I am looking for a entry to intermediate tig welder in the $1000 range. I build and repair mining equipment. I have some projects coming up that need some clean welding on some stainless steel pjpe. What would be a good welder to get into?
AHP200x, It will give you high speed pulse capabilities for stainless and AC if you need it. If you want DC only, there are many options. Are you willing to buy used or do you want new. DC can be done on a machine that runs a few hundred bucks and goes up from there. I really like the older Thermal arc machines that were made in Japan. Really nice arc, top quality and can be found under $1000 on a regular basis. ESAB, Miller, Lincoln have lots of machines to choose from. Do you need dual voltage? HF start? Etc.
You can go from something incredibly simplistic like in this video
http://youtu.be/9lV4tzg4zn0
Or you can get really advanced with lots of bells and whistles (most of which you won't use that often - if ever). You should consider what you may want to do in the future as well as today because most welders don't hold a great deal of resale value. What is important to you? Do you want to be able to weld aluminum (ac) or are you gonna stick with carbon and stainless (dc)? Will you want to be able to control heat input on the fly (foot peddle) or is a static arc all that is required (a stick welder coupled to a gas cooled torch with gas shut off valve is good enough). In it's most basic form a tig welder is just a stick welder with a foot peddle and a gas solenoid (not all tig machines have high frequency start either - this means you wont have much ability to control low amperage starts for super thin metals). Does servicability matter to you? If it does then you had better buy American because it can take several months to get one of the chinese inverter welders repaired (trust me, I've been through this with my $3000 machine). You can get an American machine repaired quickly via a local authorized service center within a few hours or days. If you don't need a waranty then you can pick one up fairly inexpensively but do not do this with a chinese model, only buy American in this regard. There are lots of deals to be found on the internet, just be careful that you're not walking into an armed robbery (yep, I know someone this has happened to).
http://youtu.be/9lV4tzg4zn0
Or you can get really advanced with lots of bells and whistles (most of which you won't use that often - if ever). You should consider what you may want to do in the future as well as today because most welders don't hold a great deal of resale value. What is important to you? Do you want to be able to weld aluminum (ac) or are you gonna stick with carbon and stainless (dc)? Will you want to be able to control heat input on the fly (foot peddle) or is a static arc all that is required (a stick welder coupled to a gas cooled torch with gas shut off valve is good enough). In it's most basic form a tig welder is just a stick welder with a foot peddle and a gas solenoid (not all tig machines have high frequency start either - this means you wont have much ability to control low amperage starts for super thin metals). Does servicability matter to you? If it does then you had better buy American because it can take several months to get one of the chinese inverter welders repaired (trust me, I've been through this with my $3000 machine). You can get an American machine repaired quickly via a local authorized service center within a few hours or days. If you don't need a waranty then you can pick one up fairly inexpensively but do not do this with a chinese model, only buy American in this regard. There are lots of deals to be found on the internet, just be careful that you're not walking into an armed robbery (yep, I know someone this has happened to).
Raymond
Everlast PowerTIG 255EXT
Everlast PowerTIG 255EXT