Tig (Synchro 250) /stick weldCoolant Must

[JWELD]

I have a Synchro 205. Up to what amps may I use a "waterless" system??
Also, in stick welding, what indication will a bad/contaminated electrode give??

How many amps will my 250 use during welding stick with 150amp setting.

On the 250 do I need to reset(hookups for leads etc anything. It has been so long since I set it up for tig.

Thanking you in advance

[H80N]

JWELD
the amps and duty cycle are dependant on your gas cooled torch.. which one do you have?? (most are in the 150A range)
bad electrodes will generally show up with porosity in weld.. excess spatter.. general unevenness of bead.. depending on the type of rod and the degree of degradation.. moisture.. contamination ..etc (please refer to the posts on rod drying.. HAWK as always did an excellent job of explaining)
amps drawn at 150A out .. your machine draws 74 amps at full output (250A non power factor corrected assuming 230v in) so if you extrapolate that to 150A you get 44.4 amps..(drawn from pg28 of the pdf Manual for your machine) this is a ballpark figure as these things are not always a linear function...
Setups.... will refer you to your manual... as much of the setup depends on what you will be tig-ing
here is the link

http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o353u_mil.pdf

BTW.. the 250 syncro appears to be the same machine as my old trusty Hobart TigWave 250... I run a HW20 (225amp) most of the time and on odd occasion will drag out the HW18 (350amp) for extended welding on heavy aluminum stuff...(both with 25ft lead) and run a converted beverage carbonator pump to circulate coolant....
have run the supplied gas cooled torch for my little (Lincoln) squarewave tig 175 at full throttle for short periods of time (upped argon flow) with no noticeable ill effects..... and for what it is worth am running a wv-26v (200amp)gas cooled on the Trailblazer for mobile work..(25ft).. as you can see.. lots of variables on the torch rating dept.. let us know what model you have and we will try to help.....

hope this helps
Heiti

[HAWK]

JWELD,

I have run 250 amps tig on an air cooled 200 amp torch for short periods of time in have to cases. I don't recommend it! Burned fingers heal slow. Also torch replacements can get expensive.

My rule is 200 amps max on a 200 amp rated air cooled torch. If I have a choice I will run a water cooled rig on anything over 180 amps for extended duty cycles.

To each their own. When you burn your fingers and bank account a couple times, you'll spend the cash for a watercooled set up.