Miller Pipe Pro 304 - How to keep the varmints out?

[pdeal]

I recently bought a Miller Pipe Pro 304. Mostly what caught my eye was the 12k watt generator. Having a welder combined would be nice too. It has about 2700 hours on it.

I opened it up and the mice had been living in the inverter. Not surprisingly the welder doesn't work. I got it pretty well cleaned up. The generator seems to work fine. There are two boards inside the inverter (voltage regulator and power board) that control much of the generator function so I guess these work ok since the generator seems to do it's thing fine. I changed all the fluids and filters and have been using it for about 2 weeks. I think I will remove the inverter assy for a good cleaning in the future. I plan to work on getting the welder working but that will be over time. I found a Technical manual for this welder on ebay and this has a lot of detailed info so it will be an interesting project.

The weather proofing is not so good and it has lots of holes in it for mice to enter, spiders, etc. I'm considering building a skid to set it on, getting it up off the ground will be a help and maybe closing up the fork lift pockets and any other big holes- maybe screw on covers. Also, it seems like it is not too rain resistant.

I suppose all the Miller engine driven welders share much of these issues. Anybody got any suggestions on improvements? Maybe a rain hood made from 16 ga or so to go over the whole thing?

[tapwelder]

Saw a video of a person partially fill 5 gallon buckets with concrete set jack stands inside the buckets. Then set his vintage car on the jack stands. Vehicle was suspended a few inches off the ground. Rodents cannot climb the buckets.

[pdeal]

Now there's one! I sort-of live in the woods and it's a never ending battle with them. I put poison around to try to reduce the numbers but it's still a battle. Then there are also the little mud bees that fill up every hole in every exposed outlet with mud. I have to put electrical tape over any exposed outlet. Then there are the spiders. And on it goes.

[Munkul]

We started using those ultrasonic rodent scare things around our farm.

[cwby]

There is a product called Fresh Cab that we use in tractors & equipment to keep them out. Works pretty good & will last a couple of months. works in any enclosed space. Most implement dealers carry it in stock or it can be ordered from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Cab-Bot.../dp/B00L236OMW

[ronsii]

We started using those ultrasonic rodent scare things around our farm.

I installed a bunch of those if different areas quite a few years ago... still saw evidence of the little buggers so don't know how good they really work...or maybe they significantly cut down on the number of rodents and there were just a few 'tougher' ones doing all the damage???

[duramax-rob]

after my kubota tractor got wires eat up, started using dryer sheets on tractor and got 2 cats. moth balls in small dishes set around help with the rest.

[mla2ofus]

Unless you're afraid of them get a couple of bull snakes and turn them loose. Best mousers around.

[pdeal]

Thanks guys for the ideas. The snake? We have black snakes around but I keep my equipment in a lean-to off the shop and they don't seem to make their way in there. The mice do though. I sort-of like the black snakes but they get to about 5 or 6' and they do startle me once in a while. They used to get into the rafters of one of my sheds and that gets your attention to walk in and have one of those hanging down.

[shortfuse]

Double barrel attack.....poison baits and traps. If one don't get 'em the other one will. Some people use those electronic zappers, but the bait and traps are cheaper and work well. If you have animals around that might eat the poisoned mice/rats, just use the traps. Peanut butter in the traps works wonders. I was catching one and two a night for a while, til I had no more mouse problem.

[Kelvin]

Watch out for birds making nests, too. I had f$cking starlings make nests on top of the oil-cooling radiator on my air-cooled Deutz diesel in my welder. Thankfully, I discovered the nest before I overheated the engine.

[user 9328330]

I killed a groundhog in the belts of a Big 40 when I started it one morning. That was a mess to get out.

[12V71]

I killed a groundhog in the belts of a Big 40 when I started it one morning. That was a mess to get out.

Give them a little time and they'll eat your wiring too. I had western rockchucks in my back field, a guy gave me a late 70's Chevy 1 ton dually that ran good but needed a trans overhaul. In 60 days the bastiges had eaten most of the wiring under the hood. It went to the wrecking yard.
.17HMR was the answer to that problem, I saw one a while back and a chunk of poison bait in the burrow took care of it.
Rabbits will do that kind of damage too, had some cottontails eat the electronic transmission control harness on my D6M cat once... $3800 later... It only sat for 5 days on a jobsite.

[vwguy3]

I was getting mice in my shop(pole building with sheathing and vinyl siding). I started using Just One Bite bait. Inside and outside.
Still were getting in so I went to the local scrapyard and got some stainless swarf. Stuffed that in the corners of the building and sprayed foam in it and no more.
Still using the bait outside.

[BillE.Dee]

had the little buggers living in my camper for the winter. Got some dryer sheets and cloves in a tin cup. Also put some moth balls around. Not sure if that is what kept them away but it worked for me.

[Hobbytime]

good old fashioned moth balls work great..just put some around the base of the welder an no rodents will come close...every few months when they dissolve, just replace..I have been using them for decades to keep all the critters out of equipment and shops....

[ronsii]

Careful on the use of mothballs!!! I seem to remember reading a study that links them to Alzheimer's or some other memory issues... but I can't remember exactly what it was...

[Hobbytime]

Careful on the use of mothballs!!! I seem to remember reading a study that links them to Alzheimer's or some other memory issues... but I can't remember exactly what it was...

only in confined places the fumes could be an issue...if I remember correctly...

[ronsii]

only in confined places the fumes could be an issue...if I remember correctly...

LOL!!!!!!!, aren't they predominantly used in confined spaces...

[pdeal]

Update- I did some things that are a little more permanent. I bought a square foot of small hole expanded metal from mcmaster and covered the big holes with that. I didn’t want to do anything to reduce cooling air flow. I also made some hole plugs from fender washers to plug some. And I build a skid to get the machine about 10” off the ground. Still needs some painting but got the holes covered so no mice can get in. Insects still can get in.

[ronsii]

Update- I did some things that are a little more permanent. I bought a square foot of small hole expanded metal from mcmaster and covered the big holes with that. I didn’t want to do anything to reduce cooling air flow. I also made some hole plugs from fender washers to plug some. And I build a skid to get the machine about 10” off the ground. Still needs some painting but got the holes covered so no mice can get in. Insects still can get in. I’ll try to post some pictures.

Sounds like you got a pretty good start on it so far Never hurts to add a few pictures... hint hint

[pdeal]

Here are a few. I tried to add them to the other post but messed it up.
There were also a few holes on the bottom that I plugged too.

[pdeal]

Oh, and I reread my first post. The other good thing is that I got the welder working! I took the inverter out, opened it up, and gave it a good cleaning and going through.

I found a burnt 200 ohm resistor and a burnt capacitor. There was a very well roasted mouse under them so i suppose he was the cause of the problem. I went through the circuit pretty well and tested some components to look for other damage. Couldn't find any. I replaced these parts and we're up and running!

It's too bad Miller technical manuals are not more available. It is very helpful and detailed. I've spent a good bit of time in my life looking at schematics so that helps a lot too.

I'm still not impressed with the weather proofing of the machine. I plan to keep it in my lean-to so it's mostly out of the weather. Hopefully it'll last me a while.

[ronsii]

I don't believe they sell them as 'weatherproof'

[pdeal]

Well heck it’s not exactly practical to use inside. Every engine driven welder I’ve ever see , almost, has been sitting out.