Quick question about a TIG welder

hman

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I just saw this Craigslist ad, replied, and made an appointment to meet the seller at noon on Monday.

https://corvallis.craigslist.org/tls/d/miller-econo-twin-hf-tig/6263077951.html

Unfortunately, I don't know much about TIG - but I've been wanting to learn and have been looking at equipment prices. $250 seems a very good price, even though it's an older piece of equipment. The seller says "it works well and is in good shape."

What I really need some help on here is (1) what I should look for before I shell out the bux
(2) is this indeed a good price?

Many thanks for all replies!
 
Seems fair to me. The 20' cables and torch leads aren't cheap and nice to have. And at least it's a name brand that can be repaired if need be and get parts for. Just try it out and make sure it welds as it should. If I saw one like that by me I would be on it.
 
That should be a dependable machine. Transformer technology for the power supply and what ever they call the spark gap for high frequency. I learned to weld aluminum with a miller high frequency box on an AC welder (same technology). All the bells and whistles they can add with solid state machines are nice till they don't work. This should still be welding in a 100 years.

Greg
 
$250 seems a very good price
Agreed!

I think it says 220V primary on the faceplate. So as long as you can power it, it should be great!

-brino

EDIT; and maybe get the name of the place he swaps the shield gas cylinders, some places don't swap other guys tanks.
 
for that price its a good buy if not just for the welder itself, those old miller transformers are a rock solid machine... as far as tig go's this add claims Theres a hi frequency box included so you would be able to start your arc easy and I believe do aluminum with the hi freq ac but you would have to manually turn on your gas, prbly on the tig torch itself where on a modern machine it would be done internally using solenoid valves... and the modern machines would have a lot more options of freq/pulse modulation plus lots of other gizmos to play with...overall this is a capable machine don't get me wrong, great starter rig specially at tthat price
 
A nice starter set for the money. The customer owned cylinder alone would run around $200 (full). Take your hood and some aluminum and have him run some beads while you witness the machine in action.
 
!!#*&^$##*((!!! Set up an appointment by email last night, offering full asking price. Phoned this morning to confirm for 12:30 or 1PM (~35 mile drive). Loaded the engine hoist in the pickumup and was just out the driveway when I got a text that he'd sold it. Crummy son of a sea cook! Not even forthright enough to phone.

Anyway, many thanks to all of you for your fast and helpful replies.
 
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It's not so much greed it's lack of common courtesy and not keeping your word. I guess those things don't matter much to some people these days. Turkey.
Mark
ps maybe it is greed tho. Maybe when he saw how many people wanted it he decided to try to get more for it. If that's the kind of person he is perhaps it's better you didn't buy it- hidden problems possibly
 
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