aghhhh . My trusty OLD Century ac/dc welder finally gave up the ghost today

Haywire · Oct 29, 2011

grsthegreat said:
it is illegal per EPA to burn electrical wire to remove the outside coating...toxic smoke and all.

i never noticed:tractor::mur: the tractor before.

Hmm didn't know that it was illegal. I did that once before.

That's not the tractor I was talking about. It was about the size of a postage stamp and was a photo of a tractor on a tandem axle trailer. It's gone now. Must have been a glitch that got fixed.

Ian

Mark @ Everlast · Oct 29, 2011

The new ESAB models made in Poland, or they were last year when I looked at them.

If you want a solid MIG we have them.

As for the PA140 ST "knock off" being a knock off of the max star 150. You won't find many if any intentional similarities internally. I just enjoyed a discussion with some Hobart company guys. They made a snide remark about the fact we were stealing their product designs. I told them to go find some of their designs in our units. If we were going to copy someone, it wouldn't be them. They looked as they had been slapped in the face. All their rhetoric had suddenly dried up. Currently, we don't have a single transformer based machine in our lineup. Also, if ANYONE has welded with anything other than US based welders like Kempii, Thermal Arc, Fronius, ESAB or even Panasonic as they know there are a lot better and more advanced welders to copy. Its so easy to smart off about Chi/com's copying product...but I have had Miller, and other guys admit that they strip down competitor's units the day it comes out (or earlier if they can get their hands on it), and start to work on ways to copy the product, and design around patents if any. Even Lincoln produces most of all their inverter welders in Italy, and it produced by a well known foreign maker.

As for being US made, many of our major components are from US based manufacturers, such as IXYS, Texas Instruments, and so on.

Shield Arc · Oct 29, 2011

Mark @ Everlast said:
I just enjoyed a discussion with some Hobart company guys. They made a snide remark about the fact we were stealing their product designs. I told them to go find some of their designs in our units. If we were going to copy someone, it wouldn't be them. They looked as they had been slapped in the face. All their rhetoric had suddenly dried up.

Yeah, I've found Hobart people to be very sensitive.

:laughing:

Mark @ Everlast · Oct 29, 2011

When you are the red headed stepchild in the family (my apologies to all those red headed step children

), like hobart is, its always from an inferiority complex that they act out.

But, I have to admit, they are becoming their own somewhat. They are making some distinctions in their product, and bringing their product up to the Miller level in some respects. I've noticed some of their specs on the equivalent unit is actually as good as or better than Miller.

Shield Arc · Oct 29, 2011

Mark @ Everlast said:
When you are the red headed stepchild in the family (my apologies to all those red headed step children ), like hobart is, its always from an inferiority complex that they act out. But, I have to admit, they are becoming their own somewhat. They are making some distinctions in their product, and bringing their product up to the Miller level in some respects. I've noticed some of their specs on the equivalent unit is actually as good as or better than Miller.

You must be talking paint quality!

jake98 · Oct 29, 2011

Shield Arc said:
You must be talking paint quality!

See? The Miller guys get sensitive too! :laughing:

That ESAB unit is only a few bucks more than the Ironman I just bought.. I spend more time worrying about the deal I got, than using the d___ thing..:confused2: