Scooby074
Super Member
Stickmate/Miller Thunderbolt. Just about the perfect farm welder. Made in USA. All you see here on farms. Lincoln tombstones too.
Which type of welder would be best for my needs?
- Thread starter sdef
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Lou66
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2012
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- 1,378
- Location
- Brazoria county where Texas began
- Tractor
- Deere 990/Montana 5740
Hobart welder/generator is made my Miller in Ohio.. Just more on the lite side for home or farm use.. Had mine for over ten years and have never needed any work none to it.. other than the oil and filters,, air, oil and gas.. Lou
Shield Arc
Super Member
160-amps should be sufficient for the average guy here. Anytime you can get a foot pedal for Tig welding it makes it so much easier. Even though xray welds are made everyday with scratch start Tig rigs. FYI: Just because that is a DC only machine, if you ever need to you can go old school and weld aluminum with it. Here is an aluminum Tig weld I made with the Longevity Stickweld 250 and my Tig rig. If I would have had a foot pedal I could have controlled the heat! Notice how the weld is wider at the end? That is a result of no way to control the heat that builds up in aluminum, other than moving faster. With the foot pedal you can control this.
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160-amps should be sufficient for the average guy here. Anytime you can get a foot pedal for Tig welding it makes it so much easier. Even though xray welds are made everyday with scratch start Tig rigs. FYI: Just because that is a DC only machine, if you ever need to you can go old school and weld aluminum with it. Here is an aluminum Tig weld I made with the Longevity Stickweld 250 and my Tig rig. If I would have had a foot pedal I could have controlled the heat! Notice how the weld is wider at the end? That is a result of no way to control the heat that builds up in aluminum, other than moving faster. With the foot pedal you can control this.
I do see that. It is nice to know that in an "emergency" I could do a bit of aluminum welding. Or well, at least try... I have made aluminum projects, such as a really nice, portable framework for a 50 watt solar panel and bolted/screwed them together with stainless hardware. Aluminum is expensive when one has to purchase small amounts at Lowes...
Up to this point I thought aluminum welding was only an option for AC machines. Even on the welding "how to" sites I have been to, they say one needs AC for aluminum.
I have made the decision for a TIG option and foot pedal, thanks to the posters here.
TBN posters have been very instrumental with increasing my bank's investment in tractor equipment, as I have significantly upgraded it all
Shield Arc
Super Member
Tig welding aluminum on DC with 100% helium is how it originated, hence the name Heliarc.
One thing nice about Tig welding aluminum on DC with 100% helium is, you can pretty much cut your amps in half from using AC with 100% argon. There is a member over on Welding Web who goes by B_C. Bill is an amazing aluminum Tig weldor. He uses an argon helium mix with AC.
Sure Tig welding aluminum on AC with high frequency and argon is the way to go. Now a days with machines like the Dynasty series, they make it so easy even a hack like me can do OK on aluminum.
One thing nice about Tig welding aluminum on DC with 100% helium is, you can pretty much cut your amps in half from using AC with 100% argon. There is a member over on Welding Web who goes by B_C. Bill is an amazing aluminum Tig weldor. He uses an argon helium mix with AC.
Sure Tig welding aluminum on AC with high frequency and argon is the way to go. Now a days with machines like the Dynasty series, they make it so easy even a hack like me can do OK on aluminum.
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killdozerd11
Silver Member
B.C. Bill is real good shovelon Terry is great
I don't know bill personally but i know terry was over at his shop a week ago playing with the dynasty 700
Now that is a TIG machine...But handling that big 400 amp torch is a bugger to get used to ...it isn't your wp-17
I don't know bill personally but i know terry was over at his shop a week ago playing with the dynasty 700
Now that is a TIG machine...But handling that big 400 amp torch is a bugger to get used to ...it isn't your wp-17
Shield Arc
Super Member
Terry was a huge help to Bill when he first got his Dynasty 350! Bill really struggled with it for quite sometime.
Bill really struggled with it for quite sometime.weldermike
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2011
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- 596
- Tractor
- kubota L4400
Shieldarc, I just got my first inverter. Gonna play with her after work today! Yahoo! The first one showed up broke and I just got another yesterday. Only played with it a little bit and it got late on me,
but from what I see already me likey!!!!!!
but from what I see already me likey!!!!!!
The first Miller arrived broken? Really? I would hope the issue was a shipping problem and not a manufacturer's defect at this price level.
Arc weld
Veteran Member
The Dynasty's were inverters and the Syncrowaves were conventional machines and now they have inverter Syncrowaves. What's up with that?
