HELP!!! Need advice on whether or not to purchase!

[BusinessHippieRH]

Somebody local to me has a "lot" of 400smt and 300sm welders and Powerdrive II feeders for sale for a VERY good price... However, with there being no support for these any more, I'm a little hesitant to spend the cash.

I currently have a Hobart 205AC, but have been getting in to stuff where a MIG set-up would be ideal (tube for 4x4 bumpers, sliders, etc.). I'd like to keep the stick and gain MIG (TIG would be icing on the cake for further down the road). You guys seem to be the only ones that know a whole lot about these machines.

So: just how reliable are they, and what are the chances of repairs going forward? Or: should I just save up a bit more and either buy a good MIG or a multi-process that's still got support?

Now: The nice part of having a few would be scrounging pieces as things die.

However: I was hoping y'all could tell me just how reliable these things are. Note: this will be for hobby use rather than a production environment.

Thanks in advance.

[BusinessHippieRH]

So... I talked to the guy.

No leads or regulators would come with this sale. What connectors do these things use?

Additionally, testing them other than turning on and off would be unlikely. He claims they work, but doesn't want to spend the time for the price he's selling at... What should I look for in this case?

Thanks again in advance.

[Jawslandshark]

It really depends on the price, if I ran across a few cheap I would pick them up. Great welders, if they power up they should be good. Parts will always be needed for these so if you did have one broke then you could eBay it off. These use Tweco connectors. Let me know if you buy them and If you want to get rid of of a couple of extras I would be interested.

[ccawgc]

Don't but unless you can see them power up. With the feeder unplugged you should hear them tick. take a volt meter with you and you should
have dc voltage at the weld terminals. Plug feeder back in and tick should go away. Plug gun trigger. drive motor should work and the tick should come back. This is about all you can do with out welding. Should weld if it does all the above.

[BusinessHippieRH]

After talking to the guy again, nothing about it rubbed me the right way. He now has one of the SM400s up for $600 and a feeder for $200 extra on CL, and has pulled the original "lot" for sale. Seems the others didn't make the cut...

If anybody is interested, the CL ad is here https://raleigh.craigslist.org/tls/5998038539.html. I can try and find where I wrote down his number and get that if anybody still wants to inquire about the ones that aren't listed for sale.