General welding question

[Jswain]

Actually it's extremely common with the Syncrowave's, a quick google shows hundreds of the same failure mode and Miller even introduced an updated main board and a few other replacement components that (apparently) make it less likely to brick itself, but won't recall the original machines with the known fault.

Out of how many sold?

 

[Beelzeboss]

Out of how many sold?

How would anyone possibly find that out? There are a very large number of documented failures on the internet, and one would reasonably assume that most people who've had one fail would not write about it online. It's an inherent design flaw with the main board, all but confirmed by the fact that Miller released an updated board to fix the issue.

Anyway, we're getting off-topic, for garage use there is nothing wrong with a decent imported machine.

 

[ZRX61]

Can't really help you, but here is advice a teacher in college gave us in a welding class. "If you don't learn anything else in class, know that if you have a weld that needs to work, get someone who knows how to do it."

My TIG instructor said he went that route "Because I didn't want to weld anything that I couldn't lift onto my bench with one hand"... He was the chief welder on the 747 airborne laser deal.

 

[nadogail]

If you can't be a good Weldor, learn to be a good grinder and keep fixing your welds until you can confidently call yourself a Weldor.

Welders are pieces of equipment, Weldors are those who can competently operate Welders.

 

[bb29510]

we had a everlast at the shop, after about a year, it was in the dumpster. we just bought a esab multi process, we see how long that last

 

[Kpaige]

1- OP is looking at beginner stuff to do at home so no need for big expensive setups

2- no one asked what machines to use for commercial welding

3- I have personally seen guys with no schooling or training and a cheap welder out weld the “professional welder”.

yes equipment does make a difference but the person doing the work is a much more powerful factor.

GJ rant warning……
People need to take a step back and get off the podium for awhile and get back to basics and just do work with what you can. It’s not always about the best machines or how educated you are or what the appearance of someone’s shop is! Look at the guys in Russia, India, Ukraine some of these guys are doing amazing work with hobbled together shops and home built tools.
In reality GJ has probably got the biggest collection of arrogance I have seen. And yep I have been that guy once or twice and guilty as charged.

 

[Imatk]

I did this with two weeks of practice. It's not pretty, but it's solid and that's what I wanted. Never fabricated anything before either.
Lots of YouTube videos and a welder that was under 300 bucks.

 

[My Old Tools]

Watch FB marketplace or CL. There are usually small Lincolns and Millers advertised that some homeowner bought, used once, and sat in the corner for a few years.

 

[Aaron_W]

There are many benefits to taking a class at a college, adult school, maker space etc but understand that is not an option for everybody. I was able to take classes at the local community college.

For me the benefit was not simply how to weld and having a live person correct my mistakes, but also learning so much about the different kinds of welding, issues with different materials, what the different kinds of welding are good for, how to evaluate my welds, how to understand the specs of a machine, the difference between a transformer and invertor machine, what volts, amps, duty cycle etc means from a practical stand point, not just a dry definition.
Sure I guess I could have read a book or watched youtube, but a class helps a lot by giving you answers to questions that you don't even know to ask.

I have watched a lot of videos from Welding Tips and Tricks. In my opinion he is one of the best youtube welding instructors out there.

Some things are not easily quantifiable, if they were quantifiable and consequently added to the equation, bean counters may make different decisions. The problem is seldom do they talk to the guy in the shop……

Where I work, it is all Millers. We had some Lincoln’s years ago and they welded fine, but when you needed a circuit board you couldn’t just get that, you had to get all the guts just about. With Millers, we found we were able to get just the circuit board we needed. It’s not often something breaks, but this is a shop where the welders are running all day every day.

I could not justify a $6,000 AC TIG welder for home use when I could get a decent one for $900.

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TIG225X AC/DC TIG Welder With Pulse

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The OP is looking for something at home, not a production shop.

Even a Miller 211 MIG is $1900

Millermatic® 211 MIG Welder | MillerWelds

Welds material from 24 gauge - 3/8 in. thick in a single pass. Find Millermatic 211 product specifications, features, and reviews.

www.millerwelds.com

A Miller 142 is $1000

Millermatic® 142 MIG Welder | MillerWelds

MIG and flux cored 120 V welder that welds from 24 gauge – 3/16 in. mild steel.

www.millerwelds.com

For half that at $550, you can get a PrimeWeld 180 with spool gun for aluminum.

MIG180 180-Amp MIG Welder With Spool Gun

The MIG180 mig welder includes upgraded Tweco 100 Style torch and American style connection. Order online today from PrimeWeld to get free shipping.

