Welding Tips and Tricks

hey guys, this my first post here, i recently was given an old welding machine and needed some info on it as i couldnt find much about it online, its an airco welder/generator, the serial and model numbers are worn off it so i cant provide any info there, it has only 2 110v outlets (no 220v outlets) and a kohler 12hp engine, it didnt come with any leads but it takes some sort of small pin lead to plug into the machine, and it has several plug ins for the leads and each plug in has different amp settings written above it, its not running but i already bought some fuel lines, fuel filter, and air filter, and im gonna make an aluminum gas tank for it since the original is completely rusted, im really excited about this as its my first ever welding machine, thanks in advance!

anybody?

Don't mean to be negative or anything, but they don't make Airco products anymore. You will have a hard time finding info and parts for the machine.

could you post some pictures of the machine?

ill try to upload some, i got it running yesterday since i didnt have to work and got a can of spray paint to make it a little more appealing till i can fully restore it

these are the pictures i took the other day, if you need more just let me know

and sorry about the picture quality, these were taken from my phone

come on, im sure someone knows something about this machine

try to get a real good quality pic of the control panel. those pics ya posted aint really clear enough to make any kinds of guesses

here are some more pics, sorry if the resolution isnt good, i only have a camera on my phone, and i tried getting a more up close pic, but it just ended up turing really blurry

i finally found everyhting i need to know about this machine, it was made by miller in 73 or somewhere around there, its a miller roughneck 1E (60hz) i got the original manual and wiring diagram, i called miller and talked to one the managers and emailed him some pics and he gave me everything i needed to know about this machine

Those stinger & ground connections are neither "Tweco" nor "international" style. This looks like something once available from Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, or Western Auto, marketed to the home shop/hobbyist. (A friend of mine has a Monkey-Ward crackerbox with the same terminals--Welds great, but I have no idea who made it.) You may have to disassemble the thing to hunt for marks from the original manufacturer.

Vintage catalogs from these Co.s are collectible, so maybe a little on-line research can lead you to an answer. I'd think mid '70's or older.

Good luck,

Steve

well the machine is branded airco, and i read somewhere online that miller acutally made alot of airco machines, thats why i called miller and they confirmed that this machine was made by miller

Cool.

I must've replied from the end of the first page, as I didn't notice your reply about finding all your info.

Let us know when you have it tuned up and welding.

Steve

ill be sure to do that otto, i have the engine running but its not welding or generating power at the outlets, and im not an electrician by a long shot so im gonna take up to the old community college i went to and let the electrician class look at it for me, i know the brushes and slip rings are good, but im guessing its a bad connection or a capacitor or something. cant wait to get it running though, gonna throw some wheels on it and make a stand thats level with my tailgate to roll it on and off my truck, it weighs 385 lbs so i cant exactly lift it myself lol

made in the 1970s 12hp kohler 60 cycle 180amps max ocv 80 welding range 45 180 duty cycle 100% kva single phase 115 volts Location
Other than this I was not able to find much on it. Alot or all of Airco's stuff was made by Miller. If you could cross reference the info above to a model # you could try to cross it with a miller and possibly get parts and consumables.

Good luck!

Sam

I too responded to the first page and this page did not pop up until I replied. Good to see you found what you needed.

Sam

well i have had zero luck on getting this machine working, i cant find the circuit breakers or capacitors anywhere online, and i think it might be missing a circuit board too from what i see in the wiring diagram, it was worth a shot though

HI i have an old miller motor generator welder very much like that, those type of weders are usally great stick welders because of the motor drive, they have great basement power meaning that you can run 1/8 inch 7018 nice and hot and hold the arc really tight. without having the transformer
cut out or get weak like some plug in types might do. so dont let the old exterior fool you, that type of machine can be one of the best stick welders. OK from looking at the pics here is what is going on, It is a DC machine and the red plug is your stinger connection: and all the black plugs are different amp ranges that the ground plugs into,,now this is the weird part that is usally done the other way around but try it the way I mentioned and if the arc is very forcefull ,then plug the ground into the red and the stinger into the black plug,, oh yeah the knob on the right is your fine amperage controll it will give you full controll over what ever range plug you are plugged into however: it is best to match your range plug setting as close to your application as possible, as it makes for the smoothest welding , oh yea since there is the possibility that something is not quite right ,,for your first tests use a plain old 100 watt AC light bulb to test the weld current by touching the ground to the outer screw part and the stinger to the middle button or vise versa it works the same either way,, and it should light up fairly bright. anyway this is a safe first test as it cannot hurt the electricals in your welder if something is hooked up wrong;) Ps. the worst thing that can happen with this method is that the bulb can turn into a fuse and burn out in a flash "witch I have never seen happen " or nothing at all that means back to the drawing board..you will have to play around with the range plugs and re label them from cool to hot and if you are really in luck somebody you know might have the right meter so you can know the actuall amperages for them

When i made my first post it was to the first page as well so i did not see all the other info, But heres an interesting note when I got my miller it had the same trouble,,the motor ran but was not making any juice,,And i was really dissappointed and mentioned it to my dad, who had worked as a maintenance electrician for several years..He pulled off the cover and found that a small transformer had lost some insulation and shorted ,but hadnt done much damage, he said that it was part of the ignitor circut,(what ever that is .) and put a small piece of wood under it and epoxied the whole thing togher,,then he said that he needed to (re polarize or energize i forget witch) as i am not even close to being an electrician any way, then he used jumper cables connected to a 12 volt battery and touched them to a capacitor or something, witch seemed like nothing happend but when i fired the engine up a few minutes later it worked like a champ and has ever since..so at least pull the cover off and look and see if any thing is obviously wrong...and the next time i talk to the old man I will try to get more info about that(re polerize-energize magic he did) keep the faith it sould be a really good machine and worth the trouble..I will be looking for your next posts I am pretty sure that I can help you sort this out

Hi. I hear that Miller had something to do with Airco Welders. Check the Miller website forum or just google Airco Welders.
Good Luck
Miick

well i have the wiring diagram and have looked at it for weeks now and looked inside the machine and everything is hooked up right, but is a circuit breaker and circuit board missing and the #2 wire isnt hooked up anywhere because there is no #2 circuit breaker, ill see if i can upload the wiring diagram

ok i couldnt upload the diagram but you can find it at the miller website, just go to service, owners manual, and look for the roughneck 1E model and the wiring diagram will be in the manual

right, there's no full schematic on the manual, but the only circuit board I see in the parts list is a bridge rectifier, but I don't know what it's for. from what you're saying, you're missing the 10A circuit breaker on the rear panel and the card that's attached to it? I could fix it if I could put my hands on it, but i'd say your best bet is the nearest LWS that sells used machines.