220v/115v single phase inverters

[1fasbu]

Hello there, having read these posts for a number of weeks I'm now comfortable enought to ask some advice. I purchased (about a year ago) a miller maxstar 85s stick welder. This was an inventory clearout and i was able to buy this very cheap.(we are a dealer) Now that all my friends have drooled over my new toy, they have seen the compactness, and portability. Ok then, all that is available to them new is either the 150s in the miller, or another manufacturer. Please keep in mind these people fit into the occasional use catagory. With the miller starting around 550usd, this is just too expensive for the garage floor. After an extensive search, I've come up with some alternate manufacturers. They are the following: Harbour Frieght offers a model simular to mine for $129(80 amp 115v), and a Florida company called Kraze-arc with a unit very close. Both of these units claim a higher duty cycle than mine. Has anyone out there had any experiences with these units? Any help with this one would be an asset. Thank-you for anyone taking the time to respond.

[H80N]

1fasbu
I have one of the HF machines bought a few years ago.. it appears different from what they are carrying now .. mine was made by Telwin in Italy and is a well made unit bout the size of a 2slice toaster..(no idea who manufactures the green one they carry now) It is a great little scratch start DC/Tig machine for up to about 16gauge.. (tig torch goes for about $30 in catalog)... as far as stick.. has (VERY) limited duty cycle.. and you have to burn a lot of 1/16 rod to deposit much metal... there are a lot of decent transformer type stick welders in the same price range with much more available amperage and duty cycle for burning stick.... also in that price range are a lot of the low end MIG welders... depends on your use.. but be careful... there is a lot of junk out there pretending to be welding equipment....
hope this helps
Heiti

PS... after a little bit of digging.. seems that your MaxStar 85S was probably made in Austria by Fronius... check the sticker.. betcha it says "made in Austria" ... they have a good rep and build nice machines... here is a link to a similar machine of theirs.. notice the resemblance? .. and a link to the pertinent page of the pdf manual for the 85S

http://www.fronius.com/welding.technology/products/mmaw/tp1100.htm

http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o2234a_mil.pdf

[H80N]

Tigging with it...............

1fasbu
if you have an interest in learning how to tig... looks like that HF tig torch would probably plug right in.. has the dinse 25 connector just as your 85s appears to.. they upped the price.. is now $40.. but with the addition of a gas bottle and regulator.. you could enter the wonderful world of TIG.. (steel & stainless) for minimal investment... if your 85s behaves as my little toaster does.. then it would be great on light stuff like automotive sheetmetal... granted.. you would not have the control or elegance of the built in contactor and amptrol found on "real" tig machines.. but you may be surprised at how well you can do with it...
here is a link

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45966

just some thoughts
take care
Heiti

[ASKANDY]

H80N is correct. The 85S was a Fronius unit. After looking at reliability and the service we recieved, it was decided to kill it and stay home grown. I agree with Heiti. If you are going to do the Harborfrieght thing, you might as well out fit it for TIG. I really can't say anything bad about Harborfreight. I'm a frequent purchaser. This said however, any service or parts have to come from across the pond. If that's not an issue, it sounds like where you are in your welding needs, the cheap way might work out for you guys.

Good luck!

A-

[H80N]

Guess
i had better clarify what i was trying to say... both the Fronius from Austria and the Telwin from Italy are first class machines with a well earned good reputation in europe for reliability and usefulness... and represent quite a good value.. especially when bought from one of the discount houses like HF ... good prices do not neccesarily mean that you are buying junk... and my caveat about junk was aimed at some of the stuff that is coming in from china...
My using my little toaster for TIG is a matter of how that machine is most useful to me... much easier to carry in the little critter and a small argon bottle into someones garage to repair some sheetmetal on their prized classic WHATEVER... than it would be to drag in tig stuff off of my truck and fire up the Trailblazer....(or to have them trailer it to my shop for that matter)
your Maxstar 85s is an excellent machine.. no matter where it was built... am sorry to hear that Miller and Fronius have apparently parted ways... the europeans have been designing and building advanced inverter welders for a long time...and some knowledgable people believe they are on the cutting edge of the technology... and we yanks are learning and catching up as fast as we can........
As far as TIGging with the 85s... thought that you might find it useful to know that , the option was there to go that route.. and you might enjoy exploring that avenue. (the HF tig torch was imported by Arc-One... I found it to be of excellent quality.. and it uses standard consumables)
hope that was a little more clear
Thanks
Heiti

[HAWK]

H80N is correct. The 85S was a Fronius unit. After looking at reliability and the service we received, it was decided to kill it and stay home grown.

Andy,

I guess that is what was wrong with my MAXSTAR 140. Fronius dropped the ball there too. I ditched that machine asap! I know they made some great machines and are a well known name in the European market. I am glad Miller ditched them as a vendor. I like my Maxstar 200Dx and my Dynasty 200DX. Why both? I bought the Maxstar just before the Dynasty became available. Is the Maxstar 150 a "true blue" product???

[1fasbu]

inverters

Thankx to all that wrote back. I'm going to buy a tig assembly(good tip) for my 85s to play with at home. At work we have the 140s, and we've had problems with it as well. No worries, my father is an electronics genious! Since then we've purchased a 150s, one of my co-workers bought one as well. He seems to like his machine so far. So, where is the 150s made? I'll have to look. When I started looking at UK sites, there are inverters galore! And yes, there was mine. I would have never guessed. cheers.

[dseman]

fasbu,
The maxstar 150 is designed and built in the US. If you remember the 85 and 140, you may also remember that they were the only welders that Miller had in their lineup with a 1 year warranty. The 150's carry the same warranty as their bigger brothers. The ony downside I've heard of with the 150 pertains to it's stick operation---It doesn't care to dance with E6010. Most others seem to be fine.

-dseman