Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum but what I see so far has been great. I have a few questions.
My uncle is retired and now has time to work on projects of his own. I went out and bought a brand new Miller Tig machine and gave me his old ( And I do mean OLD) tig machine. It is a Hobart Cyber-tig 300 and it is about the size of a small refrigerator. The welder worked great when he last used it about 6 months ago so I see no reason it won't work now. The problem is that the torch, cooler and foot pedal were stolen out of the back of his truck. Is this machine worth putting any money into to get the parts needed to get it up and running? It works so there is no worry about that, but it is in fact old, 1982 I believe.
I have quite a bit of welding experience but none on this machine. The welders I use and have used in the past have been inverter type machines used for aluminum, stainless and titanium. Will this machine weld ANYWHERE near the newer (3-4 year old) machines I am used to using? I know that the AC balance can not be changed, but that does not bother me so much since the machine has plenty of power to work aluminum (300 amps).
I guess I'm asking... Is this a good machine if you can look past the huge size, old paint job and analog gauges? I will be using it to weld stainless exhaust parts (1/2" flanges to 14 gauge tubing), aluminum fuel cells (made of .090 aluminum) and steel roll cages (.083) for the most part.
The machine does not have to budge from it's current location so it's size is really of no concern. I'm just not sure if it is worth going out any buying a water cooled torch and food pedal if these machines are knows to be flawed. What torches are compatible with this welder? There is little to no info on the net regarding part compatibility with newer welders parts (Torches and pedals mainly).
I am also considering building my own tig cooler to save a few bucks. I have 2 or 3 Procon pumps and at least 1 motor left over from a small turbine project and a very large transmission cooler as well. I have seem a a couple of posts on homebuilt coolers but not enough to get a whole lot of useful information. Like how large of an oil cooler I should use, how much flow (In CFM's) I need to get from the fan(s) etc. Does anyone have any pointers?
Sorry for the long post, especially since it is my first, but I have a lot of questions and you guys seem to have a huge collective knowledge. Thanks ahead of time for any and all information you can share.
Most circulators pump about 1/4 gal per minute and have a pressure relief at aroud 60 PSI.. The cyber tig was a great machine in its day. big reliable and lots of power. However , it is now obsolite and some parts are no longer available particularily coils or transformers. Any tig torch can be used with an adaptor. Most LWS have them in stock. As for the foot pedal it may be a bit harder to get. As for if it is worth putting a few hundred dollars in to a 300 A ac/dc tig machine yes I would go for it.
Good luck
O.F.
Hello again everyone. Ok so I decided to get the welder from my uncle and put a few bucks into it to have a machine for myself. I went out and bought a Esab HP20 torch and an argon bottle. I found a foot pedal locally at the welding supply, used but works great. I hooked the welder up to tap water since I don't have a torch cooler yet. The machine is big and loud but works like a dream. I was worried that this old machine would take a lot of getting used to since I used modern Miller Tig machines at work (Inverters). This thing had PLENTY of power and I don't see any projects I plan on doing being out of this welders capability. I have decided to build my own torch cooler because pricing one at the local welding shop turned up a price tag of about $600. I guess this cooler will be my first project with the "New" welder. My questions involve the capacity of the cooler. From what I read the torch I have needs about 1 quart of coolant per minute. And I read on this forum that anywhere from 30-50 PSI should be fine, my Procon pump will handle this with ease. My question is about the actual cooling components. I have a large transmission cooler left over from an asphalt car (New and clean, not gunked full of crud) measuring 10 inches high X 18 inches wide and about 1 3/4 inches thick. Does this "Radiator" seem large enough? The local welding supply did not have a cooler in stock for me to look at so I'm guessing my cooler will be big enough but would like your input before going forward with it since coolers of larger or smaller sizes are easy to get a hold of. What about fans. I have a few flush mounted fans designed for electrical enclosures that run on 115 volt and produce 265 CFM each. The way I have my proposed cooler drawn out I will be using 3 of these fans. Should this be enough air flow? My designs coolant sump will hold just over 1 gallon of coolant, will this be enough coolant to keep my torch cool? Am I totally going overboard with this cooler and need something much smaller/simplistic or am I underestimating the cooling needs of a tig torch? Thanks ahead of time for everyones input. I value your help.Thanks again.
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