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Thread: Looking to buy a new welder, where

  1. #1
    Club Member wrath's Avatar
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    Default Looking to buy a new welder, where

    I'm looking to get a new Miller Dynasty 280 DX CC/CV and probably a Coolmate3 or Coolmate4 fairly soon. I bought my Multimatic 215 and my Millermatic 252/Alumapro from Baker's but they didn't impress me much so I haven't set foot in a store since I bought my last couple welders a little less than two years ago.

    The cheapest place I can get it from online is around $7200 because there are a few places that eat the sales tax and still do free shipping.

    I'm not really price shopping that much but if it's a place I won't see a need to continue a relationship with then I guess I'm price shopping. Any suggestions?

  2. #2
    Club Member JoeP.'s Avatar
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    I bought my last Miller TIG at Bakers in Tecumseh with no real complaints on service. But, I buy my nitrous oxide tanks from Lessors on Jackson Ave. and they always take good care of me on that and consumables for the welders.

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    Club Member Siegel1719's Avatar
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    Its a drive but Wyandotte Welding has been bought out by Praxair. Most of the employees have stayed and for me at least they still treat you like most small business do. I have been a customer there for probably 15 or so years. I also try to steer all of my welding consumables purchased at work through them. I almost exclusively deal with Butch. I haven't personally purchased anything since they switched to Praxair last year but I used to still get a student discount from when I took Welding classes at Henry Ford Community College almost ten years ago.

  4. #4
    Club Member wrath's Avatar
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    I spent like $9500 on welding crap in the Fall of 2018 at Baker's in Jackson. It was a circus complete with their online prices not matching their store prices... if I ordered it online they still wanted me to pick it up in the store, etc. It was a circus. They tried really hard, but I'm not sure success was in their toolbox. It took over a month for me to get my $2000 Alumapro because it kept wallowing between stores on the truck. The last time I went there they overcharged me for a work clamp and charged me double for a spool of aluminum wire (price on the shelf was per lb, price on the spool was for the whole spool, so they charged me twice the price on the spool as it was a 2lb spool).

    The Tecumseh Baker's store is where I used to go before the Jackson store opened. I don't mind it, but I still preferred going "back home" upnorth to buy most of my stuff as Owosso isn't much further than Tecumseh. The store in Owosso I used to go to closed.

    A few years ago I went to Lessor's to get new tanks and they wanted $100 more than Airgas plus their lease fees were more than Airgas. Basically I could buy a tank for $400 or lease one for $7.50/month plus fees for a tank I can buy from anyone else for $240. I bought some consumables there including a pack of ten tips for 30% more than MSRP ($23 for ten tips when Baker's had them for $12). I tried to get Lessor's to fill my tanks but they wanted even more than if I leased the tanks (basically were building the monthly lease fee into the cost of the fill of your own tank). It's actually cheaper for me to get CO2 filled ($3/lb) for my brewing crap from Adventures in Homebrewing than Lessor's. Lessor's in Burton is way better. I might be willing to give Lessor's in Scio Township another try if they are better than when they first opened down here. I've been going to Airgas in Jackson for tanks. Most of my tanks have Airgas stickers on them now.

    Do you know if the Lessor's guys care about tanks being out of cert or who owns them? I've got a bunch of tanks from places that don't exist anymore that need a hydro cert/expired.

    Lately I've been buying all my crap online and just getting my tanks filled at Airgas.

    Would like to give my money to someone who might appreciate it more/support a local business. Not like deals are to be found on Miller stuff.

  5. #5
    A mysterious figure named Darko DarkoStoj's Avatar
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    I got a few Dynasty 700's if you're in the market for something like that

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    Club Member wrath's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DarkoStoj View Post
    I got a few Dynasty 700's if you're in the market for something like that
    Grotesquely overpowered for what I'm looking for... but you can never have too much power, right? You have piqued my interest. I might have to start going to the gym to pick up a torch that big. How old/serial number, how many hours, and how much do you want for one?

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