airco dip cor 300

[down19992000]

i recently bought a airco dip cor 300 mig welder. i was just wondering if anyone had used one of these before? It has a real smooth arc and welds real good, actually i like it better than the miller xmt 304 we use at work.

[down19992000]

nobody has an opinion? thanks anyway

[sn0border88]

We have one, use it mainly for a spoolgun. It works good when its working, but that can be rare sometimes.

[down19992000]

really what problems do you have with it. just curious because i want to know what to look out for. thanks

[sn0border88]

ive never had to fix it, I just hear when its broken. I think its mainly our wire feeder and spool gun hookup that gives up problems, the welder itself is good as far as I know.

[RCDIron]

Hello, I own a Dip Cor 300 and yes it is a great machine. The only problem which I have experienced is since installing a spool gun and control to the unit is that it over penetrates the aluminum. I cannot tune it to where it welds aluminum properly, like my esab migmaster. Anyone have any hints on setting welding parameters?
Thanks.

[down19992000]

the guy at my local weld shop said that the airco 300 mig welder was made by miller in the late 70s and early 80s. does anyone know if this is true?? i know miller made some tig welders for airco but was unaware of them making any migs. if you know any help would be appreciated. thanks

[weldersales]

Miller made mig and tig machines for Airco. They are identical to Miller machines except for paint. All the little single phase one piece machines such as Dip Cor, Dip Arc, etc were not built by Miller. The ones we have seen were built for the most part by Mid-States, I believe. You can always tell for sure by serial number. Miller-built machines had Miller serial numbers and are easily recognizable as such. weldersales

[down19992000]

the airco dip cor 300 is far from small size wise. it is about 4ft tall and about 32 inches wide and probably weighs about 425-450 lbs.

[RCDIron]

Miller did make some of the machines labeled as Airco, such as old heliwelders and some engine drives which shared the same design. There were some units which both companies did not share. The dip pac and dip core wire feed welders were Airco only units developed and made solely by Airco which I believe was the company first to produce wire feed machines and introduce mig welding to the industry. Hence the name Aircomatic. When the equipment was painted red in the mid 80's it was made by Airco. Then late 80's merged with L-tec to form Esab. That's another story. But back to the Dip Cor 300. Does anyone out there weld aluminum with this thing? If so please write back about settings. Airco did not produce any welding parameters for this machine for aluminum. I've already checked with Arc Products (Airco literature & parts) and they have nothing.:help:

[down19992000]

my airco is painted orange not red.

[RCDIron]

Orange or Red it was made by Airco.

[jstasney]

i recently bought a airco dip cor 300 mig welder. i was just wondering if anyone had used one of these before? It has a real smooth arc and welds real good, actually i like it better than the miller xmt 304 we use at work.
they're good welding machines, keep the power slide switch contacts clean/lubricated and they're pretty trouble free. The power solenoid contact points need periodic cleaning/surfacing as well. Keep your fan clean and well oiled. Put air filters on your air intake slots with sticky back velcro holders to keep the insides clean. Start off as low on your volts as you can for aluminum, your material needs to be as squeeky clean as you can get it with a good degreaser and clear water rinsed clean and compressed air dried. Use new clean Power Scotch Bright pads on the weld areas to brightly clean off all AL oxides off of the weld zone. Rinse clean again and dry. Pre-heat the AL to 400 degrees helps with low voltage welding fusion. Push your puddle and back step on exiting the puddle to reduce the fish eye effect. Good luck.

[jstasney]

Hello, I own a Dip Cor 300 and yes it is a great machine. The only problem which I have experienced is since installing a spool gun and control to the unit is that it over penetrates the aluminum. I cannot tune it to where it welds aluminum properly, like my esab migmaster. Anyone have any hints on setting welding parameters?
Thanks.
You have a machine made especially for AL wire welding with the esab migmaster and a machine converted to weld AL with the Dip Core 300. You're comparing apples to pecans. The older technology just isn't the same with the Dip Core.
Look at my other post for help with Al welding and good luck.