TIG welder.
 

Well ive been looking at welders, and i dont want to get a chingchongmeowbitch unit. Id rather spend 1200-1500 on a good versatile welder. seeing as thats about as much as i have saved up extra.

I obviously havent used any expensive welders so i cant say i know whats better with personal experience. just my 110 flux/mig. and id like to know what a good unit to get would be. that would also have the ability to do aluminum

Re: TIG welder.
 

syncrowave 180

Re: TIG welder.
 

Thermal Arc 185TSW, love mine

Later
Randy

Re: TIG welder.
 

looks like im going to have to save some more :( i was thinking about the econotig but i dont know if it would end up being powerfull enough.

Re: TIG welder.
 

In that price range, look for a used syncrowave 250 or 350.
That would be my first pick.

If you're dead set on buying new (and taking a loss on the value of it), go for the TA185. It beats out the Lincoln and Miller products....easily.

Re: TIG welder.
 

Knowing that Thermal Arc is a good brand, what do you guys think about this? I'm sure it's better than the Smiley Tools unit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/THERMAL-ARC-DRAG...QQcmdZViewItem

Re: TIG welder.
 

That would be a bad idea to buy that machine. It will struggle to even burn a 3/32" 7018 or 7014 stick welding rod. You will be absolutely pissed off the first time you try and tig 1/4" material, and give up on trying to weld 1/4" aluminum with it.

Oh, yeah..and it's DC only, so give up on welding aluminum, all together unless you don't care what your welds look like. To weld Aluminum on DC, you either need to weld it on AC, or use helium...which is going to be difficult on thin materials.

That machine VERY limited in its capabilities. It has a max of 85 amps, and the duty cycle is only 25%. It also has no high frequency, and I don't think it has any remote capabilities (foot pedal or fingertip control).

Re: TIG welder.
 

Engloid,

First off, your welding abilities are the ----. I have a question on tiggin aluminum on DC. What % mix of helium/argon, tungsten size, amperage, and general tips? This would be very nice info. I know it must take a lot more practice than using AC with adjustable EN/EP. Thanks.

Re: TIG welder.
 

DC aluminum isn't that hard to do really. The arc is hotter, so of course, the area around the arc is hotter. Therefore, the wire will want to melt more easily as you get it close to the puddle. You will have to either leave the wire in the puddle, or get farily quick at putting it in and back out.

You want to run DC, electrode negative. ALL tig is ALWAYS done on either AC or DC-...reguardless of metal or gas used. Well, I have heard stories of tig with DC+, for very thin metals, but never seen or done it...and I've welded down to .004" material.

I always used 100% helium for DC tig, but you MAY be able to get by with a mix of argon/he, if the helium content is pretty high (maybe 75% or more).

I prefer to weld it with the wire in the puddle, maybe slowly feeding it (to keep it from balling up), and a slow pulse of maybe 1-3pps.

Re: TIG welder.
 

+1 I have the same unit and it is the best bang for the buck in my eyes. I love Miller stuff!! If you can afford it - go for the new syncrowave 200 - it comes with pulsed TIG which makes your work more consistent.

Good luck.

Re: TIG welder.
 

We have the 180 SD and its a great unit. Cant say much about anything else as that is all ive ever owned. I just love the fact that its so easy to work with, easy to set up, all good parts and what not. Nice cart available for it as well. Solid unit.

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I got hooked up on school money this year. so i might take out a loan to buy a welder ;D

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I think that, in that price range, the TA185 is the best bang for the buck. It has features that you can't get from any of the miller or lincoln machines...until you get up over $2000 for them...like the Dynasty 200DX.

Re: TIG welder.
 

When I was looking into a welder I decided on the TA Prowave 185 as well. ITs an inveter so its not a power hog like the 180SD. Its programable and has many more features for about the same amount of money.

Re: TIG welder.
 

Yea.... but is it turquoise like my miller? didnt think so ;)

Re: TIG welder.
 

I'm also interested in buying a tig. Anybody have any good sites online to buy one?

Re: TIG welder.
 

And is the the one you all are talking about?

http://www.aaaweldingsupply.com/ther...igwelders.html

(one up from the bottom) A friend of mines dad works at a welding supply store, he said he can do that 1300 out the door with a foot pedal.

Re: TIG welder.
 

It's an inverter machine...not some cheapo HF model...
I'm a miller fan, but fact is that the TA185 has gone "unanswered" by Miller. They have machines that are below it in abilities and functions, and some above it...but really nothing that can compete with it.

Re: TIG welder.
 

Re: TIG welder.
 

The Econotig is Miller's old school transformer machine. It is not an inverter. It is a good solid machine, but it lacks a lot of the abilities of the TA185.

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I might hit you up on that when the volkswagens sold.

Re: TIG welder.
 

yea, i was just bullshitting man, i really dont know to much about welding machines. So its not my place to speak. I am happy with the performance on the 180 sd though and although it did cost a good deal of $. Ive had 0 problems to date and the machine has already paid for itself.

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I hope i can say that after I get the ta 185!

Re: TIG welder.
 

Definitely. In the right hands, a welding machine pays for itself quickly.

The 180SD does good at what it does, and is a good machine...with reliabilty to go along with it. I wasn't trying to say that it's bad in any way, just that I wish miller would quit making people spend $2000 to get into the inverter machines. They are really pricing themselves out of the market that includes hobby welders (for the most part).

Re: TIG welder.
 

nice. perhaps a deep discount on some nice tigging for locals? :)