Need help buyingk airco dip/stick 160 multifunction welder

[hondacivic247]

So I've been stick welding and want to upgrade to a mig and came across a airco dipstick 160 for 400 bucks and it looks like new and has leads and maybe a mig gun I can't tell if it's setup for mig or tig. The top right corner looks to have a spot weld function or a knob for something most I've seen have a block off plate there. The only downside is the guy had got it cleaning out a garage and the owner said it worked but he has no way to confirm it does.

Can someone fill me in on these machines looks like a good deal if it has a mig gun already hooked up, don't plan to tig just stick and mig.

Is there anything I should ask him on check out on it ?

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

Looks like it has a mig gun on the left hand side? Or is it a tig torch?

 

[hondacivic247]

If I get it imay selling my lincoln ac/DC buzz box to help fund a tank of gas and roll of wire and whatever else I may need

 

[zkling]

The not able to test it makes it a gamble. If you could test it out before hand that would be fair priced, but sine you can't...fixing old welders, especially mig machines gets expensive and frustrating, fast.

 

[hondacivic247]

Yeah I know it's the same with vintage tractors... I'm going to explain that to the guy and see if he comes down to 300 if he says it works and won't budge I want a full refund if it's a dud

 

[hondacivic247]

I would bring it to my house to test it on my 220 circuit but we're a couple hours apart so that's another downfall

 

[454ragtop]

Good industrial quality welder, I have an Airco 230 volt 130 amp mig of about the same vintage. That is a spot and stitch control on the top corner. I'd be surprised if it doesn't work, things seem to be built like tanks. Mine came out of a body shop. Once I blew about 20 lbs. of bondo dust out of it and replaced the gun liner it worked like a champ. This was probably about 25 years ago, and while it doesn't see much use since I got my Lincoln 250 amp machine a couple years ago, it was my go to welder for a long time.

 

[454ragtop]

You don't mention where you are, or more importantly where the welder is, but maybe someone here is fairly close by and you could try it out at their shop.

 

[hondacivic247]

I don't want to list it's location as someone may try to ****** it from under me. The guy is a hour away and funny enough he's got to drive to the next town over from me tmrw. So I'm going to see if he can bring it and test it out at my house.

Can some one tell me it it looks like a mig gun or tig torch

 

[454ragtop]

Mig for sure.

 

[hondacivic247]

Here's some pictures I got the guy down to 300 as the condition is unknown. It looks super clean has a roll of wire, can someone look it over and let me know if it looks like everything is there on the inside.

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

You can see the gun hanging in the last picture is it a mig gun and how can I check the liner

 

[454ragtop]

Only way to really check the liner is to use it. I wouldn't worry about it though, liners are cheap, less than $20., almost like a consumable really. Whole machine looks pretty minty to me. ***** you can't try it out, but I'd risk the $300.
Good luck, Jim

 

[hondacivic247]

Yeah I'm gonna go for it and hopefully Friday he will be down my way and I can just pull the plug off my lincoln and put it on this and try it out. Does anyone know how many amps this will put out in stick or mig, I usually weld in dcep I would assume 160 amps but not sure if it's 160 in AC or DC or both

 

[hondacivic247]

One last question how do you know if the mig gun is no good?

Sorry I'm new to mig welding to say the least

 

[454ragtop]

Probably has a Tweeco gun, other than the switch going bad or someone cross threading the tips or nozzles, not really sure how you could hurt one. I'd say if you pull the trigger and wire comes out and it strikes an arc it's probably OK. It's a 160 amp mig, don't know what the ratings are for the other processes, that info is probably on the bottom of the front panel in those little boxes.

 

[454ragtop]

Don't see a gas regulator in the pics, if he doesn't have it, you'll need one, probably $75. or so.

 

[sberry]

A home hobby guy cant wear out a liner or a gun.

 

[hondacivic247]

I just got a oxy acetylene torch with 2 regulators the other day ones a oxygen and the other acetylene both made by airco there old dual gauges.
Would either of those work ?

Then I got to buy a bottle from my local welding store

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

And here's a picture of the 20" Purox torch, got that and a lincoln ac 225 from my girlfrI ends grandpa for selling and welding the broken lorder pin on a Ford 2110 tractor.

I also got 2 tanks but I'm unsure if I could have one filled for the gas for the mig, maybe someone could tell me I assume not as there prolly color coded. Ones about 4ft and the other 2ft.

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

Figuring sell both stick welders and the torch setup to cover the airco and get a tank and wire and anything else I may need

 

[454ragtop]

Neither the tanks nor regulators are compatible I'm afraid.

 

[hondacivic247]

Guys supposedly coming Saturday with the welder and I got the torch setup sold tmrw for 250 with the tanks and regulators. When the guy gets here with the welder I'm going to pull the plug off and toss my plug on it and check for spark.

Can someone tell me how to check for spark, I assume I set it to mig mode and just wack the wire off my welding table and if it sparks it's good

 

[hondacivic247]

Hers the mig gun can anyone tell me what type it is?

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

 

[hondacivic247]

Does anyone know how to set up this machine to stick weld?

 

[zkling]

Dude, download the manual and read it. Also read up on mig welding 101 on Millerwelds.com

edgewh.esabna.com/literature/Archive/Manual/Dip_Stick-160_ADI-1734F.pdf

 

[hondacivic247]

You wouldn't think a 200lb welder of this size would fit in the back of a 2011 corolla but it did.

 

[hondacivic247]

I pulled the side panels off the machine in the back of his truck and everything looked good nothing out of the ordinary so I gambled 300 bucks. When I got it home I cleaned the little bit of dust out of the inside and cleaned the panels up some and plugged it in and sure enough it did a small weld with no gas with the mig gun.

I was super happy it actually works. One thing that I did find that was broken was the drive roll motor sits on some weird material plate and the corner were the bolts goes through had broke then there was a screw missing on the opposite side.

So I got some washers and lock nuts and replaced all of them to help spread the load over a larger surface.

I'm wondering if I could cut a chunk of steel and use that as the base plate or if it can't be metal??

Anyone have any ideas on if metal would work or cause a short?

 

[hondacivic247]

Does anyone have a airco welder and do they know what type of connector is needed to plug into the stick electrode jack???

I tried to use a tweco style connector but it didn't fit

 

[hondacivic247]

I think I found the correct plug it's a tweco up-10 style.

I picked up a new 10ft lead and lenco 250amp stinger along with a profax argon regulator and 23ft of soow wire to mAkers a extension cord. My lincoln welder had a longk power cord so when I ran my 50 amp circuit I only had to do a small run so now I'll have a nice extension cord