Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys , I want to buy a tig machine to learn on. I had decided to buy the Lincoln square wave 200 which is about $1400 but a buddy just offered me a miller diversion 185 that he has used for less than 30 minutes for $1500. Which do you think would be a better machine for a beginner? Thanks!

Squarewave is probably better. As you gradually move along it will have more features to advance you like pulse. It seems like Lincoln is usually easier to learn on. And it may be cheaper since you can control post flow I think so you'll save on argon.

I believe the Lincoln 200 Squarewave has a fixed postflow of 15 sec.

I bought the Everlast 256Si with a water cooler for $2200. Couldn't be happier but I'm a n00b myself. This machine will do everything I want and more. You can step it down and get a cheaper unit that's not water cooled from them too like the 205S(i). There's a lot of people that come from the Blue/Reds that are really starting to believe in the Green machines. Don't look past em just cuz you want to support America either. Blue n Red still purchase all their components mostly from China still, just keep a certain percentage and assembly in the US to claim it was born in the USA.

Too bad you just missed the $200 rebate on the squarewave, but I would say that is still the better machine of the two. The diversion has hard connections on the torch and ground clamp and the foot pedal has an ethernet plug so upgrading is impossible (or at least really complicated). Squarewave is all industry standard connections and comes with a warranty.

My first tig machine was a diversion 165. DON'T BUY ONE! I would go for the square wave. AC balance adjustment is a must for welding aluminum.

They have one week tig courses at the Lincoln headquarters for $690. You can try out all of the machines and see how made in the USA they are. You also get a code for a factory direct welder, but I never checked what kind of discount they give you.