Speaking of Everlast...

[digger doug]

I wonder if your TA inverter is a rebadged Powcon ?

As far as the Hypertherm units, yes they are good, however I had to fix
a 1000 unit, and Hypertherm still doesn't know what the intermittent
problem is.

[Scott V]

Plenty of dead Powcons around too.. The Mosfet Powcons are not more reliable then most similarly quality built inverters made today or many years ago Also. Market hype on the newer Arcons..Thermal-arc japan machines have generally been very good.. Not every one of them are perfect, but many have been.I probably owned more of them, then most people have, and only had one issue. Even then it was after I sold it.. 10 year old machine, (Mint low hours) had a main board go out. Like many of the earlier Thermal units everything on one board made fixing them stupid expensive.. Thermal-arc did step-up to the plate, and sent out a board at cost.. Instead of a $1800.00 board it ended up at a $600.00 price tag fix.. That machine always had a funny arc flare on mig once, and a while, and I think had some issues from the start..

I have a original 120 volt PeeWee 85s made 20 years ago, and is perfect.. Same with my 38XL that is 18 years old now.. Not sure if my Mosfet Esab Caddie Mig will get anywhere close to that life, although about 8 years old now..

Most Lincoln 350 pro inverters I have been around, have been pretty tough units for many years..The Powcons do have a tough case on them, and I liked the one I had.. I would not own another one, just because they are super long in the tooth, and some of then were crap machines from the start.. Just welded funny, and nobody could fix that..

I am a lot more sad about chopper machines getting phased out..Miller had a few real nice units too..No more Esab' either.. Lincoln still is using them, and are tough as nails..

[digger doug]

It's good to hear some real world feedback.

I thought I read that the Powcon units were SCR based, and used a lower
freq. than the new IGBT units, so the xformer was not as small
and light weight as the newer units.

How were the Miller chopper units made ?

An inverter or just a chopper ?

BTW did you notice the new HF "green" poortable MIG (the 120/240 wac model)
Note that it is inverter based.

Not even the new lincoln MIGs ( the lunchbox models) are inverter based.

[MetalWolf]

Originally Posted by digger doug

It's good to hear some real world feedback.

I thought I read that the Powcon units were SCR based, and used a lower
freq. than the new IGBT units, so the xformer was not as small
and light weight as the newer units.

How were the Miller chopper units made ?

An inverter or just a chopper ?

BTW did you notice the new HF "green" poortable MIG (the 120/240 wac model)
Note that it is inverter based.

Not even the new lincoln MIGs ( the lunchbox models) are inverter based.

Originally Posted by digger doug

BTW did you notice the new HF "green" poortable MIG (the 120/240 wac model)
Note that it is inverter based.

Not even the new lincoln MIGs ( the lunchbox models) are inverter based.

D-doug I think I mention earlier in the thread my brother had bought one of the green titanium HF MIG welders it was a nice welding machine and the fine tune makes it just that much nicer... But it sure would have been nice if they would have added the finetune option too the Vulcan machines...

[digger doug]

Originally Posted by MetalWolf

D-doug I think I mention earlier in the thread my brother had bought one of the green titanium HF MIG welders it was a nice welding machine and the fine tune makes it just that much nicer... But it sure would have been nice if they would have added the finetune option too the Vulcan machines...

Yes, I was going to suggest they simply drop the orange machines.
Higher priced, and xformer based (and with a LCD screen)

The green ones appear to be a better value, if they hold up.

I wish they would offer a couple of plasma cutter options.

[Don_S]

Just to follow up. The Lincolns were IdealArc CV655 power sources. Talking to the maintenance guy that does most of the in house welder repair and he said the Lincolns would overheat doing air arc. They are using at least 3/8" carbons so I'm sure they were running them wide open in a little booth that pulls the smoke past the welder on its way to the ventilation system.

Other than their inability to deal with the extreme abuse that we were submitting them to, they were a solid welder. We still have a couple around.

Originally Posted by Don_S

Fronius. Bought them from our LWS.

They had had them for at least 5 years and had not had any issues with any of them. Their techs were helpful in developing programs to run SS MIG without tri-gas mixtures. They had some of the models in stock, but I don't think they ever had the ones we had in stock. We looked into buying some of their stale stock and they were not the correct model.

We had a very different experience with the Lincoln power supplies and air arc. But they definitely were not TM 650's.
I'll check what the model was. We ended up shipping them all to another plant that didn't do any air arc work. They are having great luck with them there.

I should say that the Delta Weld's generally die from neglect. The guys are supposed to be blowing out their machines periodically and some of them don't.

[digr]

All my welders both blue and red and a Hobart thrown in have two dials and one switch and that's plenty good enough for me, The welders are probably over 30 years old and still work as they did when they were new and were purchased used. I take that back the feeders both have a dial.

[Scott V]

Miller chopper/Lincoln chopper/Esab Chopper have IGBT front ends, and standard transformer power supplies . Miller's were the NT-450/ Shopmate 300 DX I believe some like the Esab has SCR and IGBT in the same box..

Hands down the 300 shopmate was the nicest Miller mig unit I have ever owned/used . Just used up too much space for me.. Although I have enough room now.. (all inverters make that possible)

[moe1942]

I would go with the Vulcan brand at HF. They just started carrying the brand and it has good reviews..

[MetalWolf]

Originally Posted by moe1942

I would go with the Vulcan brand at HF. They just started carrying the brand and it has good reviews..

Moe If you're looking at picking one up while your there, take a look at the new green one's Titanium I believe is what they are branded very similar to the Vulcans a bit cheaper but I think the duty cycle is a bit lower but I'll prolly buy me one of the green ones for stainless...

As for the Vulcans, I have the 220 Omni pro. And I weld half inch plate with no issues and I tried to push it past its duty cycle and has had no issues...
as for the leads I have 40 ft leads as the ones they come with are in my opinion worthless and is fairly easy to just connect better leads to the machine...

But all in all, it has been very dependable and does the job well...