Glad It's helpful. I haven't needed to, but if you have issues with the high frequency, you may need to clean and or adjust the points. There really isn't too much else to go wrong with them. I think it's a great machine for a home shop.
1. 6010 and 6011 will last years without any special handling, as long as they don't get wet, although there's some disagreement about that last part. 7018 is sensitive to moisture, and needs to be kept in a rod oven above 250F or used within 8 hours, per AWS. Don't ever buy 7018 if it's not in a hermetically sealed package. Harbor Freight's 7018 is completely unusable for this reason. 2. You should only brush in one direction on aluminum, because going back and forth will re-embed the dirt back into the metal. And definitely don't use the same brush you use on carbon or stainless steel. And for critical aluminum welds, be sure to wipe with acetone after brushing. 3. 308 and 316 stainless are both great general purpose filler rods. 316 being preferred if you're ever expecting to do food grade. If you're sticking carbon to stainless, 309 is the ticket.
That's good to know about the 6010/11 rod, that's probably the only stick rod I'll use with any frequency. I felt like such a dope when I used my formerly aluminum brush on the steel(especially immediately after saying not to), my only excuse is that it was right next to me and I'm an idiot. Thanks as always for the good info, see you next week!
I have the Airco version of this, made by Miller but rebadged as Airco. The HF start stopped working and I've tried everything I know of to get it working again. They are pretty simple, just relays and stuff, but I still can't get it going. Otherwise, it's been a great machine. Sometimes it's hard to find someone that works on the older stuff.
You kinda gotta fix it yourself if you want to run the old junk. That said, I have found that your local miller dealer will email you the technicians service manual if you ask nicely. Be sure to let them know you want the technicians service manual and not the regular owners manual. Good luck!
At the bottom of the front panel where the leads mount is a set of hi amp contacts that have to be clean and and the right gap to be able to make the hi phase ark kick off and work along with hi phase capacitors
OK, correct the start. This is a miller dialarc, not a lincoln ieal arc. Currently bringing one out of retirement. Short turm work's well but lean on it for a while with stick and goes inconsistent. May be a basic machine but sending it in for a tune up. Hopefully nothing major. Parts will be a bitch. ---- ANd bake the rod when she is out shopping. Gives you time to air out the kitchen.
I ran it off 30amp 220v for a while, then upgraded to 50amp when I got my new garage. technically it can pull 78 amps at full load, but I've never popped either size breaker with it. I upgraded recently to a miller syncrowave 300 and it's still on the 50 amp breaker, and it's still been fine, even welding aluminum.
You should reach out to your local miller dealer in your area, and ask them for digital copies of the regular and technicians manual for your machine. Mine has emailed them to me for free on old welders no problem. The HF is just the on/off/continuous switch on the front. Use continuous for aluminum, and on for everything else. Off is just for stick welding. If it's working your welding arc will start itself, and if you are far enough away from the work piece the arc won't start but you will hear a high pitched buzzing sound. There is an adjustable gap in the front of the machine, under the panel. you need to set the gap at .008 inches with a feeler gauge. If that doesn't do it, the technicians manual should be able to guide you through troubleshooting it. Honestly I've never so much as touched mine as it has worked flawlessly for me. good luck and feel free to ask more questions and let me know what you find.
