• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

Bought a new one today

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,926
Location
WWW.
The 40 year old shop Airco mig welder finally gave up the ghost this last week. It was getting difficult to run
wanting to fluctuate voltage, you could hear it while welding. Some years ago I ran Linde, Miller, Lincoln and just about
every other major brand stick or mig. But I always liked the Hobart mig, so that's what I spent the bosses money on and
it will do what I want for the shop repairs.

s-l1000.jpg
 

Labparamour

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
734
Location
Washington
Very nice!
I have a 40 year old Hobart BetaMig 200.
Had to re-glue the magnet on wire-feed motor and new whip/gun. Otherwise, still running strong.
She’s been a solid machine for what I do.

And, with all the multi-voltage machines out now, I bought the Hobart 210 MVP- only run flux-core so far but very happy.
 

RZucker

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
4,077
Location
Wherever I end up
Occupation
Mechanic/welder
That should be a good machine, I run a Miller 252 with mostly .035 wire so it's overkill most of the time. But when I use .045 dual shield or solid wire is nice to have the extra capacity. I do have a little Hobart Handler 110V machine with .024 wire... my son has built no end of Jeep stuff with it, bumpers, racks, etc. He must have learned well even though he's actually a machinist now.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,926
Location
WWW.
When it comes to these types of tools/equipment I won't even look at it if it doesn't have a major brand name. Here's a funny one one about a boss that I worked for some years ago.
He was a Snap-On man all the way, He bought a Snap-On mig welder that I think was made by Century for Snap-On---What a pos, It never was consistent with arc from day one and
the spool drive would rat nest at the drop of a hat causing all kinds of hate and discontent. And Snappy really didn't know what to do about it. After while no one would use it they would
rather stick weld with the buzz than use that mig. One afternoon the boss was busy getting ready to do some welding with his pride and joy{he had never really used it before, after
about two hours of pulling burned tips, wire and rat nested wire out of it he went ballistic. He grabbed the closest thing available {a piece of 2" pipe about 4' long and proceeded to
cave the front and top in. But he forgot to unplug it sparks were flying and the breaker popped fortunately for his sake. He was so pi$$ed his ears were red.
 

thepumpguysc

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
7,525
Location
Sunny South Carolina
Occupation
Master Inj.Pump rebuilder
I know this really doesn't relate but over on the TBN site theres a thread about "Harbor Tools that DONT Suck"..
& the DIY crowd is praising the little welder HF is selling..
Maybe they don't know what they're doing, {which is common over there.lol} but theres nothing but good things to say about it.
IDK, I don't weld..
 

Mother Deuce

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2016
Messages
1,603
Location
New England
When it comes to these types of tools/equipment I won't even look at it if it doesn't have a major brand name. Here's a funny one one about a boss that I worked for some years ago.
He was a Snap-On man all the way, He bought a Snap-On mig welder that I think was made by Century for Snap-On---What a pos, It never was consistent with arc from day one and
the spool drive would rat nest at the drop of a hat causing all kinds of hate and discontent. And Snappy really didn't know what to do about it. After while no one would use it they would
rather stick weld with the buzz than use that mig. One afternoon the boss was busy getting ready to do some welding with his pride and joy{he had never really used it before, after
about two hours of pulling burned tips, wire and rat nested wire out of it he went ballistic. He grabbed the closest thing available {a piece of 2" pipe about 4' long and proceeded to
cave the front and top in. But he forgot to unplug it sparks were flying and the breaker popped fortunately for his sake. He was so pi$$ed his ears were red.
I did something similar to that to a coffee maker once... wouldn't make coffee and wouldn't quit beeping at me. Turn out that some genius (me) had not quite put all it's little parts back in right and it was trying to tell me by beeping at me. All I knew at 3 AM is that it wasn't making coffee...
 

kshansen

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,160
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
I did something similar to that to a coffee maker once... wouldn't make coffee and wouldn't quit beeping at me. Turn out that some genius (me) had not quite put all it's little parts back in right and it was trying to tell me by beeping at me. All I knew at 3 AM is that it wasn't making coffee...
Well you're not alone, I have had days like that. One I recall was a simple little carb on a maybe 3 horse Briggs. Can't get much simpler than that but for some reason I could not get the carb to stop leaking gas. Believe me I tried many things and just lost it! That sucker hit the concrete wall at about Mach 3! Ordered a new carb and engine ran great after that one was installed. Still have that old David Bradley garden tractor, has not been run in many years, almost afraid to see if I can get it running again. My arm is not as good as it was back then and new carbs are hard to find for them these days!:rolleyes:
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,087
Location
Delton, Michigan
I did something similar to that to a coffee maker once... wouldn't make coffee and wouldn't quit beeping at me. Turn out that some genius (me) had not quite put all it's little parts back in right and it was trying to tell me by beeping at me. All I knew at 3 AM is that it wasn't making coffee...

