Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys,
My name is Mark and I am new here. Some of you may know my name from other forums like Practical Machinist, Youtube, HeavyEquipment Forums, Brockway Trucks, Mack Trucks and many more.
For about 12 years I have had a Lincoln mig-pak 10. It's a 110 volt welder. About 2 years ago a friend gave me a Miller Dialarc 250. This way I could weld some heavier stuff. Lately, I've had to run to aluminum parts here or there to be welded. So, this past weekend I bought a tig. It's a Miller Syncrowave 300. I think it's from the late 70's. It looks pretty nice. It came with a foot pedal and an ESAB hw-20 torch. One interesting thing about this welder is the seller's father had put a plasma cutter unit inside. Some trial and error will probably have to be done to figure out how to make it work. He said all I need is a plasma torch and air.
As you can see, there are 4 levers on this whereas other Syncrowave 300's I've seen only have 3. It looks like he did a pretty nice installation using the same style handle.


First I have to find a place to put this in my shop. Then run a circuit. One thing that is missing from this is a water cooler. Anyone have recommendations on what to get? I was looking at a Miller Coolmate 4. But, how does the Coolmate 3 compare? Anyone have an extra tig cooler collecting dust?

It'll be great to get this hooked up, I am excited to try out tig.

thanks,
Mark
Berkshire Transmissions
North Adams, Massachusetts

Welcome to the forum Mark.

How would I go about determining what would be the appropriate plasma torch to hook up to the added-on plasma unit in this welder? Now I know that is a very vague question. Would the plasma torch be sized to the welder or should I start looking for numbers on the plasma unit?


thanks,
Mark

Hey guys,

It's been a little while, almost 6 years since I have bought this Miller Syncrowave 300. Getting it going has been on the back burner. Now, in the shop there is a little bit more time to work on the projects. A few months ago my electrician friend helped me run a circuit for the welder. The matter at hand is to figure out how to set everything up. What am I missing, what do I need, which components are preferred.

Since the original post, I did acquire a Miller Coolmate 3.

Is there an assorment kit of tig consumables that I can buy?

Honestly I'm not sure where to start. Perhaps the request should be is to determine what I don't have and need to get. How do I start doing that?

thanks,
Mark

FirstEliminator wrote:Is there an assorment kit of tig consumables that I can buy?

Welcome back to the forum Mark!

Can you give some more info? Do you have a torch already? (I'm guessing a water cooled 20 or preferably an 18 if you do)

Do you have a gas torch? (17? 26?)

Pedal? Grinder for your tungsten? Argon bottle? Helmet? etc...

A lot of people prefer the stubby kits that Jody sells on Weldmonger. But before recommending anything you might want to provide a bit more info so everyone knows what you have and/or what you might need.

Nice machine, do you have your circuit in now? Those do take a fair amount of amps to run.

Hi Alan,
Thanks for the quick reply. I plan to weld anything available. Steel, steel sheet metal, aluminum, Stainless, cast iron, etc.

The torch is an Esab HW-20. It appears to be missing the rear cap. Not sure what I will need for electrode or the ceramic part in the front. As I remember the torch is on a short cable and cooler lines. 12 feet I think. My preference would be to have a 50 foot reach. Wondering if I should just order a new torch ? If so, that opens another list of questions. My thought so far is even though the welder is a 300amp, I can't really use it to it's full potential as the circuit it's on is a 125amp 208. Miller's preferred input circuit would be 208v 225 amp. 60% operating potential perhaps? With that in mind, I would think a 200amp torch would not be undersized for this 300amp welder. Does it work that way?

Gas torch?

Yes, I have a Miller pedal, probably original to the welder.

Not a grinder specific for tungsten. However, I do have a tool and cutter grinder with diamond wheels. Would this suffice?

Helmets---yes. Been using MIG and stick welding for many years.

Yes on the shielding gas. A bottle for strait Argon and a bottle for 75/25.

+1 on the stubby kit from Jody to get you started on the torch consumables. Includes everything you should need including some tungsten and some back caps which it sounds like you may also need. Weldfabulous is another great outlet to get consumables and tungsten, and they also have an Ebay store which makes it very easy. Been getting my tungsten from them recently.

https://weldmongerstore.com/products/we ... s-lens-kit

https://www.ebay.com/sch/weldfabulous/m ... pg=&_from=

Also, if your MIG/Stick helmets are auto darkening and of the economical variety, you may end up getting flashed a lot when running TIG at lower amperages. Just an FYI as I found that out the hard way.

