900 lbs. of Atomic energy commision goodness.

[dr.obtuse]

hello guys and gals, first time posting here and i believe i might have something special to share. I have the opportunity to pick up a very large vintage miller tig welder. I went to go pic it up and found out it was too much for my tuck to handle so im going to have to go back with a trailer and larger truck. I searched the internet and could not find a picture or any kind of information on this beast. i was hopeing you guys could give me some helpful details on on it. Its about four and a half feet tall and maybe 4 feet wide on each side. its has Atomic Energy Commision markings also. single phase, 40" feet of leads, tig gun and a very large foot pedal also come with it. anyone think its worth $1000.? anyone know some information on what it could be? im new to tig welding also by the way.






thanks ahead of time for any helpful info!

[nocheepgas]

anyone think its worth $1000?

Not ME!

[aametalmaster]

Maybe 500 with the chain...Bob

[dr.obtuse]

alright awesome. just getting a feel for what i should pay for it. i was told it was fired up once by the current owner and then cut out once the arc started. he said he did this with no coolent or gas connect. the owner also said he has a manual of a similar model and said he adjuset the "points" from what he read in the manual. i think the price is right to buy it even if it might be broken. its also has a tag on it says it was once property of the university of Berkeley. pretty amazing history to it i suppose.

[Pass-N-Gas]

Voltage Requirements

Do you have the electrical service required to run the thing?

The problems with dinosaurs is they need a lot of juice to make them happy..

[Sberry]

While its a fine machine you already found one of the problems with it, big monster at 900# and as was said greedy, 100A service. You are already buying a broke machine to boot, as far as I can see this starts fairly downhill and slides from there. As for history,,, its got that,,, but they made a lot of them and many still around, I paid 100 for my non working unit but had the ability to repair it,, and the spark gap is the first thing everyone points too, cause its easy, mine needed a board which I am sure wasn't the first but we repaired it.
This is not a good entry level unit, let us know the type of work of interest and some could point out some machines ideally suited. It would have to be free or near free for me to get it as long as it was a short drive.

[Sberry]

The background here isnt clear but in todays world I wouldnt fart with tig unless I had a real reason to. I want results, want to build the stuff and if I was hobby or small user my ideal setup would be a Max 150, a 210 class feeder that would take a spool gun.

[1930case]

It's a good stick/TIG entry-level unit if you don't care about weight. No risk of outgrowing it!

My 340 does stick fine all day off a 50A breaker. When I need to turn it up over 200A output I'll upgrade the breaker, but it has a very nice arc and now that I moved the big 1100lb beast it can stay there. Reading in this and other forums convinced me to sample the big Miller, and I like it.

I'd give 250 for an unknown 330 because that's under scrap if it were near me. I don't regret beginning with a stick machine at all, and that's nicer than the Lincoln buzzbox I started out with. Some folks don't mind weight, and if I need a light machine I'll buy one. TIG capability is a bonus, and the pedals alone go for about 150 on Ebay.

Worst case if you end up scrapping it, you will then know how to scrap welders. Put the parts up for sale after slaying it for copper then buy something else with the money, or repeat the process.

Get it cheap or pass. The magic figure for me is half-ish of scrap/parts value for unknown welders. History isn't worth any money.