Scott-EP

im sure there is a way to wire it up for the stock **** to be a limiter and a foot pedal to control the power. if i was looking at one im sure i could figure it out, but i dont have one in front of me

sohcpwr

i heard the ac/dc china welders were ***... A thermal arc is only a few hundred dollars more, it makes no sense to buy that one.

babeboy

I heard your face looks like *** but that dont mean its true. Yeah your face looks like *** though.

Toysrme

Right. Now add in the $1200 for a plasma cutter and you've got the basic idea.

Aslong as you get one that works out of the box, and you keep the spark gaps in spec they weld better than the cheap TA's, but definately not dynasty quality.

Scott-EP

im not quite sure i understand your comment. are you saying that the CDM tigs are ok? i know they will never be great, but are they at least worth the asking price?

Toysrme

If it doesn't break in the first week, it's not going to break.
The good things about them are the price, and when you keep your points gapped correctly, the HF is only like 3 million times stronger than the good domestic units. (which isn't a great thing for tungsten migration, but it does make life alot easier when you want to cut poor material, or you need a very long arc for say a very tight weld). The other good thing is feature set. You want a tig and a plasma you have to atleast double, sometimes triple the price of the chinese equivalent units. That's great if you have money but this is a hobby for most people. The feature sets are better too.

We have a 60amp hypotherm plasma cutter in the shop that bearly arcs on anything rusty while any of the old 40amp china tigs will arc on practically anything. i got bored one day with mine and got the plasma to fire on a wood block. I've had the 125amp hypotherm fail to fire dozens of times on freshly ground 3/8" MS before. God only knows why. The china ones. hahahahaha. the stupid whack old school HF boards they use are just rediculously overpowered. If there's any electrode left (the china ones do consume it fast tho) they will arc the plasma.


AFA welding with them... Everything feels flimsier, but frankly if the flimsyness of the china torches, etc bothers someone, then they're not going to be impressed with the cheap stuff included with a real welder either. Sure they're 300% better, but they're not quality by any means. If you can weld with one TIG you can weld with the rest of them...








If you've got the money for real equipment more power to you. but don't be afraid of the chinese ones. just make sure you buy a riland rebadged unit from one of the ACTUALY riland dealers. that way you get service if its DOA, or you forget to check the points when you get it and burn the HF board out in afew uses (what happened to me)

t_cel_t

what exactly are the spark gaps? if only heard of it and never done anything.

onlyflash944

1600 no runner package for mine shipped to my door about 15 months ago. b and r welding out of MD hooked me up

SpankedYA!

I paid about $2k for my thermal arc. There is a noticable difference in the welds and I have the smiley on a pedal as well.

Scott-EP

thanks for the actual user review. i can already tig weld half way decent, but in no way could i afford a good one so i think i will get the best chinese tig i can afford. maybe i can make a little cash with it and eventually buy a nice welder. the plasma cutter would be nice also, but i dont know if i really need that. i think i would rather have an ac/dc tig so i could weld aluminum and as far as i have seen there are no ac/dc tigs with plasma cutters