Here is a good google hit to get you started learning about what you have

https://www.esabna.com/us/en/products/a ... /hw-20.cfm

Click on the PDF links so you can make sure you are getting the right parts.

You don't need anything fancy for a grinder. A standard medium grit aluminum oxide wheel will suffice. I use a $40 skil grinder from Lowes, one side aluminum oxide medium grit for fast initial grinding, the other side silicon carbide fine grit to touch up tungstens when they get crud on them. Unless you're doing code-specific work that calls for dedicated grinders, nothing fancy is really needed. People get away without fancy grinders every day when TIG welding.

FirstEliminator wrote:Thanks for the quick reply. I plan to weld anything available. Steel, steel sheet metal, aluminum, Stainless, cast iron, etc.

Ok, this is good to know, as-is some of the other information you've provided.

FirstEliminator wrote:The torch is an Esab HW-20. It appears to be missing the rear cap. Not sure what I will need for electrode or the ceramic part in the front.

What you need is a back cap and cups for your torch.

This kit is for a #9 or #20 torch, it includes back caps, cups, gas lenses, tungsten and #6, #7 and #8 cups. This includes setups for 1/16", 3/32" and 1/8", so it has everything you need for your current torch, AFAICT. Spartan linked to this also.

https://weldmongerstore.com/collections ... s-lens-kit

This kit is your basic 3/32" kit, which will save you money, but it only has what you need for the 3/32" setup. I recommend just getting the basic kit here as you're limited to amps with your circuit, so just stick to 3/32" electrodes. A lot of people do the majority of their welding with 3/32" electrodes. I'm one such person. Also, as Jody recommends I use 2% lanthanated tungsten for everything, it's a good one stop shopping tungsten.

https://weldmongerstore.com/collections ... s-lens-kit

FirstEliminator wrote:As I remember the torch is on a short cable and cooler lines. 12 feet I think. My preference would be to have a 50 foot reach.

You might be able to upgrade your hoses on your torch, but it usually cost just about as much to get the hoses as it does to buy a new torch, so in all honestly, I would just get another torch. But before you do that I would just use what you have to get your feet/puddle wet. Jody sells torches and hoses, but I would just stick to the #20 you have for the time being.

FirstEliminator wrote:Wondering if I should just order a new torch ? If so, that opens another list of questions. My thought so far is even though the welder is a 300amp, I can't really use it to it's full potential as the circuit it's on is a 125amp 208. Miller's preferred input circuit would be 208v 225 amp. 60% operating potential perhaps? With that in mind, I would think a 200amp torch would not be undersized for this 300amp welder. Does it work that way?

Because of this I would get the basic kit above which only includes the 3/32" setup, and get extra 3/32" tungstens. You can upgrade to get 1/16" and/or 1/8" later, but since you will be limited on the amount of amps you can use the welder for personally I would stick with 3/32'.

Here's extra tungsten, I try to use only the CK brand, I just bought a pack from Weldmonger that arrived today.

https://weldmongerstore.com/collections ... pack-of-10

You can use your diamond wheel to sharpen them, that's perfect! Post about sharpening in a thread in the tig section for more answers on that.

FirstEliminator wrote:Gas torch?

A gas torch would be a #9 #17 or #26, the #20, and #18 are water cooled. You have the #20 and the water cooler.

As Spartan noted, some of the mig/stick helmets are not sensitive enough for tig, but you should be good to test it. I wouldn't worry about this too much, I was just asking to find out as you do need a helmet. You might want to get a pair of tig gloves, Jody has a pair for $15. Tig uses thin gloves typically as you need to feed the filler. I also recommend the Tig Finger, it will keep your torch hand from getting hot, and I recommend the XL size, that's the size I use mostly. Jody has a set of the gloves and XL tig finger for $34.49 (make sure you select the size of tig finger you want and size of gloves)

https://weldmongerstore.com/collections ... ove-bundle

Your straight argon bottle is what you want, the argon/co2 is for mig.

You get free shipping from Weldmonger with a $75 order, and I think the basic kit, pack of electrodes and gloves/tig-finger would get you there. I'm not trying to push Weldmonger on your, but you will find their prices are pretty similar as you will find at other online stores, the CK stuff is not discounted very much, and Weldmonger packages up the kits to save you some money. Also, Jody has some of the best videos on YouTube to learn tig and these are his forums also.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions you have.

