Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi Ladies and Gents,

First time poster here. I am a beginner welder (very new about 3 weeks). I am taking a community college course on stick welding (SMAW), oxyfuel cutting and some MIG. I have been really enjoying it and am stoked to be learning, practicing and experimenting in the field of welding. My future welding goals are to get better at stick and also start to transition into TIG once I get my own machine. I am a hobbyist and not working in welding professionally, but I also hope to take on some side work at some point, and tag along with some pros in the field locally to see how the real welders do it.

In addition, to introducing myself I'd like to take this opportunity to ask for some advice on getting my first machine. One of my neighbors has offered me a twice used Miller Maxstar 150 STL for a grand. It is the contractor pack so it includes a torch and some other goodies and the hard case etc. As someone who is learning stick this seems like a decent little machine to continue to learn with. I also want to learn TIG so that will be a nice feature to also have once I start down that road. I understand that the maxstar 150 only runs on DC so no aluminum, but I figure that's fine for the time being until I actually know what I am doing with TIG and Stick and want to learn aluminum tig. I am pretty down to go for it, but I figured I'd ask if there was anything I should watch out for.

Looking forward to becoming part of the welding community and join in on the fun online!

Cheers,

Michael

Welcome! The 150 stl is a great little machine. I have one I use a lot. But I think that’s almost new price. Here’s a link to the new version of the machine.
https://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.com/ ... -907710001

Welcome to the forum, Michael.

First off, thanks for the welcomes.

That is some interesting information to know. That being said I have a few questions.

1. Is that a reputable site for buying online (aka is pricing fair)?
2. Would it be better to just buy the newer model?
3. If I ask him to drop the price for the 150 what would be a fair price in yall's opinion, something like 800-900?

thanks

Welcome to the forum!

I can't help but think you'll find the DC only machine limiting, and you'll wish you had an AC machine at some point. "Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.” If you think you might like to weld aluminum, would it be worth getting an AC capable machine right out of the gate?

Ya that is a valid point. It is definitely something I will have to think about some more.

My thinking was that I wanted to get more arc time stick welding, since I only have access once a week to a machine. Then go on to Tig later on, but ac/dc would of course be ideal.

I had one for years and loved it. It’s a great TIG box and you can learn an awful lot using it. Sure, an AC TIG is great too, but by the time you develop into needing it, you’ll justify paying the much higher price for it.

Artie F. Emm wrote:Welcome to the forum!

I can't help but think you'll find the DC only machine limiting, and you'll wish you had an AC machine at some point. "Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.” If you think you might like to weld aluminum, would it be worth getting an AC capable machine right out of the gate?

I couldn't agree more, I just bought another Tig welder because I wanted to do aluminum, but honestly when I bought my first Tig machine, I thought I would be happy using my Mig spool gun for aluminum. Good for heavy aluminum, but I found I needed/wanted an A/C Tig for thinner stuff.

My entry into TIG was all about aluminum. I couldn't buy a TIG machine that won't do AC. For that, you can go many directions:
New Chinese- it'd kill me to have it useless in less than a year with no recourse
New entry level Miller, or Lincoln- buying one was a waste of money for me.
Used heavy duty transformer- Great price, old technology, and a power hog

In my case, my third TIG welder is a Miller Dynasty 280DX

Willie

Bill Beauregard wrote:My entry into TIG was all about aluminum. I couldn't buy a TIG machine that won't do AC. For that, you can go many directions:
New Chinese- it'd kill me to have it useless in less than a year with no recourse
New entry level Miller, or Lincoln- buying one was a waste of money for me.
Used heavy duty transformer- Great price, old technology, and a power hog

In my case, my third TIG welder is a Miller Dynasty 280DX

Willie

Not all imports have "no recourse", just have to do your homework when shopping, check specs, read reviews, look into history, etc.... Again, gotta make a choice of being able to weld import, or not weld at all.

Welcome I wanted to do aluminum TIG so I sold a very good Everlast 150 and bought a Lincoln Squarewave 200 does AC and DC stick and TIG and not one complaint in a year of use.

IOC is a reputable company. $700-800 would be a fair price if it came with stick and tig leads. Brand new the 150 stl with tig and stick leads, and a gas regulator in a case was about $1100. It’s a work horse. Runs 6010 just fine and tigs nice. My first machine at home was a Thermal Arc 186, because I wanted AC capabilities. Haven’t been disappointed by it yet.

I thank you all for the great feedback. You have already been very helpful to a newbie. Given all the info, I will chat with my friend and see what he is willing to do, otherwise I look into some ac/dc tig stick machines.

bap_ wrote:I thank you all for the great feedback. You have already been very helpful to a newbie. Given all the info, I will chat with my friend and see what he is willing to do, otherwise I look into some ac/dc tig stick machines.

If you decide to buy, don't know your budget, look into the AHP AlphaTig 200X, right around 800.00