Well... I had a setback in trying to fire up the Syncrowave 300 I bought from Ig.
My shop is in a 1968 hay barn (no hay now), and some of the wiring is mine; some is original. My welding station works out of one of the original distribution boxes around the structure.
I went to hook it up to test. I knew it could draw about 130 amps, so I checked stuff. The main in the distro was 200A, but when I looked at the wiring feeding that main, it was #8 (damn!). Well... it had worked for years at 40 and 50 amps for my little Mig and buzz-box, so I thought I'd hook up anyway, and try a low amperage setting.
Guys, except for my MIG, I've never done any DC welding, never owned a TIG, and never had any high-frequency in any machines. This thing is like a paradigm shift for me.
It welds so smoothly at 125A in stick mode that I can almost weld blindfolded, just by listening to the arc. In TIG mode, it's so near impossible not to strike a proper arc on the first try that you'd have to work at it to fail.
This thing was built in the late '80s or early '90s, but it's more welder I think I'll ever need. All copper, too!
Ig doesn't know it, but he's looking for some other shop tools for me.
LLoyd