stick welder

[boattrash]

look around for a powcon; sm200 often for 300 bucks or less and one of the finest power supplys around.

[twitch]

i dont know if your on a buget and if you are then search craigs list i picked up a miller thunder bolt 225 ac/dc for $65 it is older but it welds great and there is not a whole lot that can go wrong with the older ones that is why i keep a few around so if one fails i always have a backup

[lynx_welding]

not saying that i know everything but i'm pretty sure you have a more stable arc using AC current that is why you don't get arc blow in AC, if you are getting arc blow with AC you have problems. now i'm not saying that i'm 100 % correct but i'm pretty **** sure i am.



Wolf how ya been it's been awhile since i've been on. been real busy. gimmie a shout back when you can

[Black Wolf]

Wolf how ya been it's been awhile since i've been on. been real busy. gimmie a shout back when you can

Doin' good Boss. Doin' good. The usual - Head down, arse up 'n' go! I'll catch up with you tomorrow. Heading for bed.

[Sberry]

sure you have a more stable arc using AC current that is why you don't get arc blow in AC,

What do you use on your truck? Its DC, AC is cycling 60 times a second, hence they have to add stabalizers to the electrodes.

i dont know if your on a buget and if you are then search craigs list i picked up a miller thunder bolt 225 ac/dc for $65 it is older but it welds great and there is not a whole lot that can go wrong with the older ones that is why i keep a few around so if one fails i always have a backup

I would say at 65$ its hard to go wrong.

[lynx_welding]

my 300D is DC

[blazin454]

it doesnt seem so confusing now... i want to thank everyone for information and support ive only got two threads or so on here but i never would have thought that they would have each had 3 pages of replies... thats awesome it really sucks when you ask a question and you get like one reply ahha... anyways thanks again guys im sure ill be here for the long run to pick your brain with any other questions i may have... you never know maybe one day ill be one of the guys who gets to help a newbie with questions he or she may have... have a good one

[blazin454]

well since ac doesnt really seem like something i really need and the maxstar is so portable i think thats what im leaning towards. anyone think i would be missing out on anything if i went that route? anyone who has them what do you think of them vs something like a thunderbolt 225/150 or stickmate 235/160??? thanks again for any help

[MAC702]

The Thunderbolt or Stickmate is going to give you more top-end power and duty cycle, but you can do A LOT with a little Maxstar. I owned one and it was my go-to machine for SMAW. For MY business, it practically put my engine-drive out of business because I could almost always get within a few hundred feet of power and I carried lots of good extension cords.

The Maxstar will be WAY smoother in arc quality as well because its DC is rectified from the high frequency inverter.

[Dmaxer]

I'll second what MAC702 said about inverter based welders. Not only is an inverter's arc smoother and more stable, but it uses a lot less power. I have welded well above 200 amps with mine and never blown a 30A circuit. I plan to upgrade the circuit to 50A anyway, but I feel it will be largely unnecessary except for when I have to stretch the legs of this welder.

[blazin454]

i was looking at some spec sheets and i could be wrong but it said the maxstar axtually had a better duty cycle