BoostedAudi

I'm trying to convince my wife that I NEED a TIG for Christmas. Any opinions on the eBay 3 in 1 machines? (TIG, Plasma + stick) or am I better off getting something else?

turbob16hatch

i started with a thremal arc dragster 85, no pedal or anything. it was not worth it. i would suggest just saving and getting a nice used machine. like a sync 180

SpankedYA!

Miller Diversion 165 is cheap. Or check out our sponsor links for Giant Tech. He sells the CDM import machines and is very knowledgable about them.

Toysrme

If you can save for a dynasty or synchrowave do it!
my ebay tig turned out alright. ill keep it for plasma and cheap family/friend travel unit, but i really miss having AC tig at home. aluminum, magneseium and very thin stainless get alot easier with ac. You can't even swap them to dcep :/

Im personally screwed because I would like a multi-process welder capable of AC tig AND all your wire processes. Unfortunately... Not going to happen grrrrrr. All the multi-process welders only do DC tig.

Captain Bondo

Toysrme mentioned palming his 4.5" grinder. I do this too.

I could make those collector pieces fit perfectly in about 5 minutes with a 4.5" grinder and a flap disc.

I would not go crazy trying to get the cuts perfect, just cut the *******. What you are experiencing is probably blade deflection. That's why the PVC went together fine- not enough load on the blade to cause deflection issues.

Buy a good, compact 4.5" grinder that you can operateeasily with one hand. Makita and Hitachi are better for this. Most of the DeWalt ones don't lock "on" and have a stupid paddle button down on the body of the grinder wehich makes them useless for this job. You want one with na switch nearer the top of the grinder that actually locks "on".

I have a dynasty 200dx. It's good but overkill if you just want to make manifolds.

Toysrme

Werd, Hitatchi G12SE2 for life.
Loves me some Hitatchi grinders. When I was in school me and another guy did part-time work at a place that gave out the equivilant dewalts. Most of the guys we went to school with had the smaller or equiv version in dewalts. Ive never replaced the brushes in mine yet seen maybe two dozen dewalts break. Not to mention they're un-ergodynamic as ----. Only thing that ever happened to mine was some **** sucker borrowed it and set it down on some hot plate after he finished grinding. It melted / fused the trigger and its gaurd together. Seems like he paid $12 to have Hitatchi ship me a new trigger assembly - good as new.
Trigger, that brings us to safety! I love that the trigger has a massive lock on it so that you can set it down without worrying about it - unlike Dewalts reinky dink version that is the exact some POS from their weakest 4 1/2" model to their large 9" model. Unsafe as ----. And I like the fact that unlike everyone else that leaves their gaurds off because they have to screw/unscrew it to adjust. The Hitatchi was the fiirst one AFAIK that uses a flip lever clamp. My gaurd never comes off my grinder. Ive seen disks fly apart wtf would I NOT want my gaurd on for

Im pretty sure we both do all our cutting on a bandsaw or chop-saw. But I bevel and do landings on the angle grinder. Do all the adjusting after the first cut with an angle grinder. Takes too ------- long to re-cut ---- and Id still wind up re beveling so...

Ya, I think eventually Ill get tired of dragging projects into work just to do some AC tig. Ill snap and come home with a Dynasty 200 and a Lincoln Power MIG 350MP will follow it at some point. Still love those Power mig's we had at school. Love their pulse.


Day the HF bandsaw fails Its being replaced with one of these:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/7-x-...-Bandsaw/G0561


Not their best. The deck doesn't swivel. Still a good buy. 7*12" hydraulic bandsaw with fluid & 1hp motor for a grand. Nice.

onlyflash944

also on the collector, you might have better luck fitting up the pieces if you cut each pipe once, then weld the two together. then make your second cut on a 'joined' piece to make 2 into 4. make sense?

someone correct me if i am wrong.

Toysrme

Same problems cause them to be crooked. Shifting material, blade deflection, wasn't straight in the first place, etc. I dont weld 2s together and re-cut because that's one more jig and more trips to the bandsaw.
Nothing stoping someone doing it that way if that's how you like to do it.

Captain Bondo

That's part of why I really like my 12" dry cut saw (as opposed to a 14"+ saw). The blade and the frame are smaller and the whole machine is a lot stiffer compared to a 14" machine.
Yeah I am limited to 4" or maybe 4.5" diameter tubing, but anything that big I can do in the bandsaw, or ---- even with the cutoff wheel if need be, for the amount of pipe I cut that big.

Moving_Target

The place I work at has one of those in the machine shop and it's okay except the workpiece clamp is stripped out. Acme threaded but the female thread material is not so good.