Intro Myself: jcanton (Joe Canton) Trailblazer fan

[jcanton]

Ok, I'm not a professional welder. But got started 15 yrs ago when I had a metal boat. I bought a cheap 110v Mig machine and wasted my money. So, I knew a welder that worked for NASA and asked him what to buy. He said "Trailblazer", and I did. Have never regretted it. I use it 3 or 4 times a year. It is a 250g Model. Also 10 years ago I bought a hypertherm portable plasma cutter. It was ok, not great. Probably me learning how to use it with dry air. Anyway, I didn't use it for a number of years and although it worked fine when I last used it, it dosent work anymore. Guess it has a shelf life. Repair shop said no more parts or parts too expensive so I'm out shopping for another Plasma Cutter.
Anyway, Last time I welded was last week to fix my lawnmower.

Will be posting msgs re: using my trailblazer to get 3 phase power (is it possible?) to run
a used 3 phase plasma cutter. I'm also interested in which manufacturer keep supplying parts for the longest time.

Joe

[farmersamm]

Hard to get 3 phase in a lot of places, but you can get a phase converter. Buy the top american brand(Phase-A-Matic), and don't get fooled by all of the "build your own" ads you see.

Also stay away from static converters, get a rotary.

[Oldiron2]

Hello, Joe;
I would think that, since the inside of the unit is all electronic, the only parts which would be a problem would be specialized integrated circuits on the boards. This site has some experts in the field of electronics, so perhaps someone here can help you with your old unit. If not, its parts might be worth something to someone here.
BTW, what part of the country or world are you in? [I would have used a slash between those words, but suddenly, when I hit the apostrophe key or slash key, weird things happen on my screen!]

[jcanton]

I'm in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. (btw, I dont know how to solder, at least very well)
I've already discarded the broken Hypertherm - I didn't realize it might be useful to someone.

btw - I'm glad I found this forum. By reading the replies I think I found the place where 15 years ago I bought my gear - Applied equip inc in dallas, www.weldersales.com. I'm so happy if it is them - then the place looked like a 20 acre surplus yard with used welders stacked shoulder to shoulder and on top of each other. The owner took the time to recommend appropriate equipment, told me he thought the city would chase him out of there, and then told me what I needed to know even though It was clear I probably wouldn't purchase much. He was partially wrong about that of course, I did purchase the plasma cutter, a spoolamatic 30a, good foot pedal, cables, and a gadget to connect my trailblazer to the spoolamatic, a HF arc starter, and some argon stuff and now I need a plasma cutter, the connection gizmo again (my wife lost the old one), and maybe a power source. Not exactly sure if this is the same place but I'm going to call weldersales next week. I would have bought the trailblazer from him but he didn't have one.

It's painful to see posts describing where local welding shops are trying not to be helpful because you bought the equipment on the internet or maybe because you are not a repeat customer. They loose a lot of business I think, and they certainly dont generate any demand,(think how many tools Home Depot sells to one time buyers) and then they complain about chinese junk. Those places could learn a lot from weldersales i think.

Joe.

[Broccoli1]

Originally Posted by jcanton

I've already discarded the broken Hypertherm - I didn't realize it might be useful to someone.

.

Good news though, Weldersales is a Forum member

[Broccoli1]

Looks like the 250g only has 4000watts Aux Power.