Miller Welder

[milomilo]

What is a Miller Dialarc 250 AC/DC machine with leads worth? All presuming it is in good working condition.

[H80N]

Chris
what vintage?? that model name has been around nearly 40 years... if you can get a serial number we can narrow it down...
a brand new one lists for $2200.... so street price is probably $1800 new (guess)

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...arc_250_ac_dc/

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by h80n

chris
what vintage?? That model name has been around nearly 40 years... If you can get a serial number we can narrow it down...
A brand new one lists for $2200.... So street price is probably $1800 new (guess)

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...arc_250_ac_dc/

sn hk272579

[milomilo]

The guy wants $400 for it.

[H80N]

that is a HK1 style from 1979

here is a link to what should be the manual for that machine

http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o314d_mil.pdf

$400 seems a little high.... this is a 30 year old machine.... there are a lot of old ac/dc stick machines out there... probably worth $200-300 depending on condition...

[rickairmedic]

Thats about average for an older machine in good shape with some leads . The last one I had went for $450 as I recall . They are a BEAST of a machine and as I recall can pull some juice when ya crank em up .


Rick

[milomilo]

Would this machine work well with a HF unit for TIG?

[H80N]

Chris
This is just my opinion but I think you will spend less money and be happier in the long run by waiting and saving till you can get a "Real" purpose built TIG machine... with pedal, HF, ac balance, gas solenoid...pre/post flow etc.... by the time you cobble together a tig outfit from a stick machine... you will regret the expense and less than perfect implementation...
there are a lot of used tig machines out there too.. and there is not much price difference between the two...

have been tigging since about 1968 and have used every cobbled up combination of old stuff available to do it over the years.... now am spoiled rotten... have both Miller Dynasty 350DX and 200DX...inverters..

there are plenty of old Magnetic Amp and Chopper tig machines out there used and reasonable Bulletproof and likely to last forever ... they ran beautiful beads 40 years ago and will continue to do so... Monstrously heavy and they draw amps like a drunk swills whiskey.... but they are a quick and affordable way to go tigging...

[milomilo]

Sounds like good advice. Guess I will wait for another opportunity.

[Tally ZJ]

Just a few months ago I purchased a great condition used DialArc 250 (Airco Bumblebee badged) from the 1977 vintage. It is AC/DC only, no HF.

Setting it up for Tig has been a chore. Still haven't even used it for Tig as my gas hookup is not complete yet. If you can't get modern then my advice would be just to find the Dialarc HF version or an older Tig setup.

I didn't realize the difference at the time and wanted this welder because of its condition.

So far I have spent nearly $80 on new large dinse connectors to get rid of the small miller taper connectors. I spent $50 on a gas-through-dinse connector for my tig torch. I also had to replace the amp control rheostat on the welder. It had a cracked connection.

I want an HF unit and can get a new Century model or $150 from a local guy. Otherwise, the Miller HF units are nearly $400 used on eBay. Some are much more if in good condition. A foot pedal is at least $150 and then I would have to install wiring and connectors for that to work. No way to control pre-flow and post flow gas except for the gas valve on the torch.

I paid $495 for mine with 50' leads. I see them go for around the same price depending on age. I have also seen them for over $1000.

A new model Tig is in my future but not right now. Miller Mig is gonna be first.