Oh, you will still need to get some tig filler, I suggest a 1 lb. tube of 1/16" ER-70S-2, 1 lb of 3/32" ER-70S-2 and maybe 1 lbs. of 1/16" 4043 or 4943 for aluminum. You can use the ER70S-2 for most steel, and some use the 4043/4943 for aluminum, but I am just getting into aluminum and bought some 4043 (what most use). You will need to get this from your local welding store or order from somewhere else online. (arc-zone, welding store, cyberweld, etc...) But be warned some of the places try to force you into buying 10 lbs. of filler, I would only get 1 lb. of each I suggested. Don't overspend unneeded.

I'm not a professional, so get other's opinions also. This is pretty much the base essentials you will need and I think the above is the most cost effective way to get there.

(sorry for the long reply, I'm a bit wordy)

I gotta agree with most of what Alan said. Only change I would suggest is skip the 4043 rod. I find the 4943 to be so much easier to use. Yes, it does cost more, but I feel it is really worth it.

You mentioned getting a 50' torch. Just remember you need the foot pedal to reach where the torch is. The ground cable needs to reach the work as well. I realize that welder is not exactly 'portable' , but I will say that shorter is easier to manage.

One more thing...... my 'goto' place for Tig supplies is the Weldmonger Store. They are really great to deal with.

VA-Sawyer wrote:I gotta agree with most of what Alan said. Only change I would suggest is skip the 4043 rod. I find the 4943 to be so much easier to use. Yes, it does cost more, but I feel it is really worth it.

I definitely have that on my list...unfortunately my LWS was bought by Praxair and now they're closed on Sat.

Lately I haven't even been going out much, I only get out about once a week and keep it local. We're hurting in the Bay area for welding stores, most of them either closed and got bought out by AirGas or Praxair. Praxair seems the better choice, so my LWS is such a store that got bought out, I guess better than AirGas.

Good point you made on that pedal, I completely agree. That's exactly why most people with those Syncrowaves have them on those behemoth carts, so they can wheel them around. I wouldn't want to deal with 50' hoses, let alone the 50' pedal. I would use a small welding table 2' in front of the welder.

Weldmonger does rock, they don't carry a lot of crap you don't need. Stuff I call solutions to problems that don't exist. Stuff like the tig pen...

A 120 amp 208v circuit should be plenty of power to max out that machine. The machine tag or label will tell you that info.
I’ve ran a 300 sync transformer machine in the past. Mostly for stick welding. They are nice welding machines.
The built in plasma cutter raises questions (and concerns) for me though. I’m betting that the operators manual for that machine will show coolmate hookup diagrams.

The plasma cutter add-in I am unsure about. I had a little time in the shop to take the side panel off the welder. Was looking around and don't see a "plasma unit". I don't see where there is any air supply like a plasma needs. This is going to take more research. Perhaps the Miller was acting as the power source to a separate plasma sub-unit? This function might never get used. The seller of welder said his father worked at an aerospace facility and he added in the plasma unit. The seller couldn't tell me much about it and I think his father had passed.

Jody's videos are the best. I've been watching since before I got this welder 6 years ago. I even have a couple tig fingers that have yet to be used. I will place an order for those items you guy's have recommended.

The reason I would like a 50' extension on the machine is the Miller is on a bench in the front corner of my shop. I own a transmission shop and have an old iron addiction with mills, lathes, surface and cylindrical grinders and such. Plus cars. Being able to drag the torch, cables and foot pedal over would be easier than trying to move this welder. Plus, it is hardwired into the circuit. The plasma idea on being able to move 50 feet away from the machine to cut an exhaust off a car that is on the left two bays over. Maybe I should just add a small plasma machine to the lower shelf on my portable mig cart.

I just found out a friend that has the same Miller Syncrowave 300 has his on a 100 amp circuit and all that he does, never tripped the breaker. He said welding 1" aluminum might be a different story.

My memory was a bit off, there is a back cap to the easb tig torch.

I would agree that the best bet for now is to use the current torch and short hoses to get acquainted with welder before getting a 50' set.

Looking at different things available, I see there are torches the say no gas control valve. Why or what circumstances would you need gas control on the torch?

Is there a torch that has electric control where I wouldn't need the foot pedal if I were far from the welder? Or, do they make extension cables for the foot pedal?

FirstEliminator wrote:I own a transmission shop and have an old iron addiction with mills, lathes, surface and cylindrical grinders and such. Plus cars.

Mark,

Are we related?

