Are these good welders?

[MRFORDMAN1994]

I want to get an older TIG machine to teach my nephew on when he gets a little bigger. I've been looking and found a miller goldstar single phase 240volt ac/dc in good condition. I haven't had any experience with millers except at school. I just want to get reviews from people that have them or have welded with them. Ill post pictures of the unit soon.

 

[dr_clyde]

They're old, but pretty much indestructible. If you don't mind sine wave AC, high power consumption and a welder the size of a vending machine, go for it. My uncle had one for years until he got his syncrowave. Used it myself tons.

In their day they were the top of the line TIG. I wouldn't pay more than 500 bucks. Does it come with a cooler? Pedal and leads? Argon cylinder? These are all things to consider. If it has all of the above and is ready to weld, I could be persuaded to pay a bit more if it was cherry.

 

[dlcwent]

I'm not a "welder" but I know that Miller was a leader in the industry.Should be a good machine.

 

[theoldwizard1]

... If you don't mind sine wave AC, high power consumption and a welder the size of a vending machine, go for it.

I got a laugh out of that !

30+ years ago, I work with a guy who built his own modified stock cars from the ground up. He had a TIG that took up the whole corner of his garage. Must have been 3'x5' and 4' high. Worked fine on DOM mild 0.090 and 0.120 tubing.

One night a buddy need to weld up a trailer. Long beads on 1/4" steel would cause the circuit breaker to trip. Had to wait about 30 minutes for the breaker to cool down to get another 10-15 minutes of weld time.

 

[rsanter]

Those are old professional machines, they are great but they are big and heavy.
Their value had dropped big time over the years with the new smaller machines that are out.
Don't pay much and be sure to get all the pieces because if you have to go buy a pedal, TIG lead, etc it will cost you big and kill the deal
Good thing is that if you buy it cheap and it ever dies you could always scrap it and get all your money back

Bob

 

[dlcwent]

I got a laugh out of that !

30+ years ago, I work with a guy who built his own modified stock cars from the ground up. He had a TIG that took up the whole corner of his garage. Must have been 3'x5' and 4' high. Worked fine on DOM mild 0.090 and 0.120 tubing.

One night a buddy need to weld up a trailer. Long beads on 1/4" steel would cause the circuit breaker to trip. Had to wait about 30 minutes for the breaker to cool down to get another 10-15 minutes of weld time.

Just wondering..was the shop wired badly?..30 minute wait time??

 

[RedneckWelder]

Just wondering..was the shop wired badly?..30 minute wait time??

they want like a 100amp breaker to be happy...a lot of people get buy running them on 50amp breakers but more taxing welds will push the envelope

 

[dlcwent]

^Oh...I've stated before that I'm not a welder. I just thought that a 30 min. wait time was excessive?

 

[MRFORDMAN1994]

Thanks for all of the replies, it comes with everything except a water cooler for $800. Its in very mint condition no dents or scratches just some dust. I actually want to get the older models without computer boards for the simplicity of working on them. I have a dual 50 amp breaker and run my lincoln 256 all the time without the breaker tripping or getting hot, so dose anyone know why they pull so many amps.

 

[A_Pmech]

All Gold Stars are 3ph so far as I'm aware.

 

[MRFORDMAN1994]

Its for sure a 1-phase unit. They had 1 and 3-phase models.

 

[rockinacummins]

If it's a Miller, and a TIG, you can pretty much bet it's a good one. Especially the old boys. They are just plain ol' TOUGH!!

 

[zkling]

I started on one, if you have the space, and power and can get it cheap, they are hard to kill. However I would much rather have a good used syncrowave or the like. When the oppertuinity came for me to upgrade from a old 330A/BP to my current used syncro 250 I jumped on it, nothing but positive. Heads up if the unit is missing components such as a pedal, some of the parts can get $ and hard to track down.

All Gold Stars are 3ph so far as I'm aware.

He is probably talking about one of the older "Gold Star" machines which were in the 3x0 A/PB family of tig machines, single phase ~400amp sine wave output, AC/DC with HF. The newer Gold Star machines are indeed 3ph, but more dedicated to the stick process. Another victory of marketing.

Thanks for all of the replies, it comes with everything except a water cooler for $800. Its in very mint condition no dents or scratches just some dust. I actually want to get the older models without computer boards for the simplicity of working on them. I have a dual 50 amp breaker and run my lincoln 256 all the time without the breaker tripping or getting hot, so dose anyone know why they pull so many amps.

It's a transformer based machine with SCRS and dated, not so efficient technology. Keep in mind as with all transformer acting as a multiplier, input needed is proportional to output requested. You'd be fine for most tig work on a ~50-60amp breaker. If you plan on running all out at ~400amps, then you will need to hard wire to a 100+amp breaker.