Miller Passport

[Arcangel]

Is $750 a good price for an almost brand new Miller Passport (not the Passport Plus)? Unit looks immaculate both inside and out. Has both of the plugs included with machine (unlike some that have had their original plugs hacked off and replaced) and even original owners manual.
A guy I knew had both the original Passport and the Passport Plus but he sold the Passport Plus. I asked him why he would sell the Passport Plus instead of the older unit. He said that he liked the original Passport better than the Passport Plus and he would never sell the original. I mentioned to him that the original Passport can't utilize a spoolgun and he stated that the Passport Plus did not weld aluminum really well anyway with the spoolmate 100 and if he wanted to weld aluminum he would rather run it off his spoolmate 30A instead.
Anyone out there with any experience with both the original Passport and the Passport Plus that feels the same way as this person I know.
Would you guys buy a practically brand new original Passport for $750?
Thanks in advance for any comments.

[Schnellboot]

Is $750 a good price for an almost brand new Miller Passport (not the Passport Plus)? Unit looks immaculate both inside and out. Has both of the plugs included with machine (unlike some that have had their original plugs hacked off and replaced) and even original owners manual.
A guy I knew had both the original Passport and the Passport Plus but he sold the Passport Plus. I asked him why he would sell the Passport Plus instead of the older unit. He said that he liked the original Passport better than the Passport Plus and he would never sell the original. I mentioned to him that the original Passport can't utilize a spoolgun and he stated that the Passport Plus did not weld aluminum really well anyway with the spoolmate 100 and if he wanted to weld aluminum he would rather run it off his spoolmate 30A instead.
Anyone out there with any experience with both the original Passport and the Passport Plus that feels the same way as this person I know.
Would you guys buy a practically brand new original Passport for $750?
Thanks in advance for any comments.

I would certainly buy it. Aluminum with 100 spool gun is quite fast and works on my plus model!
The perfomance with CO2 is very good in light gauges. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn´t hesitate to have the older model anyway.

Regards:

Jerónimo.

[Arcangel]

Jeronimo, what do you mean by your statement: Knowing what I know now, I wouldn´t hesitate to have the older model anyway.
Thanks, Randy.

[PJinNJ]

Have both

and either is fine.

[Schnellboot]

Jeronimo, what do you mean by your statement: Knowing what I know now, I wouldn´t hesitate to have the older model anyway.
Thanks, Randy.

Randy, 99% of my personal usage of the Passport is for carbon steel. Is very clean and fast. It´s also cheap if you refill your gas bottles, you just need a CO2 cylinder equiped with a syphon, a CO2 filling station (get the two valvle type), and 4 or 5 twelve oz CO2 cylinders used for paintball. Perhaps you already know all that. This little machine works so well for carbon steel, that the aluminum option wouldn´t stop me from buying the old model lacking it.
I am not an aluminum welder by any means, but I suspect that for more serious perfomance on aluminum, some other Miller unit would be of order.
You won´t regret getting a Passport!

Good luck!

Regards:

Jerónimo.

[Arcangel]

Thanks, Jeronimo and PJ! I pulled the trigger and got the original Passport today. I can't believe this guy let it go for $750. I used a flashlight to look at the internals of this unit and there's absolutely no dust, lint, etc, (not even on the fan blades). Even the mig gun is brand new. I even phoned Miller to run the serial # on this unit to make sure it was not reported stolen.

Up to now I've only seen the Passport Plus in person and let me tell you this thing looks really nice in its BLUE case. I've always been partial to the color blue for all my welding equipment. I even waited a few months to get my hands on a blue Optrel OSEvolution Satellite welding helmet.

Jeronimo, I agree with you regarding using alternate equipment when welding aluminum. I suppose I could always use my Dynasty 200DX for aluminum. I was also disappointed that in order to weld aluminum with Passport Plus, you must remove the existing mig gun. I always thought that both could be hooked up concurrently like a MM251 or MM252. Knowing that the Plus does not have this feature was the overriding factor in my decision to buy the original Passport.

[Schnellboot]

Thanks, Jeronimo and PJ! I pulled the trigger and got the original Passport today. I can't believe this guy let it go for $750. I used a flashlight to look at the internals of this unit and there's absolutely no dust, lint, etc, (not even on the fan blades). Even the mig gun is brand new. I even phoned Miller to run the serial # on this unit to make sure it was not reported stolen.

