dude this is a ac/dc and has a plasma cutter

 

I have had my smiley for 2 years and have used it on TIG and plamsa back and forth. It still works.

 

Nice, never realised the smileys were so damn cheap.

So I read the comment that they do the job, although not as well as high dollar welders...Is it POSSIBLE to make just as good of welds (obviously would be more difficult) with a smiley?

I've never welded and don't know ---- about it, but I'm reading around so hopefully this summer I'll be able to pick one up to play with.

 

if you guys want to learn you should take a class at a community college, i took a 1 semester class that met 2 times a week for 3 hours 6-9pm and it cost me like $230. the metal was included, the only thing i had to buy was gloves ($7) and a few tungstons($3 a pop). i got to weld mild, stainless, aluminum, copper, titanium, brass. got to use a plasma, air carbon arc, cutting torch, bandsaw, break, and other ill ----.

 

I now this is a bit of a noob question but what is better a Hf tig or the smiley tig, there both the same price?
BTW I already have the Hf tig and just want to know if upgrading to the smiley would be worth it. Thanks

 

The harbor freight is scratch start. That sucks.

 

That's true but is there any advantage to switching to the smiley tig?

 

The smiley's are normally the old generation of riland clones. Buy the real riland ones so you actually have good service and a better product.
The quality is better, they have continuous HF, they can plasma cut, they have much higher duty cycles, they have alot more power avalible, and depending how much you spend they can be 110v/220v, and / or have alot more features beyond that.

 

I have one of those AC/DC Plasma China welders. It ------- works great. Although the plasma only cuts semi good. 60A Miller is 10x better.

Toysrme is right about the spark gap. Gotta adjust it. I think a lot of these machines go out simply because no one checks the gap.

The HF start on it is so much better than on my Dynasty 200DX. Even adjusted perfectly within miller's specs, it will sometimes give me ---- and not want to start right away. The china one, instantly every time and from far away too.

No difference in weld quality on DC, but the Dynasty in AC mode just plain kicks ***. Adjustable frequency is nice for fine tuning your welds.



One thing though is the pedal that comes with it blows. Broke the first week. The miller pedal is a champ. Takes a lot of abuse and works perfectly.

 

are there any specs on the spark gap in the manual. if not where can you find it. i am going to buy one of the CDM welders soon and figured i would check the gap right out of the box