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We used Miller in class, and I bought a Miller for my home use. Lincoln and Miller prices have gone wild the past couple of years. The welder I bought has increased about 40% since 2019. I really like the Miller welder I bought, but at the current prices I would have a really hard time justifying the cost for the name vs paying a lot less (1/3 to 1/4) for one of the well regarded import welder brands.

 

[bb29510]

the local trade school in my town are down in the hood, government grants. There are in areas, iwont drive in the day time, no way im taking a evening class

 

[nadogail]

the local trade school in my town are down in the hood, government grants. There are in areas, iwont drive in the day time, no way im taking a evening class

Sometimes we have to take Risks to earn Rewards.

 

[ZRX61]

MIG180 180-Amp MIG Welder With Spool Gun

The MIG180 mig welder includes upgraded Tweco 100 Style torch and American style connection. Order online today from PrimeWeld to get free shipping.

primeweld.com

ooh.. that might just fit the bill for fluxcore...

 

[michaelf]

A local weld shop scrapped his Miller and Lincoln’s and bought couple of Easwoods after he lost a board on his Miller. His reasoning was that he could buy three Eastwood units for what one equivalent Miller would cost, and the Eastwoods have a three year warranty. That, plus the parts for his crapped out Miller would have been more than what a new Eastwood cost. He’s pretty happy with his Eastwoods.

Lots of old Millers out there with failed boards that simply don’t make economic s

 

[Skyking1992]

I highly recommend the community college/votech schools. While learning to weld certainly involves a lot of practice (and more practice), it also involves the theory. What changes in the molecular structure when I do this? Why are we using 6011 instead of 7018? When is an AC stick weld better than a DC weld and why? etc etc

I attended several semesters of welding classes at a Junior college starting with oxy/acetylene and continuing through stick, MIG, and TIG. We studied pipe welding, out of position welding, and certification prep. In all those classes, we spent as much time in the classroom learning theory as we did in the shop.

Time well spent in my humble opinion.

 

[ZRX61]

I attended several semesters of welding classes at a Junior college starting with oxy/acetylene and continuing through stick, MIG, and TIG. We studied pipe welding, out of position welding, and certification prep. In all those classes, we spent as much time in the classroom learning theory as we did in the shop.

My local CC goes all the way to Structural Steel welding code AWS D1.1/D1.1M. The book is about 550 pages & costs a pretty penny ($679)... Luckily some enterprising soul in the class snagged a bootleg digital copy & we all printed that out at Kinko's from thumb drives. Then ya get to test to LA City seismic standards & get that ticket. I did it all right up to the City test as I'm never going to start welding bridges & skyscrapers together. I still have some 1in plate test pieces in a box someplace.
The next nearest CC (about 35 miles away) focus's in pipe certs. They're among the oilfields.

 

[Firebrick43]

My general conclusions:
-
- Oxy-Acetylene welding is fine for cutting, and doing farmer-grade fixes, but that's about it. However, you can weld just about anywhere that you can haul the tanks.

Its one of the preferred ways of welding chrome moly tubing for aircraft fuselages. It doesn't have the very narrow HAZ zone that Tig does and many go back over tig joints and stress relieve the joints with a torch anyways so why not just weld with it as its quieter and needs less safety gear.

Many aluminum car body builders and restorers use a torch to weld as well as it produces and nice soft seam that can be hammered out instead of a hard brittle one that Tig does.

And you can join just about any metal to most any other metal with the solders and brazes that you can not do with MIG, TIG or SMAW welding. Join a steel fitting to a copper pipe? Get some silver braze and a torch. Carbide teeth on a 4' sawmill blade, get a torch.

I think many have only experience with large oversize (300 size) units more fit for cutting bridge beams 6+ inches thick than small light and handy to weld/braze with torches such as a meco midget or smith airline. The cutting attachment on an airline can cut up to 2" thick.

 

[no704]

Place I used to work at was a vehicle upfitter. Production line pushed 15 vans a day. All miller equipment and plumbed into a huge gas tank that would be filled by a truck every couple days.
But for a beginner I would just keep an eye out on fb/creigs list for a bit.

 

[ZRX61]

Its one of the preferred ways of welding chrome moly tubing for aircraft fuselages. It doesn't have the very narrow HAZ zone that Tig does and many go back over tig joints and stress relieve the joints with a torch anyways so why not just weld with it as its quieter and needs less safety gear.

