Welding Tips and Tricks

What would it cost me to MacGyver a foot petal and TIG torch to a miller dial arc HF?
are they good machines? one is available locally for a decent price with an argon tank.

The HF has a remote port. You can just buy a pedal for it. I'm pretty positive it also has a gas solenoid built in as well. It's pretty much built for tig. Go to the Miller website and download the manual. It'll confirm what I'm sayin.

If it's got the solenoid, it's an easy hookup. Connect It the same way you would any other machine. If it doesn't, you'll need a torch with a valve. Still pretty easy to hook up.

I think I am going to pass on the Dialarc. it has a gas valve not a solenoid, it uses a particular foot pedal (Miller RFC-23A) that is almost $400. then with the cost of a torch and even a home made water cooler it just gets too pricy.

Have ya looked at ssc controls for the pedal?

AFSATCOM wrote:Have ya looked at ssc controls for the pedal?

no ssc never came up in my web searches
the front of the machine has 2 separate 3 prong twist lock connectors
the miller foot pedal uses an old school rheostat to control amperage on one of the 3 prongs then the other opens and closes the gas valve.
I found a lot of different threads on various forums that were 1-8 years old about what is necessary and there seemed to be no cheap fix.

AFSATCOM wrote:Have ya looked at ssc controls for the pedal?

That's one of the pedals that they don't make.
If a guy watches they can be had for $150-$200 on used ebay.

Nevermind didn't read the rest of the posts. As far as adapting an SSC pedal, you need one of the Miller remote Amptrol boxes, which if you can find one aren't all that cheap because no one really wants to sell them, and you need to find the correct Amphenol connector. My dad probably has all the part numbers written down if you'd be interested, I texted him and told him to check this thread out when he wakes up. In regards to whether they are a good machine or not, never once have I heard my dad complain about his, and he's had it close to 30 years maybe? It's been around as long as I can remember, and I'm 22!

GreinTime wrote:In regards to whether they are a good machine or not, never once have I heard my dad complain about his, and he's had it close to 30 years maybe? It's been around as long as I can remember, and I'm 22!

FWIW this machine was made in 1976. the guy cleaned it and repainted it. it looks nice, but unless I could get a petal and a torch for under $300 it would not be cost effective.

FF,
Sam's right that I have had the same welder since 1982 and bought it used, it's a 1978 model if I remember correctly. You can buy an interface to upgrade it to use a 5-pin Miller control, hand or foot, so in turn you can get a 5-pin SSC, which I did. Problem being is that interface (MIC-4) is harder to find than frog's hair and if you find one it would take a court order to force it's owner to sell it for any price. It took me 10 years of honest searching before I found one at an industrial online auction. I already own the RFC-23A so I wasn't without a foot control so time was on my side. You can find the RFC-23A controls used on Ebay and the like for not alot of money and they are dependable but a little clumsy because of size and weight.

The torch can be a simple gas cooled torch with or without a valve since they come with a gas solenoid valve built in and some come with the water valve built in so you can use your city water and run it to a drain if you want to use a water cooled torch.

I've put one capacitor in this welder about a year ago and that was it's total maint. cost over it's lifetime. It's heavy and uses power like it was free, but it fires up every time you need to weld something and will weld it all day long. You'll give up before it does.

Len

I have a mic-4 if anyone is looking

FWIW I have given up trying to afford an AC TIG welder. To do what I want to do, I need to spend $2,500, and it is just not going to happen without divine intervention.

the whole thing, tell'em just send the pedal and to reauction the welder
http://www.hoffonlineauctions.net/cgi-b ... hoff25/464
or this
http://www.hoffonlineauctions.net/cgi-b ... hoff25/761

or this
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/t ... 46737.html

Bob@ims wrote:I have a mic-4 if anyone is looking

Bob,
I'm looking for a mic-4.....please PM me.....I'd like to know how much you want for it, if it's still available.
RJ

I'm looking for rcf-23a or a mic-4 if anyone has one?