factory refurbished

[Blown S-10]

not a real high volume custimer but have always been treated as if i was there only custemer

your lucky. my place, well, close to my home anyway. they look at me like "how DARE you buy from someone other than us"

needless to say, the internet is my friend.

[jeffscarstrucks]

I normally do buisiness with CeeKay Supply in St Louis MO. They are a large commercial supply company that treat me as if I am the only customer they have had all day. The machines I purchased from them have been great deals that I found through their open houses or sales from their Miller rep passing along great deals from refurbished inventory. The bottom line is that as a hobby welder the most valuable resorce(besides here!) is your counter guy. They are not all great but you will find the guy who really knows what's up AND will take care of you. Good Luck, JEFF..........This has been said here before but it really true..

[billmccandless]

gas leak

fun4now, make sure that you open your tank ALL the way.
the valve has seals on the top also. sealed open and closed but can leak anywhere inbetween.
DO NOT OPEN FUEL GAS BOTTLES ALL THE WAY! YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO SHUT THEM OFF QUICKLY!!!!

[fun4now]

open

on my O/A torch i only open the acetilen about 1/4-1/8 but as i understanded it the oxy tank seals only all closed and all the way oppen.
i thought the C-25 tank was like the oxy tank and needed to be wide open or all the way closed. when i close it all the gass leaks out of my hose through the handle. it did not do this when i first got it it would hold hose presher to the mig. now it leaks oit in under 3 minits also seems to have a smaller leak when open. same place (through the twist handle). im mig'ing at 15cfh with an average wire speed of 4 1/2. it would seem to me that i should use most of my 11lbs spool befor i used 155 cf tank? maby not but if it takes a 155 tank for every 2 lbs of wire i'm, going to have to go back to flux core due to expense of the gass

i'm hoping my next tank lasts a little longer

ok so do i open the valve all the way open on the c-25 or just a little??
thanks for the help

[cope]

on my O/A torch i only open the acetilen about 1/4-1/8 but as i understanded it the oxy tank seals only all closed and all the way oppen.
i thought the C-25 tank was like the oxy tank and needed to be wide open or all the way closed. when i close it all the gass leaks out of my hose through the handle. it did not do this when i first got it it would hold hose presher to the mig. now it leaks oit in under 3 minits also seems to have a smaller leak when open. same place (through the twist handle). im mig'ing at 15cfh with an average wire speed of 4 1/2. it would seem to me that i should use most of my 11lbs spool befor i used 155 cf tank? maby not but if it takes a 155 tank for every 2 lbs of wire i'm, going to have to go back to flux core due to expense of the gass

i'm hoping my next tank lasts a little longer

ok so do i open the valve all the way open on the c-25 or just a little??
thanks for the help

You should open C-25 all the way. He was referring to Fuel gas such as acetylene when he said don't open all the way. I have read in Linde's book and a few others not to exceed 1-1/2 turns on Acetylene.

[billmccandless]

Leaks

you are correct on your c-25 tank. open all the way.
you have a leak somewhere between your tank and leaving side of the solenoid.
soapy water in a spray bottle will help find the leak. i have to maintain about 45 welders and a few plasmas and have to use this method a lot.

[Glenn B]

Saturday Hours

Yes it kind of stinks most of us are not open on saturdays. I used to work at a place that was open half day sat. Bad thing is most saturdays were not profitable for the store. Poor guy working "ME" is on time & a Half . I also ended up working almost all of them 5 out of 6 in a row .But not enough customers to make it worth it to the boss man . When I worked for Leeky Air we tracked them for 6 months and after payroll & utilities were factored in we lost $500 a month by being open Saturdays . Thats why the Bigger Co's are not open. I remember one Sat only one customer came in for a $10.00 Oxygen refill plus he came at 11:55 and kept me there another half hour while he poked around. I don't want to sound like we don't like our customers but we would rather be home in the shop also laying some beads down while its still cool out. 110 in the shade after noontime is not the best time to start a welding project at home.

