miller vintage time

Finally picked up the welder from the fix-it shop, R.J. Kates.
It's good to have it back.

miller time

It had been a long time,
but it was my fault cause I missed the one phone call after the diagnosis.

Unfortunately I had searched online for the repair,
so already knew it was basically a bad contact.
If I knew how much the repair was going to be,
I would have tried to fix it myself!
Guess that's why I never go to a mechanic.

nice o-ring

The welder was partially disassembled,
although it was "bench tested" after the repair.
My heart sank a little when I saw this o-ring was all chewed up.
It is a tight fit,
but if the repair guy can't see cuts in a 20-cent o-ring and replace it,
is he capable of fixing the internals!?

no drinks on the welder

When I opened up the lid to put the spool on,
there was this weird stickiness inside.
(that black streak)
What the heck?
I know this wasn't there before,
as I had taken it apart already.

perich brothers (and sister): miller not time

There's a rule that I try to follow,
"no drinks on the welder".

before shot

On top of that,

they had stored it outside.

Sure these things are made for rough use and I am hard on it,

but I baby these things otherwise, especially not leaving it outside,

 and if so its covered.

You can tell by that maroon sticker it was outside for a while.

So 3 strikes.

I was hesitant to even turn it on.

The "fan on demand" feature is still broke,

and the fan still sounds like a bag of ball bearings.

Fortunately it works, and is still working so far.

I've got a bad work ethic,

I round down when I tally up my hours,

if it doesn't seem like the work done should have taken that long,

even if it did and no one else could have done it faster,

and I spend all night thinking how to do something.

I also tend to clean up or repair stuff that's in the general area that I'm working.

It doesn't take too long and it shows that you respect the work.

Maybe that's what makes me expect others to do the same,

especially when they charge top dollar to do monkey level work.

Even the stereo "repair" stuff I bombard you all with is equal in difficulty to what was done.

miller vintage MIG welder
miller dynasty 200dx TIG welder

Yeah,

I sound like a little whiny bitch.

But that's cause I'm a little sour as I'll be out over $400,

and I'm one cheap SOB.

Hopefully there's some kind of guarantee/warranty.

Time to get some work done at least.

TP