Trailblazer Or Bobcat

[DDA52]

Thank for the response I have found a unit Trailblazer 2004 model Used 504 Hours with a 8VS suitecase welder with all the leads and some old rods still sealed and a roll of flux wire. whats good price for this unit it has been fairly treated it fired up quickly it was 30 Deg f in his shop - 5 Degf outside. It was used for steel ********. I do not have to have it but a could sure use it from time to time. I think the guy could sure use the money. What is the hour life if it is well maintained ? would $1750- $1900 be a good deal.

Thanks,
MM

Guessing that would be a 301G???
$1900 would be a steal.....2500-2750 would be a good deal for a low hour machine, feeder and leads if it was in great shape. Anything below 2500 and it is an excellent deal.

The 301G doesn't have the variable dig like the 302, though. Nor does it have the meters. All are very good points for the 302 as is the reduced noise and higher wire output. BUT, if you get the 301 for a great price, who could argue against that? It would still work just as good.

[precisionworks]

But what about the heights the best part.

Imagine sitting on top of an elevator car, 915 feet above the bottom of the mineshaft (underground coal mines are abundant in this area). Add a gentle 30 MPH breeze, this is the air being sucked into the mine for ventilation. Temperature that day ... maybe 45*. And then set up enough tenting so you can use Argon shielding, remembering not to step anywhere near the edge of the elevator

That type of aluminum job really makes you appreciate the TB302 & the Spoolmatic 30A.

[precisionworks]

LMAO!!!

Four hours of waiting for access to the elevator, most of an hour setting up the tent while fighting that wind, a little time grinding an open-root V on both sides where broken.

Under five minutes of arc-on time (you gotta love that Spoolmatic). Almost six hours billable & the customer was happy as a clam to get it done NOW. Not all parts of the country have Federal Mine Inspectors on site, every day. Illinois does, probably the reason we have so few accidents like the ones you see too often on the news.

Also, the mine operator supplies a safety person, usually a manager, to stay with you while you work. That person would get in lots of trouble if you fell to the bottom of the shaft ... but he assured me that there's so much structural iron bracing that you'd probably not make it all the way to the bottom

[Rvannatta]

I would use it to off site power a MM210 and a 60 Amp plasma cutter. I would also use it for emergency power and job site power. And to power future equipment and of course run a stick welder.

Thanks,
MM

I'm the resident advocate of 'bigger is better'. A plasma cutter such as the Miller 2050 is a full load and then some for the TB. it is also the smallest
plasma I would reccommend to anyone except a muffler shop.

considering the variety of uses you describe I presume you are going to mount the thing on a truck, and the very next thing thatyou have to do
is to provide an aircompressor as the plasma needs a reasonable amount of air. Then you either need to power the compressor off the truck PTO
or have yet another engine running to drive the compressor.

After considering all these things, I upsized the welder to a water cooled diesel model. for that extra bucks, I got an 1800 rpm diesel engine instead of a 3600 rpm gas engine, 17kw 3 phase power, (as well as 12kw 1 phase) (but not both at the same time).

With the extra capacity, I put an 3 phase electric compressor on the truck as well as a large plasma cutter.

Now it is everything to every one, a serious 1 phase power plant, a 3 phase power plant, and a traveling air supplly. NO gas engine to dink with.

Of late I have been out with this rig doing some serious scrapping. Dead logging machines (in 50 ton blobs) have been accumulating behind the barn for 50 years waiting for a good scrap price and ambition to cut them up.

For iron that is less than an inch thick, the big plasma is real slick.--- faster than ox-acy, an I am beginning to convice myself cheaper as well.

I had thought that the consumables might eat me up in the prospect,
but I only seem to be consuming consumables on the plasma cutter. I seem to need to change torch tips about once a day which gets you about $10, but all in all the diesel for the welder is costing more than the torch tips.

[cruizer]

If your looking at the bobcat, maybe compare it to a Lincoln ranger 250 as well, virtually the same price and has remote capabiltys, same footprint.

[cruizer]

Most guys now running aluminum now the miller WC24/30A spoolguns on there machines as apposed to tig nowadays, so AC is not really nessessary. We make the conversions to run this setup on all CV machines.

Really hate the MK product Prince / ESAB setups

Go Miller in this case!!

[metalworker96]

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[BD1]

hi, actually the TRAILBLAZER is quieter than a Bobcat. One huge difference is the independent weld generator. You can weld and run power tools and no difference in arc.I got a 302 with 226 hours 2010 for $2000.00 with 50' lead and 50 ground. Guy just wanted to sell it now.the new model have EFI for a few bucks more. Mine has the Subaru engine. I was told to stay away from ONAN engines, parts are hard to find.You will love the trailblazer plus it has digital readouts for those fussy guys. good luck, BOB

[walker]

I run my low hour Trailblazer 251 and like it a lot. I have had it for years and use it for final field welds on things I build in my shop (doors, gates, sculptural pieces, etc). I have a feeder I can run off it (LN-25) that works well. The one thing I don't like about the earlier TB is the low Aux power output (15amp) as I can't really run a small MIG welder off of it. So I would recommend that you look at the equipment that you want to run off your aux power and make sure you have enough. I run my 3035 Spoolgun off of a SGA 100C contactor and it works very well. I have run steel, SS, and Aluminum out of it in hte field and it welds very well. I do it infrequently enough that I had to make cheat sheets on the set up so that I get the volts/amps and wire speed set close initially that I don't burn the tip on the first weld (dial on the engien drive, dial on the contactor, dial on the spoolgun, plus the selector switches on the welder. Forget one and you're cooked). I have seen few enough people dislike the TB 301 and 302 that I think the ones that do complain about it would not be happy if perfect welds magically appeared just by pointing the stinger at the object.