Miller 350p / 350p aluminum -- still have problems? (1 Viewer)

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LINUS

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin
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Anybody in the forum burning with a 350, any flavor?

If so, are they finally done with problems?

I will be replacing my older MM Challenger 172 with this & am excited about having a push-pull gun so I can really do some aluminum, as well as the 350 being an upgrade for my steel jobs.

So what say you all? Has Miller finally made it a box you don't regret the $$ of?
 
I have a Miller 350 XMT CC/CV with the optional Optima Pulse controller (don't use the pulse much) Never had one problem with mine since I bought it new in 2008.

The XR-Aluma-Pro gun is awesome. I bought my set up with a Spoolmatic 30 and hated it for aluminum and swapped over.

J
 
I run a Miller 350P with 30A spool gun and love it! FYI, the pulse mode will not work with spool gun. Pulse (aluminum) only works with push/pull (expensive) guns. I do run the pulse on steel and clean up is way easier and the welds are hot. It does take a little getting use to in pulse mode and the sound produced is nothing you've ever heard.

I used a Syncrowave 250DX water cooled for more critical welding.

Ben, I sent you a PM on the 350P issues that i know of.
 
The "gun on demand" is pretty convenient feature.
 
I have a Miller 350 XMT CC/CV with the optional Optima Pulse controller (don't use the pulse much) Never had one problem with mine since I bought it new in 2008.

The XR-Aluma-Pro gun is awesome.
J

Ha! - yeah, your setup isn't the 350 I'm talking about, yours is the "I have a shop" setup - for me the 350p is for my home setup (have really outgrown current mig), so while the 350cc/cx w/ a feeder is amazing, I can't justify the bump over a 350p.
Scary part is buying a 350p & it costing 350cc/cx $$$ by the time it has 2-3 repairs to its' name.
If the 350p was reliable it would be a great value - but I have yet to hear a person who puts more than 50-75hrs on one who hasn't changed at least one PC board ($1k a pop), and most have done 1 & the 350 is either sitting broken or on its' 2nd board.

Thanks for the PM Fire - it was quite a bit like what local talk is on this model.
Total shame too, if it worked initially the 350p Aluminum wouldn't have been born (Miller claims 'fixed') - but I want steel in the box too for the $$$.
I have a huge aluminum project on deck, but I really want my steel duty cycle to improve too - without being gouged for 350cc/x & component feeder ca$h.
Rock & hard place.
 
I'm at a Seahawk game party & one of the guys here is employed at the local weld shop - he says that most current model Millers (other brands too)- are available as refurbs WITH a warranty, generally starting at 25% off retail, some better than that.
He says he prefers them if shipping a welder to a remote jobsite as they are really given a good shakedown where a brand new welder from Miller never gets a weld test, just a current load test. Additionally, many machines were simply used for demo days, so not a problem unit but not technically new.
If you are willing to wait for a certain model, this may be an idea for you - I was told the price/available list is common knowledge to authorized dealers/weld shops.
Prices will vary, but I plan to get mine this way -so I'll post my cost & followup with reliability.

Heck, might do a component 350cc/cx & feeder if $$ is right!

He said plasma cutters are rare, they go fast & generally a repaired item sent back to owners, I had thoughts on one myself.

If anybody calls their Miller guy post back your results/item/price!
 
Wanted to follow up as seeing half - story threads is a pet peve to me.

After considerable time talking to Miller Service dept direct, I have been assured the bugs the early 350p multi-metal machines had were corrected, and that any built after Nov 2012 have all the latest improvements & are going to stand a far greater chance of being money well spent versus the early ones that were plagued with control board issues.
Those initial machines are now the reason your local WSS won't recommend, as the early ones were such a PITA that they haven't revisited the model, many not knowing that Miller did go back & revamp some parts (Miller rep told me if they couldn't improve them back when waves of early 350p's started coming in, the 350p model was going to be killed & a new machine would have been developed).

The 350p Aluminum machines are quite a bit different internally and have no issues - again the only reason I didn't order was that I wanted an improved duty cycle for steel while laying down my cash. If steel wasn't so much of my work, the aluminum model would be my no-brainer.

So, my order is in & I'll have a 350p quite soon.
I also ordered the Aluma Pro A 25' push-pull gun for it.

As for the remanufactured machines, they had 3 available - but for the slim discount (~15%) & the warranty dropping to a 2 yr from 3 for new machines - it just seemed like smarter cash for a brand new machine.

Hopefully I never revisit this thread & post pics of the guts of the machine as I'm replacing parts!
 

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