Welding Tips and Tricks

Looking for some advice for buying a new acdc tig machine. Been looking at the htp 221 or possibly an everlast 210. Or even trying to find a used miller 200 dx dyansty. I am sure this has been gone over a million times on the board. Kinda lost on what the best machine out there and what to look for if buying a used machine

Best is an opinion, really. I prefer the Miller Dynasty 210 or the Lincoln Aspect 230 machines. Esab, HTP America and a few others make well respected TIG welders. Everlast, AHP, Primeweld, Eastwood, and Harbor Freight are all what I would consider bargain machines that some people love and some people hate. The Lincoln Squarewave 200 TIG is probably in the bargain machine class as well. With all of those, its really your call on budget vs needs. I would not buy a used inverter TIG. They are not easy to repair (usually) nor are they ever cheap to repair. My preference would be to buy new and get the full warranty. I don't think there is a single welder made that I have ever heard of where the warranty transfers with the machine. So even if you are buying a 2 month old, gently used welder, the warranty never covers anyone but the original purchaser. There may be exceptions to the rule out there, but I haven't found it yet.

I’ve got a Dynasty inverter bought in 2005. I had it repaired for $300 by the LWS authorized repair center. I have no idea why others believe inverters are expensive to repair or not possible to repair?

You can get fully warranted used Dynastys through https://www.millerserviceparts.com

https://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/ ... ty#p126888

Ask VA-Sawyer about Neverlast

cj737 wrote:I’ve got a Dynasty inverter bought in 2005. I had it repaired for $300 by the LWS authorized repair center. I have no idea why others believe inverters are expensive to repair or not possible to repair?

You can get fully warranted used Dynastys through https://www.millerserviceparts.com

Huh? Sure, there are occasional inexpensive repairs on inverters, but that isn't the norm. There is almost no such thing as repairing boards on a component level, so they simply replace the entire board. Under warranty that's not a big deal. Out of warranty it's often at least half the price of a new machine.

Just for fun I checked the prices on PC1 and PC2 on a 2005 Dynasty 200DX....only $2,200 and $1,100 each.

Time and again post here and on other welding forums about needing to get inverters repaired out of warranty and very rarely is it only a couple of hundred dollars.

G-ManBart wrote:

cj737 wrote:I’ve got a Dynasty inverter bought in 2005. I had it repaired for $300 by the LWS authorized repair center. I have no idea why others believe inverters are expensive to repair or not possible to repair?

You can get fully warranted used Dynastys through https://www.millerserviceparts.com

Huh? Sure, there are occasional inexpensive repairs on inverters, but that isn't the norm. There is almost no such thing as repairing boards on a component level, so they simply replace the entire board. Under warranty that's not a big deal. Out of warranty it's often at least half the price of a new machine.

Just for fun I checked the prices on PC1 and PC2 on a 2005 Dynasty 200DX....only $2,200 and $1,100 each.

Time and again post here and on other welding forums about needing to get inverters repaired out of warranty and very rarely is it only a couple of hundred dollars.

There are numerous components on the board that can be replaced. In my case, such a component was. At first they attempted to "repair it" for the $300 fee. That held up for about 3 weeks, then it failed again. So they replaced the component for free. It was not an entire board and an entire board doesn't "fail".

The situation you describe is when a repair shop is unwilling or unable to replace the actual component either due to them being lazy, unskilled, or unwilling. Such was not the case for my box or with my LWS.

"Repairs" have become discard, replace or abandon, just like automobiles. Seldom can you find someone actually able to or willing to diagnose the specific cause and repair that issue. Easier to "throw it all away" and charge the consumer heaps. Guess what the LWS does with all those "replaced" boards? Yep, returns to manufacturer who repairs them and sells them on again as refurbished replacement parts. Odd isn't it?

cj737 wrote: There are numerous components on the board that can be replaced. In my case, such a component was. At first they attempted to "repair it" for the $300 fee. That held up for about 3 weeks, then it failed again. So they replaced the component for free. It was not an entire board and an entire board doesn't "fail".

The situation you describe is when a repair shop is unwilling or unable to replace the actual component either due to them being lazy, unskilled, or unwilling. Such was not the case for my box or with my LWS.

"Repairs" have become discard, replace or abandon, just like automobiles. Seldom can you find someone actually able to or willing to diagnose the specific cause and repair that issue. Easier to "throw it all away" and charge the consumer heaps. Guess what the LWS does with all those "replaced" boards? Yep, returns to manufacturer who repairs them and sells them on again as refurbished replacement parts. Odd isn't it?

