[Samana76]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here. I'll be soon purchasing a tig welder for automotive purposes - autobody, manifolds, and frame/tube work - in steel and aluminum.
I am adding a new power line to my garage with either a 100A or 60A (I still need to decide, partly based on the cost of installation and partly based on what tig welder I'll be buying). I've been reading up on a number of welders from Miller and Lincoln in this site and am evaluating the purchase of either a used Syncrowave 250 DX or a used Precision TIG 275 TIG. They are bit hard to find used, however, and at decent prices.
Searching I ran into this used Miller Syncrowave 350 welder for sale. It should be an LX as it is a 1998 model. It comes with all of the parts including an argon regulator and an external Miller water cooler. The guy is asking a little over $1000.
I would like to get your opinion on this welder, if the price is good, and if you think it could be a good welder for my purposes. I know this welder sucks up a lot of juice and I would opt for the 100A line in this case. Would this suffice?
Any and all help and suggestions is much appreciated.
Thank you.
Igor

 

[trackbird]

You're not likely to run it "wide open" on a 100 amp breaker, but it will likely handle anything you reasonably need to do with it (no thick plate, etc). My SW tig 175 draws close to 80 amps at 175 amps of output on AC. The 350 could pretty easily double that. Lincoln suggested (to avoid nusiance tripping) using a 125 amp breaker for AC work or 100 amp for DC only. I have a 100 amp breaker and it's never been an issue. In theory you'll be able to run around 200-220 amps of AC output (assuming similar effeciency to my transformer Lincoln, which may not be completely accurate) to draw 100 amps (your line voltage will also impact this number and can cause it to be a bit more or less). I'd still take a 350 if I had the option. If you run into power issues, you can upgrade the wiring down the road...or go a bit larger now.

 

[Samana76]

Hi trackbird, thanks for your reply. So the SW350 LX - a 1998 year model - is still a very good tig welder? Everyone seems to suggest that the one to get is the DX, however that is completely out of my budget. Do you know the differences between an LX and a DX?
At about 200-220A AC output what is roughly the thickest steel and aluminum I can weld?
Thanks.
Igor

 

[DSW]

The Syncro 350 is a lot of machine. $1000 with a cooler, if it's in good shape, is a steal. I'd be very tempted to grab it if I had the cash and upgrade from the Syncro 200 I have right now. It will do anything you ever want it to do, except be "portable". It's more machine than you need, but at that price I'd say go for it.

The down side will be the heavy weight and the high power draw. 100 amps should give you the most of the power range with no issues. They come with and without the power factor correction (PFC). That will change the input you need. With the PFC the unit will draw less overall, but will use more at idle. Without it, you need a bigger input. All this is listed on page 9 in the manual.

http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o363aj_mil.pdf


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[fortyonethirty]

$1000 Bucks for a sync350?! That's steal! Hurry before someone else get's it!

I run my syncrowave 300 on a 50 amp circuit and only rarely pop the breaker, so infrequently that it's not worth the time to upgrade, much less the cost. If you're starting from scratch, definitely do the 100, but if it's an upgrade from the 60, try it first.

 

[Thiel-Metal-Fab]

wow 1000 bucks for a sw 350 , thats as good of a deal as my sw351 i got for 500 bucks , id take a 350lx for 1000 any day .

id jump on that .

im running my sw 351 on a 60amp , and running 200amps all the time .... mine has PFC to though .