a new portable he got a Miller Bobcat. When he finally lets go of it, I hope to be there and snag it as well because I was there when that one was new, I know how he treats his stuff, and this was his baby! He was really happy with it, and got all the gadgets for it... Any of these name brands (Miller, Hobart, Marquette, ESAB, Etc...) will be a good machine. Big old machines may be old, and they will take up more space, but from what I've seen they last forever and anything in them that is a 'consumable' or 'possible problem' is very robust and usually simple enough to get replacement parts for even today. I had to replace a rheostat on mine because he said it was 'giving him problems' (you had to wiggle the thing at some positions of the rheostat)---no it wasn't available from Hobart for a decent price...but I could read the OEM supplier information off the rheostat and bought one for less than $5. I simply transferred the dials from the old unit to the new one (couple of set screws!) Sure, it's not a new dial and scale...but it retains the 'patina' of the rest of the machine. Very important. Wouldn't want a shiny new dial on my dull old warbeast of a welder! Old Pete was amazed I fixed that issue so cheap and so quick /Old Immigrant German Dude Accent/ "I should have had you by the shop more often, I was fiddling with that damn knob now for 15 years! If it was only $5 to fix it, I would have fixed it, but it was only once and a while...but it wasn't right and it always bugged me. But not $85 worth of bugging me! But yah, $5 worth of bugging me for sure!" LOL I wouldn't worry too much, that's a good unit. Probably more than you will ever use. Jsut make sure the low-amperage settings have decent resolution to do thin work. They usually do, but if it came from a heavy welding shop (say shipyard or heavy pipeline fabrication) sometimes those are special built 'strippers' and won't have fine controls on the lower amperage settings. My cybertig has a setting where the max is something like 5 or 10A, and my footpedal regulates that from zero... I think I could repair soda cans on that setting! If I was good enough. I'm still in the 'burn through dammnit!' stage when it gets that thin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublexl240z Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 A few things to think about! As I am in process of buying a tig machine, new or used. The big ones are great and have been running for many years. Repairs may be cheap but how is the unit going to get to the repair shop? Many of these weigh 350 to 500 pounds. Biggest thing for the home guys, look at the amp draw at the wall. I was looking at a Miller 330 aps(?). If I was doing 1/4 aluminum it would take 120 amps at initial strike and 60 amps while welding. Is your garage wired/ circuit breakered for 120 amp service? Most houses only have a 150 amp service. Also electric bills will add up quick. The Miller 225 amp unit comparatively would pull 40-50 at start up and about 18-20 once underway. Price difference would be eaten up by electric bills pretty soon. If you are not sci-fi with your welding and are budget concerned look at the Destination 160 by Miller, ac/dc, lightweight, portable, and a 3 YEAR WARRANTY!! and a neat torch mounted switch, so no foot pedal. Great for working in a car. 2 switches, ac or dc, and thickness of metal, Done. 1275 on cyberweld.com Just my 2 cents, going down the same road. Some things I hadn't considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Good Point on Circuit Breaker Sizing and Availability. When I sited my place, I asked for the largest Residential Service I could get (250Amps to the Meter) and they about choked. "Your's is not to question why Mr. Contractor, yours is to give me what the hell I want!" Down the road, with 50 amps to the house doing fine, a 30 and 50Amp circuit to my sheds behind the house... I still have plenty of power to play with... The CyberTig is multi-voltage and is a 100Amp draw. Too much for my dryer circuit, to be sure! (Which would make the house draw 100Amps total on the circuit.) As you stated actually USING 240V appliances make the E-Bill go up quickly. Which is my impetus for keeping in Pete's good graces and my bid firmly in for his Kholer Powered Bobcat. I felt his Kaiser Jeep powered Lincoln Trailblazer was just a bit much... As for moving the CyberTig, it was a bit more than 500#, and I used a 1-ton gantry I have at the house to lift it off since my forklift didn't have long enough forks. It's movement was restricted originally to a 10X14 pad of concrete I had between my sheds. Now with more concrete I can move it about more and more on it's roller cart (which holds two tanks, and the coolant pump as well as cooling fluid for the torch head.) Most of this stuff can be moved in a pickup truck, getting it off and placed can be an issue but a 4 hour rental of equipment may be needed to do it easily. Once it's down, likely it won't be moved for another 20 years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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