Ned the best prices on Miller are almost always from Indiana Oxygen Supply. I believe that they are Miller's single largest distributor.

They sell on Ebay here:

http://stores.ebay.com/Welding-Supplies-from-IOC

They will provide everything you need to submit your info to Miller for the Build With Blue Promotion. The promotion was also going on last year when I took advantage of it as well. Free shipping and no tax, etc.

Just received notification that Zoro is gonna do a 30% off deal tomorrow for very limited timeframe. You can't touch a Diversion 180 for what you can get one at through Zoro with this discount. They don't have a lot of equipment but fortunately they have the 180.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239830

Jumping tracks for a second here...

I read a cheat in a metal shaping book last week for gas backing a TIG weld and wondered if anyone had tried this before.

Back the weld with fiberglass tape and then cover it with metal AC foil ducting tape. The fiberglass supposedly creates a pocket for the shielding gas to puddle behind the weld with the ducting tape holding it in the fiberglass.

Did you buy one? I highly doubt that Miller welders are going to be available at 30% off as part of that promotion...The margins on them are not high to begin with, 30% off would likely be below any distributor's cost.

Yes, I actually picked one up during a previous 30% off sale. So I've already received the Miller rebate, etc. If not I wouldn't have posted and risked hosing someone over.

Like you, I was really suspect with all the MAP policies and such on so many things these days. Worth noting that they aren't really 30% off relative to other retailers since Zoro prices are higher by a good bit to start with. I did some research on the company, etc and lots of good reviews so I decided to give it a shot. Worked out well. It really is a surprisingly good deal. Worth following the "hot deals" section over on GarageJournal for things like this. Every little savings is just more car parts money :-).

FWIW, another friend of mine ordered one yesterday during the sale and it is scheduled to be delivered today. Great shipping as well.

Sounds good, John. Zoro is "low risk" since it really is Grainger. They created zoro to focus on tools, since not a lot of people look to Grainger for tools. Which machine did you wind up with?

I went with the Diversion 180. The most affordable way to get into a tig machine of blue or red variety :-). Gotta get some quality time with it to develop more skill. So far it is great if for no other reason than it doesn't throw sparks everywhere.

TIG rules......try this with MIG LOL!

For scale, that's a 1" x 1.5" gusset.

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-F...FSjpfXg-XL.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Z...ZPJKnZG-XL.jpg

Glad you picked up a machine, it's challenging but very rewarding once you get a feel for it. :thumbsup:

I like your tool toter. :thumbsup:

its all about time and practice. I still need to run a stack of scrap before I finish weld a production piece.