Many aluminum car body builders and restorers use a torch to weld as well as it produces and nice soft seam that can be hammered out instead of a hard brittle one that Tig does.

And you can join just about any metal to most any other metal with the solders and brazes that you can not do with MIG, TIG or SMAW welding. Join a steel fitting to a copper pipe? Get some silver braze and a torch. Carbide teeth on a 4' sawmill blade, get a torch.

I think many have only experience with large oversize (300 size) units more fit for cutting bridge beams 6+ inches thick than small light and handy to weld/braze with torches such as a meco midget or smith airline. The cutting attachment on an airline can cut up to 2" thick.

Blue lens in the goggles & a Henrob 2000 torch set up. P51 aluminum header tanks were welded with a gas rig. The Brits used brass, solder & rivets for Spitfire header tanks.

 

[Firebrick43]

Blue lens in the goggles & a Henrob 2000 torch set up. P51 aluminum header tanks were welded with a gas rig. The Brits used brass, solder & rivets for Spitfire header tanks.

Do you like the Henrob/Dillion/cobra? I think they are neat as hell for cutting thin steel but hate the weight, shape, and ergo for welding.

 

[ZRX61]

Do you like the Henrob/Dillion/cobra? I think they are neat as hell for cutting thin steel but hate the weight, shape, and ergo for welding.

I used a friends set up years ago, liked it

 

[nokaoiken]

I was offered a weldor apprenticeship in 1987 at local Federal Shipyard, accepted and graduated in 1991. It was a lot of work but I have no reservations. As others have said practice. Before we Fed apprentices were allowed to weld on actual US Navy vessel we spent 6 months in a 4'x4' booth practicing and our test plates were RT inspected.
I currently own a small Miller stick/tig machine(Maxstar140st in case) and a small plasma cutter(Cutmaster 42 in case) both bought used for approx $1000 for both. I bought plasma at pawn shop and it was like new $600, Miller welder made in Belgium (I believe) was bought on govt auction $400. These are older machines but good quality and can weld/cut just about anything. Lincoln makes similar machines and are similar quality. I have NO experience with anything other than Miller, Lincoln and Hobart.

 

[finn]

we had a everlast at the shop, after about a year, it was in the dumpster. we just bought a esab multi process, we see how long that last

Probably had a couple thousand hours in that year, all bouncing off the duty cycle temp limiter, and all by goons upset that the boss didn’t buy them a $15k Miller.

I doubt if most Home welders put 1000 hours on a home setup in a lifetime.

 

[Firebrick43]

Probably had a couple thousand hours in that year, all bouncing off the duty cycle temp limiter, and all by goons upset that the boss didn’t buy them a $15k Miller.

I doubt if most Home welders put 1000 hours on a home setup in a lifetime.

Hyperbole at its apex.

Since the average worker puts in 2000 hours a year and the best of welders spend 25 percent of the time actually welding and the rest in prep, it more like 500 hours max in a year.

 

[Jswain]

Probably had a couple thousand hours in that year, all bouncing off the duty cycle temp limiter, and all by goons upset that the boss didn’t buy them a $15k Miller.

I doubt if most Home welders put 1000 hours on a home setup in a lifetime.

But your worried about a home user needing a board in a miller, which lasts years and years and years in a commercial shop? Lol...

 

[jonesg]

• Gas capable. (You will quickly find out, that the quality of your welds are much better with gas.)

halfway through a project i ran out of C25, no problem i'll just finish with fluxcore wire.
what a mess, its like i completely forgot how to weld. Gas has spoiled me.
i'm gonna order a 125cu ft tank from primeweld, comes by UPS already filled for $365.

 

[jonesg]

1- OP is looking at beginner stuff to do at home so no need for big expensive setups

2- no one asked what machines to use for commercial welding

3- I have personally seen guys with no schooling or training and a cheap welder out weld the “professional welder”.

yes equipment does make a difference but the person doing the work is a much more powerful factor.

GJ rant warning……
People need to take a step back and get off the podium for awhile and get back to basics and just do work with what you can. It’s not always about the best machines or how educated you are or what the appearance of someone’s shop is! Look at the guys in Russia, India, Ukraine some of these guys are doing amazing work with hobbled together shops and home built tools.
In reality GJ has probably got the biggest collection of arrogance I have seen. And yep I have been that guy once or twice and guilty as charged.

you noticed too .
that which must never be mentioned on gj is what would keep ego's right sized.
when i see the pedestals come out i recall the saying "its better to understand than to be understood".

 

[michaelf]

Those boards are repairable, lots of cos. do that look on the internet