ERNIE, a question I was told to ask you.

OK to sum up you fried your little Stickmate, and would like to upgrade to something bigger. You have reasonably stable mains power, but not a lot of it.

On the machines you list, any of the transformer machines would work, but I would avoid the shopmate like the plague. Miller invented that machine for schools, and that is where it should stay.

The best machine that I can recommend is the Miller CST280 inverter.

The best bit is the power efficiency. It makes 6010 rod crackle with joy, and runs 7018 at a purr.

At school we run it for extended periods of 180 - 210 amps output and it has never complained once.

I put it above all the transformers you listed, and also Lincoln's comparable inverter machine, simply because Miller has inverters down pat.

You will love the portability.

The other viable option would be a generator machine, but with fuel prices soaring I am not sure how that would effect your bottom line.

BTW I built a HUGE smoker/BBQ for the school from an old 300 gall> Someone named/going by Steamboat Ed (steamer) read the following post

I would just get Stickmate fixed.

Hey, Ernie, thank you for your reply.

I looked that machine up and it sounds good to me. I like the lower power consumption over the transformer/traditional styles. It's cool that it could do some TIG work as, while I was working in the shop yesterday, I was wondering if that process might work better for some work I'm doing where I do short welds in an open area and my MIG is leaving too much metal (even with the wire speed adjusted down). Since I do all my work in the shop a generator machine isn't going to do what I need; I have extended periods of setup and then intermittent welds to make so a grid-supplied unit is ideal.

I'm not sure what part of the country you're in but I get my trailer kits (axle, springs, hubs, bearings, hitch, et cetera) from abctrailerparts.com in Alabama (I'm in Texas). It's a small outfit, I think just the one guy, Randy, but he's been good to take care of my orders for several years and the one time I had a problem with an axle he got it taken care of. If you contact him, tell him Hartford sent you. It won't get either of us a break on the price but it will spread goodwill with him knowing I pointed business his way.

Just in case you've never done it, don't use an old propane tank if you can help it. Whatever they put in those things to make the propane smell is tenacious; I cut one up to make a charcoal cooker and I took it to the car wash and pressure washed the inside (after I had it cut open) and then make my cooker from it. It still smelled bad. I had to build a couple of wood fires in it to get a coating on it and I'm not convinced that I couldn't still smell that stuff some; I never cooked on it. I did, however, not find any evidence of the "pockets of gas" that everyone around here claim remain in the tank; the propane had long since vacated the tank, it was jut the stink that was left.

Thanks again.

--HC

The chemical is called Methyl Mercaptan. It is one of the stinkiest things on earth.

The only way I know to get rid of it is it burn it out with a BIG rosebud tip.

For the home smoker I am building the main tank is going to be a 100 gallon air tank. The smoker I built last year at school is a 300 gallon air tank that came from our air system. The BIG tank at school is a 500 gallon air tank I found at the junk yard for scrap price of around $180.

FWIW, I acquired a compressor tank (80 gallons?) free at a metal recycling place. I called the "boiler and pressure vessel" inspector at the city (Seattle) to find out what couold be done to test it to determine if it was safe. He quickly said he would be in the area the next day and offered to come check it for me. He came, and checked various parts of the tank for metal thickness using an ultrasonic measuring device, and assured me it was fine. No charge. Thank you for our fine government. Who says they can't do anything right?

B - O - N - U - S !!!

:)

But how did you get the scrap yard to give it to you free in the first place? It should have had value even as just scrap steel.

Regardless, love the input; maybe others can have similar results; very useful if you're trying to get a new air tank instead of a new smoker.

Thanks.

--HC

Impressive, I never knew what it was. Looking it up indicates it is related to or a member of a group of chemicals called thiols which are composed of, in part, sulphur atoms which would help, I think, to explain its funk. :)

Burning it out would be an arduous task to say the least, especially when considering a large tank. And God help us all with our little heads stuck inside a tube of steel burning that gunk out. I use (and highly recommend) a 3M 7502 half-face respirator (the 7500 series has the 7502 Medium and, I *think* the 7501 Small and the 7503 Large, but I do not remember for sure) and the 3M fitlter pads 2097. With that setup (the 2097 on the 7502) I cannot smell the grinder or the welder or the darned mineral spirits paint (Rustoleum High Temp quarts I spray on my smokers). The respirator costs about 25 bucks and the pads are, IIRC, about 10 bucks a pair. Worth every penny when you don't blow black mucus from your nose for hours after working in the shop.

Any thoughts, good or bad, on the other Miller "combo" units such as the Dynasty 200 they list under TIG machines? They claim it will do stick and TIG but list it under the TIG secstion of their catalog. I ask because, after another session in the shop today, I am wondering (dreaming) that maybe TIG would help me have better results on some of my finer welding (like hinges and door straps) and, if I'm going to pony up the cash to buy a new unit, I would like it to be the best it can be. I've welded aluminum one time only so I 'm not worried about needing to TIG aluminum, just mild steel. So, the CST 280 can do TIG but is listed under the Stick section of their catalog but the Dynasty

:)

--HC

Thanks aga> In article

Sorry according to Wikipedia I was wrong.

Methyl Mercaptan is a natural substance created by decay, or eating asparagus.

Learn something new everyday , or just die already.

Hm... that explains that :-).

scott

The Dynasty 200 DX is a full fledged TIG machine with AC and DC capability. It is a very nice machine, but does not have near the duty cycle or amperage output of the CST 280 in stick mode.

