Lincoln v205 or Miller Dynasty 200DX?

Ernie, I have taught welding for over 40 years and I have not heard the term "crozzle" either. I do think he is referring to the American term " Stack of dimes"

Harry

Don't know what you mean by buzz box. I've run the 300 on AC tig and it had great control.

I've heard it has problems on AC tig, but the poster wanted to keep the true reason a secret to see if other owners had the same problem. Don't know what to make of that game. How do I know you aren't a Lincoln employee? ;)

Take a look at this direct comparison:

-dseman

If you mean does the inverter makes a buzzing sound, Yes.

You will find both machines do their job quite well.

The Lincoln has a slightly higher duty cycle, but it is made in Italy, and repairs are more time consuming. The Miller has Autoline, which means you can hook it up to any AC power source from 80 volts to 500 volts single or 3 phase, and it welds.

No other welding manufacturer's inverters have that ability.

I have had a Maxstar 200DX for 2.5 years amd love it dearly. It is the DC only predessor to the Dynasty 200DX.

The other machine in the same class and price range is the HTP America Invertig 200. It is another Italian made inverter, but at least HTP is honest about it.

All 3 machines seem to deliver as promised. I would tend towards Miller just for the Autoline feature, which has been priceless to me as a subcontractor.

My Miller Dynasty 200DX -- when I first started it I was unsure about this "rattling, tinkling" sound it made. Not unlike a loose fan. I am used to inverter welders (British Murex'es and Lincoln V205T) making a high-pitched whine, especially when started. The MDyn200DX has an additional sound.

I wanted to put this behind me so rang Miller and held the phone to the machine. "that's the Autoline technology, bringing in the power from the supply". Immediate, 100%. I was calling from the home of a friend who is an electronics guy who makes switch-mode power supplies, so put the phone on "speaker" and we got a quick, concise but very full description of how it worked. So yep, they all sound like that.

Richard Smith

My Maxstar 200DX has always whined, but when I hook it up to 460v 3 phase, it sounds really odd, but works great.

Kind of a strange syncopated rhythm.

The guys at Miller assured me it was just fine.

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote in news:011220032329391627% snipped-for-privacy@stagesmith.com:

A client of mine has a Miller 250 (something ;) ), relatively new. Much of the reason for that particular machine was for ability to do aluminum repairs.

I've cranked it down to, almost, spot weld broken trouble light hooks back on. I think it was with .035 too. Not that I have that much skill but a couple of guys were impressed. And so was I actually.

Hi - Richard Smith calling back. Sorry about that description without reference to convential terminology. In Britain you would use the term "crozzle" for really badly burned stuff around the rim of a pie-dish, or pork-rind heated 'til it is crunchy and just about going black.

Thing is, not now but when I first tried welding stainless, I used to move the torch far too slow, wave it around and not get good shielding and so on, so that I got horrible black oxides on my welds. These days, you can see metal shining through after hardly a rub with a brush.

I'm now trying to master back-purge, by-the-way. Haven't had anyone trying to qualify on stainless for some time at the college I go to, I gather. Hope to borrow a friend's Dremel tool and make lots of little holes along one side of a copper tube, which I can but into the corner-channel in my home-made 90degree outside-corner joint back-purging assembly (in sheet metal). Then will need to make the sheet-metal "thing" for butt-welds.

You should add a diffuser to your design. Stainless steel wool behind some thin screen materiel will help disperse the gas better.

What do you base that comment on, personal experience?

JTMcC.

No , discussions with 2 friends of mine who have been doing welding machine repair for over 15 years each.

Miller is much better at getting parts to the repair shops than Lincoln. Also Lincoln has some odd shop practices in assembling machines that can make it much harder to repair. In general, Miller makes it easier to fix their machines, starting from the case designs and working up through the wire harnesses and connectors.

I am not saying that they weld any better, just that they are easier to fix.

According to both of them, Lincoln and Miller machines break down at about the same rate.

Miller just makes it a bit easier to get inside and to get the parts you need.

Mind you there are much worse companies where it comes to parts and repairs. ESAB and MK are both pretty bad.

BTW Inverters are in general, more expensive to fix because you can't do compnent repairs on them. The boards are usually sealed in plastic, or silicone, and have to be replaced as a whole. Each machine has between 2 and 5 boards depending on design, and the cheapest boards run around $350.

Hence why a lot of companies sell off their inverters when they reach the end of the warrantee period.