I also have old iron addiction and building a new shop/home at this time where I will most most of them, but keeping my metalworking machines at my current home, only moving a few to the new shop.

These are most my machine, I do favor old American when possible, but own a couple European machines, such as a Deckel mill as an example.

http://vintagemachinery.org/members/detail.aspx?id=3052

I bought a '46 Chevy Pickup last year that I'm fixing up.

hi Alan,
Anything is possible and we could find out as my mother gave me one of those ancestry.com DNA kits. I haven't used it yet as I feel it is somewhat of a "big brother" scam.

Now, my heavy iron fleet in the shop consists of 3 Van Norman mills, 2 P&W lathes, Monarch 60 series lathe 16x126. Also, Brown and Sharpe 6x18 surface grinder and two Norton U4 cylindrical grinders. Avey single drill press and an Avey 4 spindle drill press. A small Kalamazoo horizontal band saw and a DoAll 13x36 vertical band saw. Also a Cincinnati shaper. Winona PH2000 seat and guide machine with a bunch of tooling to go with it.
What I would like to find is a Jones & Lamson 7A 4-1/2 turret lathe. Not 100% sure why. Though, now and again I have a short run of one thing or another to make for some project.

Wow, I see you have a Rivett 1020F . Neat machine. For a while I was looking for either a Hendy T&G or a Rivett 1020F. Both top notch tools.

Mark

FirstEliminator wrote:Now, my heavy iron fleet in the shop consists of 3 Van Norman mills, 2 P&W lathes, Monarch 60 series lathe 16x126. Also, Brown and Sharpe 6x18 surface grinder and two Norton U4 cylindrical grinders. Avey single drill press and an Avey 4 spindle drill press. A small Kalamazoo horizontal band saw and a DoAll 13x36 vertical band saw. Also a Cincinnati shaper. Winona PH2000 seat and guide machine with a bunch of tooling to go with it.

Mark,

Nice collection of machines! Those Van Normans are great mills, as are the P&Ws, I almost bought a newer (50s) square head P&W about 10 years ago...those Cincinnati shapers are XLNT machines also.

FirstEliminator wrote:What I would like to find is a Jones & Lamson 7A 4-1/2 turret lathe. Not 100% sure why. Though, now and again I have a short run of one thing or another to make for some project.

turret is handy, I have bed turrets for 2 of my South Bends, I have 3 South Bends, not really by choice but that's how it worked out. The most recent has a D1-4 spindle w/metric change gears, so will do imperial plus metric.

FirstEliminator wrote:Wow, I see you have a Rivett 1020F . Neat machine. For a while I was looking for either a Hendy T&G or a Rivett 1020F. Both top notch tools.

The Rivett is the best machine I own. It came out of the Hershey factory in Oakville, CA when they moved the plant to Mexico. Has a plate on the side with Hershey's name on it which Rivett put on for them. My little South Bend 9a came out of the Levi Strauss factory in SF when they closed the original manufacturing plant. It has an inventory tag on it from Levi Strauss.

Funny you mention the Hendy T&G, I found one here in Northern CA, the seller didn't know what model it was but I spotted in the pics that it was a T&G. I could have gotten it for $1200, but at the time I really didn't have space to put it...so I let another guy get it on Practical Machinists, but so many people called the widow, she wanted more and he paid I think $2k. After he got it he found out it needed a LOT of work, sold it to another guy in the area that is refurbishing a T&G...I was kicking myself in the pants for not getting it for $1200, but for the amount of work it ended up needing, I think I'm glad I didn't get it.

Finally, I have to tell you this story...I just tried to get a Syncrowave 250 w/water cooler in trade for a Themac J-7 tool post grinder I listed last night on craigslist. He paid about $5k for it new, so wasn't interested in trading, but he's buying my J-7 for $550, picking it up today at 4:00pm. He has a auto shop. I don't really have space for the Syncrowave 250, those things are almost as big as yours, but I figured if I could have traded for the TP grinder, I would have done that! As it is, this will pay for most of my Primeweld 225, and my wife is happy to see anything leave the house!

I have the same name on Practical Machinist. If you do a search through there you might some of my machines. Also, I have a youtube channel, not a whole lot of uploads, but some stuff I think it cool.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FirstElimi ... subscriber


Mark

FirstEliminator wrote:I have the same name on Practical Machinist. If you do a search through there you might some of my machines. Also, I have a youtube channel, not a whole lot of uploads, but some stuff I think it cool.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FirstElimi ... subscriber

Looks like you have some cool cars!