The Dynasty 200DX is a very nice machine, but for the heavy stick welding you are describing, the CST 280 is superior. I have had a Maxstar 200DX for 8 years and love it. The Maxstar is the DC only version of the Dynasty. If you need super portability and the widest range imaginable of input voltages, the Maxstar and Dynasty 200's win hands down with the ability to run on anything from 80 to 500 volts, single or 3 phase, 50 or 60 hertz. The CST 280 is a 220/440 single or 3 phase machine. It is primarily a Stick welder, but will do very nice DC TIG welding.

I still feel the CST 280 is the better machine for you.

I visit there often, am friendly with the help, and drop off a little homebrew once in a while.

Ahhh, yes, nothing like a little liquid gold to grease the skids. :)

--HC

Thanks, Ernie, for the reply. I am cool with that. I checked at the local AirGas place today and they'll sell me that CST 280 for 1,700 and change. I'm excited about that. I have someone already biting on the line for one smoker and should have an answer in a day (and a down payment)...then it'll be time to buy a new toy (plus the TIG attachments).

Thanks again for this info and the info on the thiols (with that info and what Gunner pointed out I think I can reconsider my ban on the use of used propane tanks).

--HC

HC

Let me jump in here. Ernie works at a welding school who buys lots of scrap steel from a local vendor, cuts it up into bits and welds it up again, turning it into even scrappier scrap, and then sells it back. When they have something like an old air tank he has the opportunity to pick it up for a low price. He certainly didn't bribe them with liquor as has been inferred here.

Also, you can make a smoker out of propane cylinders, but old air tanks are better. Small propane cylinders (20#) are easy to destink - remove the valve, pour in a cup of household bleach and add a couple gallons of hot water, pick it up and thoroughly slosh it around, then dump it out. Done. But a huge cylinder would be much much harder. You'd have to cut it open and then spray on the bleach solution, and the whole area would stink for a long time. Unless you have Hercules handy, of course. :-)

I wish I could find a place where guys who weld up smokers posted regularly. I would love to hear from guys who had been doing it for awhile. I only want to make one! :-)

Grant

HC wrote:

Grant, to be sure we're on the same page, I was certainly not meaning anything negative with my comment about offering beer in return for getting sweet deals at the scrap yard. Whether the sweet deals are facilitated by that offering or not doesn't cause me any animosity or ill will; when I visit my local scrap yard with stuff to dispose of I give almost all of it to them for free, even the aluminum cans. When I go there and want to know if they have anything I need I get free range to roam over the yard and usually get whatever I want for free; it's a good relationship and I was thinking of beer offerings in a similar light.

I have a 1,000 gallon propane tank I bought to use as an air tank but never did (fearing it might blow up if it was corroded inside and lacking a suitable way to test it). I was thinking, in light of the information about de-stinking with bleach, that I could dump about 10 gallons of wally-world bleach in there and run a hose in it for a while then seal it off and use my tractor to roll it around a while. Yes, it's probably pretty redneck...but it might work. :)

My advice on building a smoker would be to accept that mostly likely, no matter what you do, you'll find, when it's done, that you could have done things differently. With that in mind, use good materials and paint it well (I love the Rustoleum Hi-Temp in quart cans (use a big automotive-style sprayer) because it holds up well to the heat (even on the firebox) and also to the elements). The idea being, if you finish it and wish you'd done a bunch differently you can sell it and build another; that's what got me started.

Have fun!

--HC

Grant Erwin wrote: He

I have found that liquor has been one of the most efficient cost effective greases to get the wheels of commerce turning that I have ever seen. Politicians and all sorts of businessmen have known this since they hammered out the first round rocks. Cold drinks of all types work well, too. No telling you what a pizza or some hot coffee on a cold day would get you. It's just the idea that someone comes in and is willing to spread a little joy around while looking for scrounge.

I have had all kinds of delivery men, garbage men, counter men, and other men who I feel treated me a lot better (sometimes financially) because of a little extra grease now and then. And then if they were not agreeable to liquor, I'd ask, "What else would you like on the next trip?" If I ever profited less than I gave, I had the opportunity to end the arrangement. But I rarely did.

Steve

Hey, Ernie, any recommendations on what hardwareI should buy to run TIG from this machine?

Which, if I may ask, school to you teach for and what area of the country is it located in?

--HC

, HC

Air cooled... CK210 valve body torch, from CK Worldwide. Water cooled... CK230 Flex-head valve body torch. You will need a flow-gauge for the argon bottle. Smith ball-and-tube flow gauges are the best, but not the most compact. Victor and Western make more compact versions, but stick with a ball-and-tube type. Gas lens collet bodies, and Lanthanated tungstens.

I am the Topside Welding Instructor for the Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle, WA.

Topside means I teach them to weld when they are NOT in the water.

We train commercial divers, mostly for the petroleum industry, but there is also a lot of inland work in ports, bridges, piers, dams, powerplants, reservoirs...

I am also a Certified Weld Inspector, Non-Destructive Testing instructor, and a very serious cook.

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote: >

Are the correct cable and hose lines for the CK230, from the 300 series torches?

I bought a used CK230 flex-head torch, without hoses, thinking, I could hook it to the cable/hose lines for my CK20 torch, or the lines from a H35 series ESAB, neither of which were a match. I hate to go back to my local supplier, with my tail between my legs, to inquire or order. I had thought, I could do this cheaper by getting a used torch, since, my local source wanted to charge me full list for a CK230 setup. I kinda burned my bridges there. I cannot find an online parts breakdown for CK. This is probably, only going to be an occasional use torch for tight spots. I am hesitant to free up the dollars for a set of new CK SuperFlex cables at full list price and then some. I would like to source some hoses that fit.

Thanks, for any help,

Russ