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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / bought 4 Miller Thunderbolt 225 AC stick welders for 75$
- - By homewelder Date 10-14-2007 05:51
   Hello,

         this is first thread AND post, just wondering about how much these are worth, and if E7018 rod will work with this AC welder. I searched and found a thread about this subject and you have some who say yes and some who say no. I have already bought a box of E7018 rod but dont want to open it if its not the right rod. any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you. cant post a pic it looks like, ohwell.
Parent - By hjp4 Date 10-14-2007 13:09
very hard to establish an arc. I think you will only be able to run 6000 series rods. Just my 2 cents
Parent - By Stickboy (*) Date 10-14-2007 16:50
I also have an AC only welder and I use a 7018AC rod. Still hard to get it going the first time with a new rod, once you get one going it's Ok but hard to hold the arc at low amps.
Parent - - By Sourdough (****) Date 10-14-2007 19:00
So whats the story with the Millers? Can I have one??
Parent - - By homewelder Date 10-15-2007 05:01
I told my bud who is a welder I wanted to get a stick welder, he said he know a guy who has 4 or 5 Thunderbolts and would probably sell one. well he came home with 4 and said the guy said I could have all 4 for 75 bucks. decided he just wanted them out of his garage. I sold one today for 50 bucks. Im keeping one and my bud wants one. the last one has some issues, not sure if I want to fix it or scrap it. I went onto Lincoln.com and it says that the E7018 rod is AC and DC, or can be used for both. I did a search on google and found a thread here on this site. one guy said he had alot of experience with E7018. said it was for both AC or DC. Said he prefered to use this rod over E7018 A/C rod. I tried a rod today and it welder very well so I will try it out for a while, see how it goes. the 6013 rod I got works great too.
Parent - - By 357max (***) Date 10-15-2007 13:07
If the model T bolt has the high & low tap receptacles; use the low tap. This tap will put out the highest open circuit voltage for a given amperage. Notice the low tap will go to 150 amps the high tap will provide 225 amps. If welding at 140 amps with either tap; the lowest will be the highest ocv. Use an ac voltmeter to check and verify. All electrodes will weld easier with the higher ocv.
Usually the connections get loose and the tap receptacles may need replacing.
Parent - - By homewelder Date 10-16-2007 03:29
cool, thanks for the info. 3 have welded fine, one powers on but the fan does not run. might get it fixed or just rob parts off it and scrap the rest, not sure just yet.
Parent - By Kix (****) Date 10-16-2007 12:18
Yes you can use E7018 On either A/C or D/C reverse.  I even know guys that run it on straight polarity to put there roots in on open root seams.  E7018 will run fine with those thunderbolts.  I just sold mine for $250.00, but it was an A/C D/C.  I'd say you would have better results runnin just a bit hotter then you would on D/C. 
Parent - By 357max (***) Date 10-16-2007 13:10
With ac only tbolt the fan only helps to increase the duty cycle. It would/should weld fine without the fan. Although a new fan motor doesnt cost that much.
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / bought 4 Miller Thunderbolt 225 AC stick welders for 75$

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