I am a hobby welder and have some experience with Stick and MIG. A while back, I bought an inexpensive WSE200 Tig welder and just started learning TIG. I will mostly be working with steel and Alum and likely some thinner material. This machine seems to work pretty well, but it has no frequency control and no pulse capability. Based upon my research, it seems that freq control could be very helpfull in certain cases.
I have looked at the primeweld and weldpro units and considering a purchase, though not an inexpensive upgrade. Will these units weld any better than the 5 year old WSE200 (also inverter) or will they just give me the freq and pulse options with the same quality/performance? I am more interested in upgrading if they will perform better in general and help me learn.
Hoping someone has followed this upgrade path and could shed some light or provide some guidance.
I welded with a machine that had no frequency control for about 20 years. It never bothered me a bit. I made some beautiful welds with that thing.
Truth of the matter is if I had never made any change except going to lanthanated tungsten I'm not so sure I wouldn't be just as happy with my old welder. I'm not going to say that my new inverter welder doesn't have a hundred features the old welder did not. But knowing what I know now, I can do most of the things used to do everyday with my old Transformer 60 hertz HF Tig.
I would recommend finding somebody with a nice new whiz-bang welder and see if they won't let you try it out to really see if there is something it will do that yours won't. And I don't mean just have a feature yours doesn't, I mean actually do something that yours can't.
Truth of the matter is if I had never made any change except going to lanthanated tungsten I'm not so sure I wouldn't be just as happy with my old welder. I'm not going to say that my new inverter welder doesn't have a hundred features the old welder did not. But knowing what I know now, I can do most of the things used to do everyday with my old Transformer 60 hertz HF Tig.
I would recommend finding somebody with a nice new whiz-bang welder and see if they won't let you try it out to really see if there is something it will do that yours won't. And I don't mean just have a feature yours doesn't, I mean actually do something that yours can't.
Like Bug said, frequency control is not a requirement. Nor is pulse. If your TIG box has a pedal for amperage control, you can foot-pulse the arc when in need.
The odd thing about frequency these days, on the high end TIGs, they all have a “Pro Set” and it is right about 90-120Hz depending upon manufacturer. Yours is probably either 60 or 120Hz fixed. And you can weld the earth with that. Amperage control is the most critical aspect of TIG.
Now having said all that, I confess, I do alter the frequency and do use pulse in certain cases. Auto genius welding stainless, pulse. Edge welding aluminum, frequency control. Tight corners in aluminum, frequency adjustment. But only because I can, not because I need to. My eyes aren’t as good as they were, so these adjustments help me avoid the grinder.
The odd thing about frequency these days, on the high end TIGs, they all have a “Pro Set” and it is right about 90-120Hz depending upon manufacturer. Yours is probably either 60 or 120Hz fixed. And you can weld the earth with that. Amperage control is the most critical aspect of TIG.
Now having said all that, I confess, I do alter the frequency and do use pulse in certain cases. Auto genius welding stainless, pulse. Edge welding aluminum, frequency control. Tight corners in aluminum, frequency adjustment. But only because I can, not because I need to. My eyes aren’t as good as they were, so these adjustments help me avoid the grinder.
Thanks for the input.
I ended up getting the Primeweld 225. I was really struggling with the crappy pedal and not having a read out of the amps. Mine was adjusted at the foot pedal and had not idea how the knob related to actual amps. I wanted to have more repeatability once I found settings that worked. The new foot pedal is night and day and is allowing me to have much better control. I just didn't want to have obstacles in my way when learning. I am sure the frequency adjustment will help as well once I start on Alum.
Once I figured the cost of a new pedal and the ability to get a few bucks for the old one, it wasn't that big of an expense.
I ended up getting the Primeweld 225. I was really struggling with the crappy pedal and not having a read out of the amps. Mine was adjusted at the foot pedal and had not idea how the knob related to actual amps. I wanted to have more repeatability once I found settings that worked. The new foot pedal is night and day and is allowing me to have much better control. I just didn't want to have obstacles in my way when learning. I am sure the frequency adjustment will help as well once I start on Alum.
Once I figured the cost of a new pedal and the ability to get a few bucks for the old one, it wasn't that big of an expense.
Both the machine and the pedal simply had a knob for amps with a bunch of tick marks and no numbers. Most welders that I see have an LCD display that provides the amount of amps selected, but this machine didn't have that. Simply no way to set the amps desired with anything close to accurate.BugHunter wrote:What do you mean no display for the amps?
Sorry, I was thinking the PW225 when I came back to the thread... Don't mind me... I was thinking, huh, the PW has a display? 
Even without a display, if you know what the high limit is and the low limit, you can pretty much know what the other settings are. Too hot is too hot no matter what number is on the display. Same for too cold.
It's only in the past 4 years I have a welder with a digital display, and that's only my tig, my mig still has analog controls. Tap settings for voltage, with no output numbers other than 1-10. And wire feed speed is a pot from 1-10. Seems to work fine.
You'll be happy with the new welder, but you'll probably decide later, it wasn't necessary.
Even without a display, if you know what the high limit is and the low limit, you can pretty much know what the other settings are. Too hot is too hot no matter what number is on the display. Same for too cold.
It's only in the past 4 years I have a welder with a digital display, and that's only my tig, my mig still has analog controls. Tap settings for voltage, with no output numbers other than 1-10. And wire feed speed is a pot from 1-10. Seems to work fine.
You'll be happy with the new welder, but you'll probably decide later, it wasn't necessary.
Your probably right. I am sure it is not a big issue for someone with experience. Being self-taught and at the beginning, things like these are impediments to learning. I have to go read posts and watch videos and then try to apply what I learned there to my practice attempts.BugHunter wrote:
You'll be happy with the new welder, but you'll probably decide later, it wasn't necessary.