When I was 12, we had this fussy Epson printer that my dad hated. Never seemed to fail, he would go to print an invoice and the printer would just quit in the middle of the job. One night, my brother and I were watching tv while dad was in his office. We hear a loud, booming yell of angst, and crack and whip of a cord and here comes dad barging out of the computer room with that printer in hand. He covers the lving room in two steps and hurls that printer out the front door onto the driveway. My brother and I froze, not knowing what was going to happen next. Dad turns around, takes one look at our bug eyed, slack jawed expressions and bursts into laughter. "Get your coats, were going to office max."
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,087
Location
Delton, Michigan
I bought a Hobart Handler 190 about 6 years ago. It has been a nice machine, but I don't think I have 20 hours on it yet in 6 years. I ran flux core through mine for the project I was doing at the time, I've never even hooked mine up to a bottle of gas yet.

One of these days, when things slow down, maybe...
 

92U 3406

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
3,148
Location
Western Canuckistan
Occupation
Wrench Bender
When I was 12, we had this fussy Epson printer that my dad hated. Never seemed to fail, he would go to print an invoice and the printer would just quit in the middle of the job. One night, my brother and I were watching tv while dad was in his office. We hear a loud, booming yell of angst, and crack and whip of a cord and here comes dad barging out of the computer room with that printer in hand. He covers the lving room in two steps and hurls that printer out the front door onto the driveway. My brother and I froze, not knowing what was going to happen next. Dad turns around, takes one look at our bug eyed, slack jawed expressions and bursts into laughter. "Get your coats, were going to office max."

I think I was about 9 or 10 when dad bought an air grease gun because he was tired of the lever style. I think he got 1 cam tube greased and then spent the next 45 minutes trying to purge the air out of it. I'm just greasing away with the old school grease gun. Hear a dull thud on the other side of the truck. There's dad beating the **** out of the air grease gun with a 12lb sledge. I think that was the day we got the Lincoln cordless grease gun lol.
 

petepilot

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
2,168
Location
central shenandoah valley va,
I did something similar to that to a coffee maker once... wouldn't make coffee and wouldn't quit beeping at me. Turn out that some genius (me) had not quite put all it's little parts back in right and it was trying to tell me by beeping at me. All I knew at 3 AM is that it wasn't making coffee...
caffieneacide
 
Last edited:

DB2

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
1,007
Location
Winnipeg MB Canada
Weed whacker got the best of me. Pretty much wore out my shoulder joint trying to get it running. I smashed the motor end on a hydro pole about a dozen times. It was pretty quiet in the house after that so finally my wife says “I guess we need to go shopping for a new weed trimmer.” I burst out laughing
 

Tags

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
1,618
Location
Connecticut
I've had a Lincoln wirematic 250 for close to 20 plus years, has been a good machine for shop projects and welding buckets, plows, trailers, and truck bodies. Kick myself for not buying it with the spool gun attachment that can no longer be found.

I remember when we were kids, mom was making some waffles for a Sunday morning, dead of winter breakfast, I can remember the waffle maker perfectly, it was orange and black and the heaviest damned thing. It was causing her quite a bit of grief, and she has tons of patience, all of a sudden she mutters something under her breath, yanks the chord out of the wall, runs over to the back slider, opens it and chucks the thing out over the deck and into the couple feet of snow, my brothers and I rushed to the window to watch it sink down in the snow, she walked back into the kitchen and we were all just looking at her wide eyed and jaws dropped, she walked over to the cabinet, grabs a griddle and proclaimed " PANCAKES IT IS!!" We still laugh about that today....
 

DIYDAVE

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
2,416
Location
MD
I've had a Lincoln wirematic 250 for close to 20 plus years, has been a good machine for shop projects and welding buckets, plows, trailers, and truck bodies. Kick myself for not buying it with the spool gun attachment that can no longer be found.

I remember when we were kids, mom was making some waffles for a Sunday morning, dead of winter breakfast, I can remember the waffle maker perfectly, it was orange and black and the heaviest damned thing. It was causing her quite a bit of grief, and she has tons of patience, all of a sudden she mutters something under her breath, yanks the chord out of the wall, runs over to the back slider, opens it and chucks the thing out over the deck and into the couple feet of snow, my brothers and I rushed to the window to watch it sink down in the snow, she walked back into the kitchen and we were all just looking at her wide eyed and jaws dropped, she walked over to the cabinet, grabs a griddle and proclaimed " PANCAKES IT IS!!" We still laugh about that today....

That one reminds me of me and by brother fighting at breakfast. Mom used to make crepes, smear jelly on them, fer breakfast, and we would get to arguin about who got the biggest half, and the rule was born, one cuts, and one picks his half. That evened things up, mostly. One day, I figgered out that the electric fryin pan hadda short in it... When It was my brother's turn to cut, with the metal spatula, I reached over, left hand on the metal sink, and grabbed his right ear, after licking my fingers! Viola, The electric wet willy was born!!;)
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,320
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
I did the same thing with a stapler. That thing would screw up staples and jam for what seemed like years. Finally we got a new one, I took that old one out in the parking lot which was freshly concreted and gave the concrete a strength test. It was satisfying to show that stapler who's boss.
 

Bumpsteer

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
1,340
Location
Front seat on the Struggle Bus
Occupation
Mechanical designer
One evening last deer season I sat in a different blind...getting a little chilly so I went to light the heater.

Fought with the damn thing for a good 20 minutes, finally unscrewed it from the tank, opened the window and threw it the lake.

Good riddance.

Ed
 
Top