[fun4now]

leak

took the hose out of the MIG and pluged it . spray botle told me the leak is comming out of the twist er on top of tank so i ges the tank seal is bad. as i am leasing the bottle i'm hoping the next 1 wont do the same or i gess ill try to get my leas back and get gass elswhere 1 is an ooop's 2 is time to move on as this is my first bottle i'm not all that upset it was intended to lern me as to weather i wanted to use gass or just flux. i realy like gas so will do my best to keep it

[BCarlucci]

I know i've said this before, but my best customers are the hobbyists the guys who weld for fun and make a few bucks here and there, and even the smaller shops. It's easier to interact with you guys then some person sitting in an office who's never welded before and doesn't know what E7018 stands for. Some of my best customers are the small guys, they come into my shop or call me and know they're going to get the best service i can give them. Obviously i can't drop everything to help them out, but when i can i'm there. Some distributors are like that, some are not. I know some of the "Larger" ones, no names mentioned, treat everyone the same except their large customers. And i know some that give great service but over price everything. You have to find the happy med. do you want the service and pay a fair price? or do you want to pay a lower amount with no service and no relationship.

BC

[glockdoc]

I learned the hard way about leaky bottles. i now take a spray bottle of soapy water to leak-check the bottle before I load it. Apparently, something my airgas dealer doesn't bother to do. I've never tried attaching a reg to check the stem while open but then I'm just happy that my gas doesn't leave with the bottle just sitting in the garage. Once, when I had a nice, tight oxy bottle that I wanted to keep I tried to get them to refill it and get the same bottle back to me. They spent thirty minutes trying to convince me it's better to just exchange it-I even paid for a new hydro test on this bottle. I resisted and held out for my original bottle to be refilled. Anyway, I guess only God knows where it ended up because I never got it back and I'm sure airgas doesn't have a clue. Maybe next time I'll paint it pink w/yellow daisies before dropping it off.

[sparky123]

my BOCGas here in jackson mich. is GREAT!!!!! every time i go in which isn't often they are friendly and the customer service is great. i needed some oxy and accetalyn one saturday and called a head because it was getting close to noon and they stayed open for any extra hour so i could get my gas. i rarly go there but they treat me like they should and i would send anyone there in a minute.

[Scott V]

Alex, I can only guess what a dealer might charge you for a refurbed 200DX. On e-bay you can buy a new one for $2,244.00. Locally, I would hope to get one for $2,300-$2,400.00 For an "A" stock refurb, I would expect to pay somewhere from $1985.00 to $2100.00, but these are based on "guesstimates" as to what a local distributor would want to make.

There is a valuable lesson to be learned here. If you have a good relationship set up with a local distributor, or a salesperson from that distributor, all it takes is a phone call. Last year I had a customer that lives about 30 miles from our store call me, looking for a new engine driven welder. We discussed refurbs and he was all for it. He gave me certain things he required and what his budget was and within a couple weeks a Big Blue 402 popped up on the refurb list. A week later he was smiling broadly when he picked up his "like new" welder at big savings over new. On a big machine like that, the savings can be a $1,000.00 or more...



Just a little extra that having that relationship with a local distributor brings to the table. We are not open on Staurday's, but often meet someone at our store to demo, or pick-up a welder, and I have sales people who will deliver, or demo at your shop in the evening or Saturday's, if neccessary. Just don't abuse the priveledge. Don't give up on finding a good distributor aafter the first try, there are good ones out there...

If you could find which inverter machines were used in the Miller demo fleet and turned in, those are the units to buy. Other inverters can have problems that are fixed but possibly stiil could have that problem jump up later down the road. Buyer beware on those units. This is the trick to buying stuff like that. Get some inside info if you can,because it just might pay off in the long run.

[BCarlucci]

Sparky123,

Has your BOC supplier told you or do you know that all BOC gas stores were bought out by Airgas? I know i saw it in my welding magazine, but was curious if they are still BOC or changed names to Airgas.

BCarlucci

[jjabuck]

I deal with B & R, they are great, Bob has a good supply, is helpful and has great prices. I have gotten my hobart, miller 210 and SW 180 from there.

Jim Buckingham

[klsm54]

If you could find which inverter machines were used in the Miller demo fleet and turned in, those are the units to buy. Other inverters can have problems that are fixed but possibly stiil could have that problem jump up later down the road. Buyer beware on those units. This is the trick to buying stuff like that. Get some inside info if you can,because it just might pay off in the long run.

If that is a concern, stick to "A" stock which still carries a 2 year warranty. If there is one of those hit and miss problems, it will rear it's ugly head long before that. After all, "A" stock machines are 2 years old or newer. Most failures in the manufacture of electronic components happen within a fairly short period of service.