I just sub'd you. I have some vids of my '46 Chevy 1/2 ton on my channel.

Did you weld those resonators on the merc with mig?

That 390->445 engine has a wicked rumble...I like that!

I only lurk on Practical Machinists nowadays. You'll find my posts pretty easily, my userid is traditional-tools as it wouldn't take a longer name.

just a few things i would add.
For aluminum i would pick up some 5356. On the helmet i would make sure you have 4 sensors. A torch with a gas valve is not needed unless your machine has no gas valve/2t option.
Not sure about your pedal connection but if/when you get a 50' torch find out if you can get a wireless pedal. I have one and i think it can go 100' from the machine. Keep in mind you have to purge 50' of hose.

The last point i would make is this, miller tech support is excellent and i can usually get a tech within minutes. They are patient and willing to help. Any question about the plasma option or really anything to do with your machine and welding technique is in their scope of knowledge.
Miller tech# 9207349821
Cheers


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

FirstEliminator wrote:I have the same name on Practical Machinist. If you do a search through there you might some of my machines. Also, I have a youtube channel, not a whole lot of uploads, but some stuff I think it cool.

Mark,

Was digging around a bit on PM and looked up some of your posts. That P&W Model C is really cool, I like those old classic style machine, and P&W made some really good machines. Funny, you joined PM about a month before me back in 2007.

Anyway, you pointed to a Monarch thread in one of your posts and I saw it was one of Harry Bloom's (beckley23). He was one of the great machinists on PM, IMO, it was a great loss when he died. He was pretty helpful to me when I was just learning how to use metalworking machines.

Funny experience...I used to be in Contact with Rob Lee of Lee Valley up in Canada. They started making PM-7 woodworking chisels back around 2010-2012 time frame, I can't remember exactly. I got the bright idea to see if PM-7 was any good on a lathe used as a toolbit. All of Rob's work was done on CNC, machinng the PM-7 into tooling. Rob sent me about 5 or 6 sticks of 3/8" PM-7. I asked Harry if he would like to test one, and I asked John Oder if he would like to test one. I was saving one for a local guy named Frank Ford, if you know him. Anyway, John Oder first said he didn't see any difference between the PM-7 and HSS, that it acted very similar. But Harry did a bit more testing, and unfortunately the toolbit tip crumbled when he tried to take a large cut on his Monarch CK I believe. John Oder got really p!$$ed at me and said I was wasting their time. It wasn't my fault, I was just trying to test out some new metal. Harry was actually pretty nice about it, he understood it wasn't my fault...John is typically a pretty nice guy, so I'm not sure why he got so upset at me, but he did.

Some of the guys on PM are very particular and will let you know about something they don't like.

FirstEliminator wrote:Some of the guys on PM are very particular and will let you know about something they don't like.

'ya think?

While I don't use PM anymore except for lurking, there is something to commend Don Thomas for (the site owner, Milacron). That is that even if you have an opposing view that he doesn't believe, he will still leave your comment, so in that sense he's not a partisan admin, and that is VERY important in today's www as we know it today. It is actually not a widely shared trait among administrators, but it's a very important one, IMO.

What about the merc resonators, did you mig those? If so would you have tig's them given the Syncrowave was setup?

The reason I ask is I see people that do tig on body panels, but recently have learned that mig may be the more popular technique. I know for high end exhausts, like on Porsche's, Ferrari's, etc...they use tig'd stainless. Seems mig is faster and possibly more suitable for more common stuff. Is that so?

My dad was a career machinists. Very good at it. My uncle was too. Grew up in and around shops from a young age. 99% of all machinist have the same personality traits. At least the lifetime good ones. You met one you know how all of them will react, answer, respond, or approach you.

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

FirstEliminator wrote:Some of the guys on PM are very particular and will let you know about something they don't like.

'ya think?

What about the merc resonators, did you mig those? If so would you have tig's them given the Syncrowave was setup?

The reason I ask is I see people that do tig on body panels, but recently have learned that mig may be the more popular technique. I know for high end exhausts, like on Porsche's, Ferrari's, etc...they use tig'd stainless. Seems mig is faster and possibly more suitable for more common stuff. Is that so?

The resonators came with a few inches of pipe welded on each end. I'd suspect they were some type of production mig. The welds that are a a few more inches out were by me, and they were mig. Unless it is a higher end hot rod shop, I'd say mig is the majority of body welding as it is quicker to use.