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Old Red Miller welder ?

Jag

Well-known member
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
497
Messages
80
Loc
Commieland
Did Miller ever make red machines?

I have a buddy thats old enough i think hes planning his exit and at random just gives me stuff.

Today i get a call he wants to give me his welder and all the supply's, im not the guy to take stuff free but he was adamant.

I only had a second to glance at it today but im fairly certain it said Miller. Old snap on shade of red.

Looks to be from the 50s, has an oil cooling fluid pump on the top, is tig and arc, Possably mig as there was also a bunch of wire spools in the supply's. Its on a cart and is approximately 5’ high, 4’ deep and 3’ wide with a bottle thats at least double the size of my 120s maybe bigger.

Its on a cart with 8” hard rubber wheels but Weighs enough ill have to use the Kubota to move it.

I have no experience with old machines but this guy built alot of high end stuff with it during his life so im sure its a good machine.

I wont be able to get over to pick it up for awhile. Any idea what model it might be?

Edit: he mentioned its all american made but has a german made oil pump.

Ive never even seen an oil pump on a welder let alone know any details of how it works. I assumed the oil cooling was like the modern stuff with a cooled torch but its apparently for the wizard making the magic inside the machine.
 
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Idk much about the oil stuff but it could be a transformer cooling system.

Some large transformers used oil instead of solid packing. Idk if that ever made it into welders.
 
total newb said:
Idk much about the oil stuff but it could be a transformer cooling system.

Some large transformers used oil instead of solid packing. Idk if that ever made it into welders.
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Im really curious, this things huge and not Miller blue. Ive seen it sitting in the corner of his shop for years but never payed that much attention to it i guess. Ive also seen the race cars and show cars this old guy built with it so im kind of excited. He was big in building flathead V8 dragsters back in the day.

Im into nostalgia stuff so im sure ill figure it out.
 
ridenby said:
Contact Miller?
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Maybe after i drag it over to my shop. I may stop over there tomorrow but i really need to make some room in a corner, this things huge. Im sure I can google some numbers after I look it over.
 
Jag said:
I only had a second to glance at it today but im fairly certain it said Miller. Old snap on shade of red.
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Snap-On had (has?) "Muscle Mig" units - so there is a MM250, MM350, etc. on the side of them. First one I saw I was confused and wondered if Miller (Millermatic - MM250, etc) built them for Snap-On. I don't think that's the case.
 
PAToyota said:
Snap-On had (has?) "Muscle Mig" units - so there is a MM250, MM350, etc. on the side of them. First one I saw I was confused and wondered if Miller (Millermatic - MM250, etc) built them for Snap-On. I don't think that's the case.
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They're made by ck systematics or something like that. I had a MM250 for years and agree at a glance it could be confused for millermatic. I kinda miss that thing, it was a big, ugly and way overpriced but I think it welded great. Would have kept it but I wanted a spool gun and couldn't stomach 2k+ so I sold it and bought a miller.

I have seen red millers, but they were the 4 pack industrial units in olifield auctions.
 
Not as old or fancy as I thought, turns out someone just decided to paint it red sometime before my buddy bought it.

Its a Miller 330a/bp

Im sure i can find metal to burn up with it. Comes with more tungstan and filler rod then ill use in my lifetime.

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Hey man, you can do a lot worse than an old miller transformer AC-DC tig machine with high frequency. Not much you can't weld with one of those.

I think those were the cats ass back when they still called it heliarc welding.
 
Ive got my share of modern metal sticker togetherers but ill probably use this one for an occasional project just to keep its history going.

And Larry did particularly call it his old heliarc machine with heliarc gas bottle.

The bottle is at least twice as big as my 120s and full. I may take a break and go make a giant sculpture out of random shit at the shop this weekend.
 
That's awesome.

The 330 A/BP is a great machine. 800+ lbs and 460 amps. It was the best of its time. You can still get great results with one even on aluminum.

I've been casually looking for a very clean late 80s blackface 330 A/BP for few years now.

Your friend really did you a solid with this.
 
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WESTOF7 said:
That's awesome.

The 330 A/BP is a great machine. 800+ lbs and 460 amps. It was the best of its time. You can still get great results with one even on aluminum.

I've been casually looking for a very clean late 80s blackface 330 A/BP for few years now.

Your friend really did you a solid with this.
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I dont really need it but he knows im the guy that will actually use it. I'm very sentimental and nostalgic, especially when it comes to tools. Ill definately use it on a project here and there and put Larrys name in somehow. Hes a very cool old Marine.
 
Jag said:
I'm very sentimental and nostalgic, especially when it comes to tools.
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I've got a bunch of my grandfather's tools. Using them gives me a continued connection to him even though he has been gone for over twenty years.

I'm not sure that it applies to this situation as the newer welders give you a lot more features, but the other thing with older tools is that they're solid instead of the plastic and crap most of today's tools are. There's a lot of stuff I'd likely be willing to pay the same money for a 1970's or earlier version of than for a brand new out of the box version.
 
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