What's new
What's new

Marquette welder

pianoman8t8

Hot Rolled
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Location
Maine, USA
I'm considering a TIG welder, trying to decide between a Lincoln IdealArc 250 AC/DC, Miller 330 A/B, or Marquette 300amp AC/DC TIG. The Lincoln would come with a tank, no reg, air cooled torch with finger on/off trigger, few cups and lenses, cart. Miller would come with liquid cooled torch, foot pedal, water pump. Marquette would come with water cooled torch, 5gal bucket with pump (same setup as the Miller). Prices are descending respectively, Lincoln $850 (which I've been told is way too much), Miller $500, and "make offer" on Marquette. $300 give or take likely. All are functional. I have enough power to run any of them, all are single phase machines. The Marquette is very close by. For welders, I currently have the usual Lincoln 225ac red tombstone stick welder, and a Century 130 120v mig with small tank. Been wanting to get into TIG for a while, don't want to spend a boat-load on one though.

The Lincoln has a 40% duty cycle, Marquette 60% duty cycle, and not sure about the Miller. Likely wouldn't touch that hardly ever anyway I guess. What do you guys think?

Also, I've been told that if I wanted a foot pedal for the Marquette, it's going to be a pain to find one due it not being a simple 5v circuit. Is there a more common-brand machine that would have a compatible pedal if I wanted one?

Remote.jpg

Screenshot_20210113-094851_Messages.jpg
 
The Miller 330A/BP has 100% duty cycle at 240 amps and 60% at 300,I have two of these old transformer dinosaurs.
The foot pedal in good working order is worth about half the price of the machine itself.
 
I'm considering a TIG welder, trying to decide between a Lincoln IdealArc 250 AC/DC, Miller 330 A/B, or Marquette 300amp AC/DC TIG. The Lincoln would come with a tank, no reg, air cooled torch with finger on/off trigger, few cups and lenses, cart. Miller would come with liquid cooled torch, foot pedal, water pump. Marquette would come with water cooled torch, 5gal bucket with pump (same setup as the Miller). Prices are descending respectively, Lincoln $850 (which I've been told is way too much), Miller $500, and "make offer" on Marquette. $300 give or take likely. All are functional. I have enough power to run any of them, all are single phase machines. The Marquette is very close by. For welders, I currently have the usual Lincoln 225ac red tombstone stick welder, and a Century 130 120v mig with small tank. Been wanting to get into TIG for a while, don't want to spend a boat-load on one though.

The Lincoln has a 40% duty cycle, Marquette 60% duty cycle, and not sure about the Miller. Likely wouldn't touch that hardly ever anyway I guess. What do you guys think?

Also, I've been told that if I wanted a foot pedal for the Marquette, it's going to be a pain to find one due it not being a simple 5v circuit. Is there a more common-brand machine that would have a compatible pedal if I wanted one?

View attachment 310488

View attachment 310489

Show us a pix of the whole marquette machine, the plug can easily be replaced.
FWIW airco, as some other smaller names, sold rebadged miller welders, as well .

I've not known marquette to build anything other than stick machines, and small MIG welders.

This could simply be the case here, and you'd save money over the miller (which I own, and
recommend)
 
I think member 9100 or other electronics Guru's could help with a new pedal.
The high power pedals, are a large resistor, and inside the welder, it controls
a winding that chokes off the magnetism ...a "magnetic amplifier".

I think you could adapt a simple modern cheap footpedal, using a SCR chopper circuit (actually a lamp dimmer type of circuit) to control the heavier current that the old pedal did.
 
Of the three you listed, I'd get the Miller. They're very durable, and they made a million of the things, so parts are out there should you need any.

The old transformer tanks are reliable, good welders. Nothing to sneeze at. But the newer inverter based machines truly blow them out of the water in a lot of ways. Power consumption, AC waveforms, 2T 4T controls, physical size and portability, among others. I have a 160 amp Maxstar that is the size of a lunch box, whereas you need a forklift or a crane to move the 330 A/BP.

I realize you're trying to stick to a budget, but I would strongly look at a used Miller Dynasty or Lincoln Square wave tig. They are truly amazing machines. Even a Syncrowave would be a lot more user friendly on AC, as it is a square wave machine with AC balance. I see Syncrowave 250s for around 5 bills in my area pretty regularly.

Keep in mind that to run these machines on any decent amount of weld output, you're probably going to need a 100 amp circuit. Most common AC welding is done around 250-280 amps, and that will suck down the juice on a 240 single phase circuit.
 
Turns out the Marquette is a re-branded Miller 330 A/B. That being said, the actual Miller 330 A/B for sale I think would be a better deal because it has a more substantial water pump (1.6gph 60psi) and foot pedal. What a beast it is! I honestly don't think I'd have the room for this 330A/B (or rebranded version), but a syncrowave 250 on the other hand, I could fit in the shop. The Marquette on its rolling cart is easily 42" deep or more, and for where it's going that's about 6" too long. There is a syncrowave 250 for sale locally, although I haven't heard back from seller yet whether it's air or water cooled torch. Has pedal. listed for $1k, but it's been listed a while. Could probably talk them down a tad.
Pics of Marquette:
2021-01-13 16.03.50.jpg

2021-01-13 16.05.18.jpg

2021-01-13 16.09.53.jpg

2021-01-13 16.05.05.jpg

2021-01-13 16.23.46.jpg
 
Keep in mind that to run these machines on any decent amount of weld output, you're probably going to need a 100 amp circuit. Most common AC welding is done around 250-280 amps, and that will suck down the juice on a 240 single phase circuit.

Power isn't a problem yet, I have a 200amp service on the garage, with a 50kva xformer out on the pole. It's just enough to run the shop, but not the welder at full tilt with the Okuma at full tilt. I have 90hp of RPC out there, luckily the welders I'm looking at are single phase, so I won't need to run the RPC's to run the welder.
 
It was working great prior to being placed in storage several yrs ago, but damn it's huge... My shop is 18x32ft, this would certainly take up a sizeable dent in it...
 
And honestly, will I ever run into a situation where the few extra amps on the Miller/Marquette will make or break some project I may have going on, and how many yrs between instances... LOL
 
And honestly, will I ever run into a situation where the few extra amps on the Miller/Marquette will make or break some project I may have going on, and how many yrs between instances... LOL

If the inverter machines are too expensive, look for a miller dialarc 250hf
A 1/2 sized version of the 330 ab.
 
Welp, ended up pulled the trigger on a Syncrowave 300 AC/DC a couple hrs away with liquid cooled torch and Radiator 1 cooler. It's quite a bit larger than the Syncrowave 250, but the 1 for sale locally at a good price had already been spoken for. It won't end up being much smaller than the Miller 330/Marquette, but I think it'll be manageable and worth it. On the plus side, it's gotta be at least a decade more modern... LOL
 








 
Back
Top