Thoughts on buying an old Airco welder?

[Rebel283]

I just picked up an old Airco 250 AC/DC Bumblebee off of Craig’s list for $250 with leads. It was a young kid who was selling it he said it belonged to his dad. Is old and heavy but it did hum when we plugged it in. I didn’t try running a bead because the leads need new ends. I could have offered the kid less but my heart went out to him. There’s more to this story but I’m going to get it back to the shop and check it out. I will report what I find.

 

[the old grind]

I've had my Airco for 45 yrs or so and only retired it when I picked up a Miller M180P that came with a cart. Other than a bear to move around the Airco always got the job done. With 1/8" electrodes at <125a I doubt if I ever worked it hard. (duty cycle) As for parts, it's pretty simple, with two lead sockets vs a hi-lo switch that might fail. IMO these oldies are great machines at what $$ we can get them for nowadays. DC would be nice if I could weld for sour hen crap. Gonna need a class and months of practice before I can appreciate the finer points of my 180a HFT AC/DC or 250a IGBT multi-process Everlast.

 

[07wingnut]

Picked up this old Miller 330A-Bp for about 200 Canucks a couple of weeks ago. Works like a charm, AC, DC straight and reverse, and TIG. These things are built like tanks, weight in excess of 750 pounds. It requires a 240v 100amp service to operate at full capacity. It came with cables, 50feet of 150amp/220 volt cable for connection, and a TIG torch with a small Argon cylinder.

 

[flyerdan]

That's a deal right there; it's like you bought the SO cable and bottle and they threw the rest in for free.
I still have an Airco 300, robbed the leads and plug for my Tigwave, but I'll bet it would still burn rods all day if put into service.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

Well I looked at it, and it was in very poor condition.

So I respectfully passed, I would like another welder, not another project.
+ + +
Sometimes you go on many, many missions before scoring a trophy.... That is the thrill of the hunt... Always worth the effort rather than just throwing money at something..

 

[stevewarner1957]

Well most Airco machines were made by Miller. The Bumblebee 250 is just a orange Dialarc 250 Miller. From the looks of the front panel square vent holes rather than louvers it’s around a 1975 machine. I restored a Airco Super Hornet 300 engine drive that was really a Miller Big 40. I wouldn’t be scared of Airco products at all.

 

[workinonit]

Nice job on the restoration. Some days I wish I had my Dialarc 250 back.

 

[stevewarner1957]

I prefer the old Lincoln Idealarc250 but the Millers are great machines too. I had a Dialarc for awhile, it was a 1992 I believe. Smooth welding machine

 

[cqaigy2]

Nice machines.

 

[sandman2234]

I was neighbors with a guy the worked for a welding supply shop, and we would do projects together. We needed a bigger welder, so he put the word out we were looking for one. He got a call from their store in Gainesville, Fl that they had taken one in on trade. We agreed to buy it, sight unseen. They had to repair it first, so we waited and waited. Finally called and told them we were coming after it, and he said he had got the part in that morning and would stick it in right away. We got there, and walked in thru the repair area, where hundreds of old welders were sitting in various stages of repair. There was a nice Miller sitting there with leads hooked up. I told my buddy, "sure would be nice to get this one". We told the guy behind the counter who we were, and he asked if we saw it as we came thru. Then he laughed, because he knew we had no idea what we had bought. He said that he could just give us anything, lol!. We walked out there and he pointed at the big blue Miller, and told us to load it up. It was 330AB/P and our agreement was to pay trade in plus 10 percent plus the repair bill. Breakdown of cost was $200 trade in, $20 markup and $17 part, which he installed for free. $237 and it came with a foot pedal and water cooled TIG torch, (350 amp I think). Probably doesn't sound like all that good of a deal nowadays, but this was in 1989 and the welder wasn't very old, having been traded in by The University of Florida (Go Gators!) to keep their Engineering Shop equipped with a later model welder.
The paint had not been worn off of the foot pedal, so it hadn't seen much use!
Still have it, to this day, runs a bead fine, and I have been known to crank up the amps and TIG weld 5/8 Aluminum plate with it!
David from jax