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So, I've been collecting welder parts over the last few months.  I finished a project earlier in the summer with a borrowed MM135 that, while nice, ended up just annoying the hell out of me in that I spent so much time doing prep and I'd have to take a couple of passes on anything thicker than 1/8".  Hell, it wouldn't even do 1/8" in a single-pass reliably.  I finished my project and went on a search for a decent 240VAC machine to have around for my next project.I started poking around for various opinions.  I assumed that it'd be a toss up between the small Lincoln, Miller, or Hobart 240VAC machines, though I figured if I could find a deal on an MM210 or MM250, I'd go for it.  While doing some research, I discovered that some folks were using PowCon inverter equipment.  They're out of business and not widely supported, so their power supplies go for cheap on ebay.  Most of them seem to be coming from California, which is where I'm at, so shipping would be cheap.  As an aside, I discovered why.  PowCon was heavily used in ship-building and repair, which is a large industry in San Diego.  I believe this may be why Arc-Products out of San Diego is still doing support for them.In any case, I found a 400SM on ebay for about $500 and bought it.  The 300SS/ST/SM units are more common, but the 400SM looked about the same to me and anyone can use a bit more power.  From what I could tell, it's the same unit with a slightly higher duty-cycle on 3-phase.  The 300A units that I'm familiar with all come with 115VAC accessory transformers and require the use of an external contactor relay.  This is pretty common for older welding equipment, while more recent equipment runs off of 24VAC and expects the contactor relay to live inside the power supply.  Once I received the welder, I was pleased to discover (after much research) that it was one of the more recently built "fan-on-demand" units that comes with a 24VAC accessory transformer as well as a built-in contactor, switches to enable both remote voltage control and remote contactor control, and the standard 14-pin connector.  This pleased me very much because the wire feeder that I found runs on 24VAC.  It was a fortunate accident that I could just plug it straight in and have it work without any intermediate electronics.The wire feeder itself is a Miller S-64 unit that I found on ebay for about $400.  It was in excellent condition, but it didn't come with a gun.  It's also the basic unit so there's no meters, no remote voltage pot, and no preflow, postflow timers.  I was looking for a Miller wire feeder, so that I wouldn't have difficulty getting consumables and support.  I also liked the idea of having a 4-roll gear-driven feeder, which is certainly not something that's required for a hobbiest like myself, but it's nice nonetheless.  I purchased a Miller 400A Roughneck gun to go with it, and then promptly discovered that consumables for that gun are a pain in the *** to get.  It's also a pretty large gun, so I purchased an M-10 gun as well for .025 and .030 wire.  If figure that I'll use the big gun for .035 and .045 and I'll never need to swap liners if I need to change wire sizes.  I got both guns for about $120 each and drive rolls for .025,.030, and .035 for about $30 each.  I got a 125CF cylinder from the local gas supplier for about $150 and a Victor Flowmeter off of ebay for about $20.A friend of mine has been hassling me to help him weld up his motorcycle frame, so I hauled everything over to his house to set it up and test.  I was pleased to discover that I could leave my truck at home and that everything fit into the trunk of my 2001 Accord.  I got everything over there and connected it up, without a cart, which is going to get annoying.  I installed the drive rolls and guides, fed the wire through the M-10 gun, installed an .030 tip, set the flowmeter and held my breath.  I brought several pieces of 1/4" plate to test on, so I put the gun down and pulled the trigger and woo, dammit!  I've only ever mig-welded on single-phase transformer power supplies and I've never seen an arc that smooth.  The very first bead was close to perfect and almost completely spatter-free.  I spent some more time futzing with the settings and running test beads.  At some point, I decided to try the spray setting in spite of the fact that I was using C25.  I was able to get something between globular transfer and spray just fine off of 240VAC.  Unfortunately, the M-10 gun isn't really rated for that that kind of current.  The tip of the nozzle started deforming and the end of the tip was completely melted after just a few seconds.  I also charred a brand-new set of Tillman 850s (damn I like those gloves).  I'm going to have to get some 98/2 to really see how well it can do spray.  It seems that nobody does spray with .025 wire, I guess because deposition rates wouldn't be very high.  I theorize that spray with .025 wire would produce a really nice spatter-free weld at lower deposition rates on thinner materials which would be cool for someone like myself who isn't doing production welding and would like to do spray on something like 1/8".Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me to photograph any of the beads, or the equipment.  I'll probably have to build a cart for it, next so, I'll get some photos soon.  I'm also negotiating for some shop space that is equipped with 3-phase.  I really want to hook up the big gun and see what this thing can do on 1-inch plate.Unfortunately, the manual is a bit limited and there's no "door chart".  I'm going to get voltage and current meters setup and make my own.  For now, I'll use clamp-meter and a multi-meter for that, but eventually, I plan to build and install a permanent set of meters, either in the wire feeder, or more likely as a separate piece because I'd like to use some big-damned bright displays for that purpose.So far, I'm into the welder for about $1300-1400, which is about what I would've paid for a new MM210 and I have something that's more comparable to an MM350 or an XMT MIG Runner package.  In the future, I'd like to get a push/pull feeder for aluminum and a pulser.  There is a pulser that was made for it.  One just showed up on ebay, unfortunately I lost the auction for it.  I may just get the manual for it and make my own.-Heath
Reply:Allllrriigghhhttttyyyyyy then.... Thats really cool dude, hope you weld for ever and ever, amen
Reply:Hey!!!!!Congrats!!!!Don't forget that just because you think of it as a mig welder doesnt limit it to just mig welding.  You now have a bad-boy, tote-around stick welder and a pretty decent scratch tig machine for steel.If you like, I'll take some pictures of my hi-freq unit's internals so you can rig up one to do HF starts.  The 300st actually uses a capacitor to start the tig process, but modification makes it your own.  I think there is like 4 components in the hf unit and no moving parts, cept a switch.  You probably have all the parts in a drawer somewhere.  There is a website somewhere that even shows you how to build one out of things like depleated uranium, ping pong balls, and silly puddy, or something like that, for around $25.  I also have some detailed pictures of the powcon foot pedal, if you would like to take a shot at that also.  Projects lead to more  and bigger projects....the closest thing to perpetual motion known to man.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:SMAW is something that I'll likely not do.  I did it way back when and didn't like it so much.  Mostly, I hate chipping off slag.  The welder came with leads that included an electrode holder.  I took it off and put on a terminal lug to connect it to my wire feeder and will probably never use it again.  Obviously, I'm biased, but if I end up with a pile of scrap plate and some time on my hands, I might try stick again.I am aware that the unit will do TIG.  I've been scheming in that regard.  It looks like I can pick up a Miller HF-251 for a few hundred bucks.  It's cool in that it also includes a gas solenoid.  However, I could probably build something myself for much cheaper, since all I need is the starter and not a stabilizer.  The foot pedal is also something I'll figure out myself.  I'm pretty sure I know what needs to be done there.  At this time, money is an issue.  I've got a lot of wants and I need to prioritize them.  I'd like a new chopsaw real soon now, and a plasma cutter is in the future as well.  I'd really like to have the plasma cutter for tube notching, which is something that I think will go well.  TIG will come, it's just a question of when.  I would like to see photos of your starter.-Heath