Miller 625 Extreme issue and opinion

[trooper]

Miller 625 Extreme plasma cutter issue

The below is offered as information for others to consider before purchasing a Miller 625 Extreme.

Based upon my history of using Miller products for welding, I decided upon a Miller 625 when purchasing a new plasma cutter.

Upon receiving my shipment, I unboxed the plasma cutter to find the front grill of the unit broken completely in half.

See below pictures:

625-1.jpg

625-2.jpg

625-3.jpg

As evidenced by the attached photos, the integrity of the 625’s front case is dependent upon the front plastic cover. In this case, when the front grill is broken, the entire unit will separate if the unit is lifted by its handle. The point of failure appears to be the front plastic grill which has structural fins at three points.

In short, the integrity of the housing and its internal components appears to rest upon three plastic fin points. For purposes here, I did not lift the unit completely open to prevent further damage. In this case, front grill fin breakage makes the unit unable to be carried; which is a selling point per the Miller website. (Portability)

In my opinion, this appears to be a very expensive unit being failed by a very inexpensive plastic grill.

I was advised by Miller that the 625 was having these issues and that additional units had been returned in the past for this problem.

One important note is that this damage appears to have occurred while the unit was in its shipping box as well as protective hard shell carrying case.

Should I steer clear of the 625 going forward?

I'm sure there are opinions out there.

[trooper]

Pics below:

[Gamelord]

I looooove my miller tig....but this would make me very nervous. I like to stay brand loyal, but the Hypertherm units are so amazing, that's what I would purchase instead. I would have to be moving this unit 10 ft. above the ground and have it break and get destroyed by it's own faulty design. Down time alone and hassle of dealing with replacements makes it not worth it.

[trooper]

Many thanks for the opinions. I haven't had any experience with Hypertherm but from what I'm getting from the message boards, they may be the way to go. I've seen so many posts by Jim Colt that I think I know him...thats good.

The lead designer at Miller called me and acknowledged the design issue. My local rep made a deal with me to keep me Blue and then backed out. In the end, he blamed the shippers and backed out of the deal he made. Bad business.

[DezertBlingMoto]

That's unfortunate you had to experience that , I also have a 625 extreme and I followed the blue cause of my welders . I must say it was the worst purchase I've ever made , least to say it was an expensive one lol . Consumables don't last for nothing an I have a Sharpe 3 stage kit and a miller plasma filter kit on the plasma cutter. I can totally agree with you that hypertherm is the way to go . I'm saving up money to get me a big dog and be done with it . Miller has very little help when it comes to connecting these bad boys to a tochmate set-up . They basically told me to figure it out lol an never returned my calls as well . Live an Learn I guess from this one