Stuck between a Miller Trailblazer and a used Lincoln Vantage 300 for my side work

Went with the Trailblazer after a buddy talked me into it, and now I'm wondering if I should have saved the cash for the Lincoln after it struggled to run a 1/8 inch 7018 rod uphill on a 5/16 beam last Tuesday - anyone else deal with this choice?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan_butler22d ago

Man that 7018 uphill is a real test for any machine. I remember when I first started burning rod on some old transformer buzzbox that would barely hold an arc let alone feed a rod properly uphill. The Trailblazer is solid but sometimes you get what you pay for with those inverters. My buddy had a similar issue with his Trailblazer trying to run 5/32 7018 on some heavy flange work and it just bogged down halfway up the joint. Lincoln stuff usually handles that low end grunt way better for uphill because their duty cycle on the 300 is built different. Could be your machine just needs the fine tuning settings adjusted for the rod type too because I messed with the inductance on mine once and it helped a ton with that 7018 puddle control.

luna_kim4022d ago

That 7018 uphill on 5/16 is a tough gig for any machine. I had a similar moment with my Miller 211 trying to do the same thing on a 3/8 beam, and it just felt like the arc was fighting me the whole time. It sounds like that Trailblazer might need a little more time with the settings dialed in, especially the inductance like your buddy mentioned. Hope you get it sorted without too much more hassle.