What you just described proved my point. In many cases you can't get repairs done at the component level and all the shops will do is replace the board. Sure, there are exceptions, and it sounds like yours was, but that doesn't change the fact that time and again people post the same scenario...welder failed out of warranty and the "repair" is a new board that costs a couple thousand dollars.

Yes, people can try third-party shops and send the board off, but that's a whole different scenario...it's usually not cheap ($3-500 for most boards) and there often isn't any guarantee it will even work. I've explored that while fixing a number of welders and so far it's made more sense to just buy a new board and be done with it.

G-ManBart wrote: What you just described proved my point. In many cases you can't get repairs done at the component level and all the shops will do is replace the board. Sure, there are exceptions, and it sounds like yours was, but that doesn't change the fact that time and again people post the same scenario...welder failed out of warranty and the "repair" is a new board that costs a couple thousand dollars.

Yes, people can try third-party shops and send the board off, but that's a whole different scenario...it's usually not cheap ($3-500 for most boards) and there often isn't any guarantee it will even work. I've explored that while fixing a number of welders and so far it's made more sense to just buy a new board and be done with it.

No, what I described is contrary to your point. The repairs are quite possible. What is common is finding lazy repair shops. MY LWS is an authorized repair center for Miller, Lincoln and a few others. Hence, they perform these types of repairs instead of raping customers with board replacements.

cj737 wrote:

G-ManBart wrote: What you just described proved my point. In many cases you can't get repairs done at the component level and all the shops will do is replace the board. Sure, there are exceptions, and it sounds like yours was, but that doesn't change the fact that time and again people post the same scenario...welder failed out of warranty and the "repair" is a new board that costs a couple thousand dollars.

Yes, people can try third-party shops and send the board off, but that's a whole different scenario...it's usually not cheap ($3-500 for most boards) and there often isn't any guarantee it will even work. I've explored that while fixing a number of welders and so far it's made more sense to just buy a new board and be done with it.

No, what I described is contrary to your point. The repairs are quite possible. What is common is finding lazy repair shops. MY LWS is an authorized repair center for Miller, Lincoln and a few others. Hence, they perform these types of repairs instead of raping customers with board replacements.

Wow, this is really a case of someone just not getting it. Nothing you've said disagrees with what I said.

I have never said boards can't be repaired (at least sometimes). Very few shops will attempt component level repairs....authorized service center or not. Just because a repair might be possible doesn't mean you can get someone to attempt that repair.

Like I said, time and again we see people posting about failed inverter machines. How many of them wind up with a fix for a couple of hundred dollars? Almost never. That's reality....good, bad, right or wrong, that's what the average guy deals with if their machine is broken.

Just because your local shop happens to attempt those repairs doesn't mean that's common. If it's not common (it's not) that means the average person with a broken inverter out of warranty is looking at an expensive repair...not the cheap fix you seem to suggest is common.

Keep in mind if an inverter is going to fail often it'll be within the initial stages of use or at the very end of it's lifespan, once it's been used but not abused the odds of a failure go down significantly. Now I wouldn't buy any machine out of warranty unless saving substantially on it, but it doesn't mean if you get an inverter you can count on using the warranty.

Do you have a budget?
I was looking to get into tig for a few years, And personally I had considered a cheaper Chinese machine, but quickly decided not a chance, just didn't want to end up with a cheap quality welder. But it's personal opinion there, and understandably hard to spend lots on name brand if it's not for everyday use.

What will you be welding?

I needed ac/dc as I wanted to do aluminum, I ended up going with the aspect 230, Which I consider a high end machine right up there with the miller dynastys. I was looking for used dynastys but they were priced too high and no warranty, and there wasn't very many for sale used.

I've only had it for a few weeks and im just learning tig welding, but it is awesome, has all kinds of settings for aluminum ac balance/amplitude/wave forms etc etc etc. And the inverters are awesome for being small/light and not needing a huge power input.

I'd recommend a 200 amp if your planning on much aluminum. My second choice was going to be the square wave 200, which would have done me really well too and a lot cheaper. But I feel the aspect is that much more machine, and happy I went with it. Miller dynasty 210 are priced a lot higher and are great machine too, but I couldn't justify it when in my opinion the Lincoln has everything too and a touch more power.

I've owned a few Everlasts. 210EXT, 200DV, and a 350EXT. They're great on DC but sometimes marginal on AC. I somewhat need another machine, and it will most likely be a HTP, but maybe a Miller.