Restoring a millermatic 200

[Greghen]

So a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a welder for sale. It was listed as a millermatic 200. When I first started welding it's one of the first machines I used and I still think it's one of the best machines Miller ever made. The price was very reasonable mostly because it didn't work. I've worked on enough of these machines over the years I was able to find the problem in about 15 minutes. I hooked it up to my C25 tank and it welds absolutely perfect these are great machines.
But as you can see by the pictures it was butt ugly, lol.

The white front faceplate really showed its age and it was hard to read some of the controls or see the dial for the wire speed setting plus The sheet metal skin was really badly faded as well as dented dinged and had about 2 dozen extra screw holes in it.
So I decided to restore it.
it doesn't need anything mechanically it works fine it's just a cosmetic restoration. So I had a friend of mine with a large break and shear bend up the panels, took them and all of the assorted mounting brackets and handles to another friend shop to be powder coated.
I tried to find a new faceplate but it's not available and the only company I could find that was willing to make one was in Dallas Texas and I had to ship my old plate down there wait a week or so and have them ship back at a pretty substantial cost.
So with the help of the internet for reference pictures, I created an image that I was able to get printed on a vinyl sticker. It's not absolutely perfect but you really got to look at it to be able to tell it's not original.
I also had them reproduce the round Miller decals on the side because they're no longer available for the last 20 plus years.
The only other thing it needed was a new set of wheels and casters in case I decide to do any high-speed test runs with it lol.
This is what happens when you lock a welder in his garage for way too many hours.

[Greghen]

Here's more pictures

[crugg65]

Wow really nice! I have the Millermatic 200 as well! Any chance you can give some more info on your decal makers? Did you get a new gun for it as well?


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[walker]

Nice work! Let me know when I can drop mine off for the same treatment.

[hawkfan9]

Nice job! I love my black faced 200. Great welders.

[Greghen]

Because of the size of the printer used to do the vinyl, it's 5 ft wide I had them print two faceplates and eight of the Miller side decals because I'm paying for lineal feet of the paper so if you have the same generation welder I got the decals for you, lol

[Greghen]

My local UPS store does printing, large format on just about any kind of paper so I just had to bring them the images on a thumb drive and they ran them off for me. Quite reasonable cost actually. The machine already had a 300 amp Bernard gun so there was no reason to upgrade it it needs a nozzle and contact tip, typical consumables.

[Dirtynails]

That looks fantastic. I have a white face that looks like yours did before you started.

[metalman21]

Looks great! I'm pretty sure those faces were originally silk screen printed and that might be the reason for the cost at that place in Texas. It takes a lot or time to prepare the film (art work), make the silk screen, set it up and print it, especially to do just one. It made sense at the factory producing thousands of them.

[guajilloweld03]

Looks great, a nice up grade is quick change drive roll conversion kit Miller 155454. They can be found on eBay for about 70.00

[Greghen]

The factory ones were probably silk screened but the place in Dallas is called the Decal shop so I'm pretty sure that they were planning to do a decal, lol.
A big chunk of the price was the shipping of the faceplate from Calgary Alberta down to Dallas and then back.

[Dirtynails]

Does the place that made the decal still have the file?

[Greghen]

The printer they used is 5 ft wide and I was paying for lineal footage so I actually had two of the front face plates printed and eight of the round Miller side emblems done at the same time. But yes I also have the files on my laptop.

[N2 Welding]

Looks awesome. Great job.

[Greghen]

I've had people ask me about the hinge so here's with the side door open and I even duplicated the sticker for the suggested welding settings for different thicknesses.
The hinge is just simple 2 inch piano hinge that I plug welded to the skin and then ground smooth.

[Welder Dave]

Very nice and the Bernard E-Z Feed gun is a great upgrade from the Miller gun.

[Munkul]

That's really nice

[Ggg6]

Very nice job!!!

[Doug_]

Awesome job I restored mine about 5 years ago with a lot of help from members on the forum.. You're right they are great welders.

[KeyAir]

Awesome!
Im restoring a black face plate 200!
Tell me, what is teh blue paint you used?

[BuckyB]

So a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a welder for sale. It was listed as a millermatic 200. When I first started welding it's one of the first machines I used and I still think it's one of the best machines Miller ever made. The price was very reasonable mostly because it didn't work. I've worked on enough of these machines over the years I was able to find the problem in about 15 minutes. I hooked it up to my C25 tank and it welds absolutely perfect these are great machines.
But as you can see by the pictures it was butt ugly, lol.

The white front faceplate really showed its age and it was hard to read some of the controls or see the dial for the wire speed setting plus The sheet metal skin was really badly faded as well as dented dinged and had about 2 dozen extra screw holes in it.
So I decided to restore it.
it doesn't need anything mechanically it works fine it's just a cosmetic restoration. So I had a friend of mine with a large break and shear bend up the panels, took them and all of the assorted mounting brackets and handles to another friend shop to be powder coated.
I tried to find a new faceplate but it's not available and the only company I could find that was willing to make one was in Dallas Texas and I had to ship my old plate down there wait a week or so and have them ship back at a pretty substantial cost.
So with the help of the internet for reference pictures, I created an image that I was able to get printed on a vinyl sticker. It's not absolutely perfect but you really got to look at it to be able to tell it's not original.
I also had them reproduce the round Miller decals on the side because they're no longer available for the last 20 plus years.
The only other thing it needed was a new set of wheels and casters in case I decide to do any high-speed test runs with it lol.
This is what happens when you lock a welder in his garage for way too many hours.

Wow, it looks brand new again.
I also picked one up cheap that needs some help. Maybe you can point me in the right direction. Wire speed is very erratic, liner is good, it seems i cannot slow it down. I have to crank the heat and run with it. I need to be able to slow it down and cool it off for some thin body panels.
Any ideas, these are pretty basic machines i just dont know where to start or if it is a common issue.
Thanks

[Lis2323]

Nice work. Machine looks awesome.


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[guajilloweld03]

Wow, it looks brand new again.
I also picked one up cheap that needs some help. Maybe you can point me in the right direction. Wire speed is very erratic, liner is good, it seems i cannot slow it down. I have to crank the heat and run with it. I need to be able to slow it down and cool it off for some thin body panels.
Any ideas, these are pretty basic machines i just dont know where to start or if it is a common issue.
Thanks

This should get you started in the right direction


https://weldingweb.com/vbb/threads/3...t=Miggy+capped

[blujean]

Because of the size of the printer used to do the vinyl, it's 5 ft wide I had them print two faceplates and eight of the Miller side decals because I'm paying for lineal feet of the paper so if you have the same generation welder I got the decals for you, lol

I'm restoring a Millermatic 200 as well. I bought it for 100, and needed work. You mentioned you have extra stickers, if so I am interested. Please pm me.

[Greghen]

I'll look for the stickers I recently moved and I may have tossed them out