Page 1 of 1

Portable Tig

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:48 pm
by Kane
Does anyone know of a good portable tig setup/welder?

Thankyou

Re: Portable Tig

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:58 pm
by Otto Nobedder
How portable?

Miller makes a 120/240v. DC inverter. If I remember, it weighs under 20 lbs., and comes with a shoulder strap. It'll handle around 150A @ 20% duty (again, I'm going from memory, your mileage may vary). I used one @ 90A on 2" Sch 10 SS, several welds, and it never shut down from heat. (This was on a 220v. supply.)

It's scratch-start, no remote, but a good consistent little machine that can do DC stick, too.

The last time I looked, it was about $800.

If you're a hobbyist, Hobart has a similar machine, available at Tractor Supply Co, and maybe even Wal-Mart.com .

I suggest staying away from Harbor Freight on this one. I have no recent experience on this, just anecdotal evidence.

Steve

Re: Portable Tig

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:18 pm
by kermdawg
Lookin for the maxstar 150 or 200.

Where did you see em for 800? All the ones I seen were around 1000.

Re: Portable Tig

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:14 pm
by pro mod steve
I drag my dynasty 200 everywhere.

Re: Portable Tig

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:42 pm
by Kane
Sorry, I should have put more information here.

How portable? Very Portable. Is there anything along the lines of the Hobart Trek 180 for power consumption I would hope to be able to run or charge batteries from a Honda eu02000i generator-2000 watts (16.7 A) of Honda Inverter 120V AC output.

Also, I didn't say this but I'll be welding Aluminum and the Maxstar is DC, but I did check it out and that's still a cool machine but doesn't fit my needs.

Thanks!

Re: Portable Tig

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:05 am
by jpence38
The Miller Diversion is the hobbyist AC/DC portable tig machine. Check them out on the Miller website. You can pick up the 165 for about 1,300.00 but it is only 230V. The 180 is dual voltage(120-240) but it will set you back about 1,700.00.

Re: Portable Tig

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:04 pm
by Otto Nobedder
kermdawg wrote:Lookin for the maxstar 150 or 200.

Where did you see em for 800? All the ones I seen were around 1000.

Probably half "where", half "when". I was on an industrial job, and because of the volume of consumables and gasses we were buying, They were offering the hands some sweet deals on equipment. (They knew we had the money). This was about three years ago.

They offered us a Lincoln 250 w/ 23 hp Koehler (sp?) for $2700 new. If I'd had a little more sense, or foreseen what was about to happen to the job market, I'd own one.

Steve