Syncrowave 250?

[granitestatedestroyer]

They any good?

I may be picking one up for a deal today.

Yes I know they are older

Are they all able to TIG or are some stick onky?

I am wanting to learn TIG and this one is local and cheap.

Says it needs the remote repaired but it doesn't even come with a remote.

Doesn't come with leads, or torch, or bottle. Just the welder itself. But looks like I can get those for a few hundred.

Worth my time or pass?

 

[Twankie]

What is a “deal”?

It would have to be real cheap, like scrap value for me to buy it untested.

You can plug in the SN to millers site and download the manual. Should have the mfg date too. https://www.millerwelds.com/support/manuals-and-parts

 

[granitestatedestroyer]

What is a “deal”?

Couple hundred.

 

[Opiebennett]

Couple hundred.

That's pretty good - if it works. I paid $1200 for a synchrowave180 woth a water cooler, with a water cooled torch, pedal, and some tungsten - but mine was known working and able to be tested. If the board is toast, it's a paperweight - the boards cost more than an Everlast ot AHP welder, so not worth repairs. Generally torches are universal fittings, so you might be able to borrow a buddies ground and stick leads and at least make sure the board and transformer work...

It should do TIG in AC and DC, and stick.

Make sure it's single phase. those big machines are often 3 phase.

My synchrowave 180 can pull 60amps @220v single phase at full tilt, so a 350 to run wide open will take some serious power.
though for what we do, 180 amps is hardly ever needed. I've run mine full open when I was repairing an aluminum wheel once, but most of the time, I'm around 125amps.

 

[PAToyota]

I've got a 250DX with a water cooler. It's a decent machine. I agree with Opie that all depends on whether it is working and to make sure about single phase.

I've got it on a 100A breaker, single phase 240V and haven't tripped the breaker yet.

 

[Bacho]

Spent a lot of time with a Syncrowave 250. Good machine, not too fancy. A torch, foot pedal and water cooler are likely gonna be more than a few hundred. You might be better off waiting on a complete rig.

For my own machine I bought an old Hobart thats quite comparable. $250 complete with all that stuff.

 

[cj3a]

The 250 is signal phase and a couple hundred is a smoking deal. It is a industrial machine and should our last you.

 

[granitestatedestroyer]

Decided to pass.

Looks like after buying that cheap welder, torch, pedal, tank, regulater and all that I'd probably be into it for 6 or 7 hundred. Plus repairing the machine if needed.

I like to think i could probably find a complete setup for that much if I'm patient.

 

[PAToyota]

The 250 is signal phase...

Mine's been hardwired for so long I honestly couldn't remember how I had set it up, but remembered something about single or three phase.

They're single phase, but you can run them off a single phase of three phase supplies with jumper settings:

 

[cj3a]

Pa, that diagram shows single phase, the jumpers are for different input voltages. The 250 is a AC/DC machine so they are usually single phase.

 

[tracyb]

syncro 250 is a great machine.

for most people its hard to feed them enough power. they need a 100amps to go full out, or if you can find one with a pfc they can run full out on a 60amp breaker iirc. you konw its a pfc machine iff there is a bunch of capacitors in it.

 

[PAToyota]

Pa, that diagram shows single phase, the jumpers are for different input voltages. The 250 is a AC/DC machine so they are usually single phase.

That's what I said. It is single phase, but you can run it off of three phase by setting the jumpers.

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

They any good?

I may be picking one up for a deal today.

Yes I know they are older

Are they all able to TIG or are some stick onky?

I am wanting to learn TIG and this one is local and cheap.

Says it needs the remote repaired but it doesn't even come with a remote.

Doesn't come with leads, or torch, or bottle. Just the welder itself. But looks like I can get those for a few hundred.

Worth my time or pass?

I ran one for years
bulletproof

 

[Landslide]

Decided to pass.

Looks like after buying that cheap welder, torch, pedal, tank, regulater and all that I'd probably be into it for 6 or 7 hundred. Plus repairing the machine if needed.

I like to think i could probably find a complete setup for that much if I'm patient.

If you have no way to test it I can understand. I bought mine at auction years ago. Worked great then started pulling serious power making the wires in my breaker panel vibrate and we’re hot. Found out the start up capacitors were back so we just bypassed them and it works great again. Mine came from a trade school college.

If it’s a 250dx I’d look really hard at the one you found as they sell for good money and have for a long time.

 

[CarterKraft]

No kidding I would be really surprised if you got a ready to weld 250DX for 7-800.

$1500 would be a good price still for a bare machine.

 

[JMAN3203]

As said, they're awesome machines, but power hungry. One thing to note with the PFC (power factor correction) is that, per the manual, they draw about 50 amps idle to full tilt, whereas without it they're about 4-5 amps idle to 100 amps max power. Mine will trip a 40 amp breaker just turning it on. (Has PFC) Used an older Syncrowave 250 at my old job for 6 years, 5 12 hour days and an 8-10 hour Saturday never a problem. Though I do take better care of equipment than 98% of the people out there.