Hi all from down here.
Retired Industrial Arts (shop) teacher, multi-hobbyist, Mr Fixit and general dog's body to the family and friends. Some experience in stick, mig and oxy welding, hard and soft solder etc. (among everything else) Not a lot of welding, but enough to get by. I passed the tests for pipe and flat welding on both stick and Oxy back in the day and was pretty neat but I don't do a lot now, which I hope to change soon. The biggest problem I've noticed recently is my eyes. Cheater lenses are a must for me now it would appear.
I was about to do a job about 2 months ago only to find the wire feed assembly (plastic) of my old MIG machine in pieces inside the unit when I wanted to swap over to gasless. Wasted a bit of time trying to source parts or repair in other ways that led to a dead end. It was near 20 years old. Decision made, I've just gone out and spent some money on a multipurpose machine that will allow me to try my hand at TIG so I'm pretty enthused about that as it's something I've long wanted to have a go at. Unfortunately, life keeps getting in the way. I've owned the machine for 3 weeks now and not struck an arc yet. I did turn it on to run a new wire through. Maybe today. It is a Cigweld (ESAB / Thermal Arc) 175i+ and I bought the matched TIG torch as well (a possible discussion on it's own).
I've also picked up a couple of cheap 2nd hand MIG machines to fix up, clean up and sell off (maybe). I might decide I like them and set these up for different applications so I don't have to swap wire out and change consumables and feed rollers etc. I'll have wait and see on that one.
Anyway, I do have a particular question so I'll do a search to see if already answered and if not, start a new thread.
Welcome fellow aussie.
So cheater lense hey? Wait till you need coke bottle glasses as well!
I presume you bought the 175i used as it's now listed as obsolete. The tig torch you have is presumably an after market torch as they didn't come standard in the box. It appears to be a useful power source if it's working well.
Post up your questions, the peeps here will help you out for sure.
So cheater lense hey? Wait till you need coke bottle glasses as well!
I presume you bought the 175i used as it's now listed as obsolete. The tig torch you have is presumably an after market torch as they didn't come standard in the box. It appears to be a useful power source if it's working well.
Post up your questions, the peeps here will help you out for sure.
Flat out like a lizard drinkin'
G'day Coldman.Coldman wrote:Welcome fellow aussie.
So cheater lense hey? Wait till you need coke bottle glasses as well!
I presume you bought the 175i used as it's now listed as obsolete. The tig torch you have is presumably an after market torch as they didn't come standard in the box. It appears to be a useful power source if it's working well.
Post up your questions, the peeps here will help you out for sure.
I think I'm on my 6th or 7th prescription for reading glasses now. The Cigweld. No new. I bought the 175i+ (PLUS) which is a current model. The matched TIG torch is Cigweld part number W4013801. It is a 17 (valved and flex even though flex isn't mentioned in any specs) 4 M cable, 35/50 Dinse plug, direct gas to regulator and the 8 pin switch connection (
pita). Unfortunately the "
pita" 8 pin socket on the Cigweld units make them a bit tricky to use with aftermarket accessories. The 8 pin plugs are available but they ain't cheap for what they are. Actually the cheapest way to buy is through Cigwled at list price $30. Of course the other option is to pay the price of a matched Cigweld foot pedal w/8 pin plug and then use other torches more easily.