Up to now I've only seen the Passport Plus in person and let me tell you this thing looks really nice in its BLUE case. I've always been partial to the color blue for all my welding equipment. I even waited a few months to get my hands on a blue Optrel OSEvolution Satellite welding helmet.

Jeronimo, I agree with you regarding using alternate equipment when welding aluminum. I suppose I could always use my Dynasty 200DX for aluminum. I was also disappointed that in order to weld aluminum with Passport Plus, you must remove the existing mig gun. I always thought that both could be hooked up concurrently like a MM251 or MM252. Knowing that the Plus does not have this feature was the overriding factor in my decision to buy the original Passport.

Congratulations Randy!
I would love to match my black Passport Plus with the blue original Passport Fashion apart, if you already have the Dynasty you have most aluminum welding needs covered anyway. For me the little spool gun gives me the posibility to do some aluminum welding while aluminum stick welding rods cost here about 90 usd per pound! Compared with the 20 usd price for alu spool wire, the Plus gives a non AC Tig owner like me the posibility to do some welds at lower cost.

You will draw attention now with that blue suitcase

Jerónimo.

[Desertrider33]

Congrats! You definately got a smokin deal on that Passport! I very rarely see them for sale used and when they do come up, they're usually around $1000 or more. I've only seen one as low as $800 once and the seller acted fishy on the phone, like it was stolen.

Definately a good move checking the serial number with Miller before putting down any money. I do that with any used Miller welding equipment I buy.

I have used both the Passport and Passport Plus with fluxcore on galvanized steel. My friend and I both ran each of them on a construction project we were on for a few months and they both run the same, no difference. My Passport is newer than the blue one, it's black.

[Arcangel]

Thanks guys! This forum definitely has some of the most knowledgeable weldors around.

Jeronimo, any suggestions on where to look at for DIY refill kits for my C02 tank. I just don't want to end up like the guy that killed himself filling up cylinders for paintball guns.

I just ran some 030 and this little baby does not disappoint, has a really sweet arc and OMG very little spatter.

Definitely no regrets on this one.

[Desertrider33]

Yep, the Passport is alone in it's own seperate class of small portable mig welder with an excellent arc. Mine likes fluxcore, and solid wire with CO2 best, but works very well with mix gas too.

[Schnellboot]

Thanks guys! This forum definitely has some of the most knowledgeable weldors around.

Jeronimo, any suggestions on where to look at for DIY refill kits for my C02 tank. I just don't want to end up like the guy that killed himself filling up cylinders for paintball guns.

I just ran some 030 and this little baby does not disappoint, has a really sweet arc and OMG very little spatter.

Definitely no regrets on this one.

I think you can get these on line, paintballdiscounters comes to my mind. You can get cylinders from Miller, but it´s a standard Catalina one sold by Pure Energy. Be sure to purchase extra o-rings and a couple of brust disks.
Refilling the cylinder does not represent any dangers at all, the only way a cylinder can blow up, is if you replace the brust disk with one out of specs or totaly eliminate that safety posibility obturating the tread with some kind of bolt. Be sure no to let those black cylinders get too hot under the sun in high temp days, the brust disk may blow up and realese the internal content of the cylinder at 3000 psi.
When welding actually, evaporative cooling of the cylinder due to change of liquid CO2 to gaseosus state will refrigerate the cylinder. No matter how hot you run the machine and even on new black models like mine, when welding under the sun at full throttle you will find the machine is at reasonable temperature.

The cylinder refill anyway, embodies some minimal risks, so eye, face and hands protection is mandatory. Get a good scale to weight the cylinder, and don´t try to fill it to the top capacity, welding time will be about the same from an overfilled cylinder say 12,5 oz or from a 11,5oz correctly filled one.
One great feature of the Passport is that it will squeeze until the last content of CO2 from the cylinder, spill is almost zero.
Also for refilling it´s advisable to, wet the orings with vaseline, put the empties in the freezer (if wife alows to) to refill faster and spill les CO2, and when unscrewing the cillinder form the refill station adapter, purge the line first to avoid o-ring damage.

Regards:

Jerónimo.

[Arcangel]

Jeronimo, thanks for everything!