Another hobyist looking for TIG machine advise....

GlenC · Tue May 20, 2014 12:52 am

I bought my TIG welder in 1975... a Miller Econo Twin HF... It has served me well, although I'm not great welder, always wish my welds were "prettier" ... Recently got hooked on watching Jody and want to start going on projects...

Along with the Econo-Twin HF AC/DC TIG, I bought a Hobart Handler 150 MIG, back in the mid '80's.

I have never used a TIG with a foot pedal, however I can see the benefits and occasionally look at newer machines... I've looked at machines like the Miller Syncrowave 250DX and with some of the videos, have been considering something like the Everlast ... first it was the PowerPro 256S, then to the PowerTIG 250EX, no wait, maybe the PowerTIG 210 EXT, but then the
PowerTIG 255EXT has more advanced features....

I have had the need to weld steel, stainless, aluminum, even played with some .020 wall titanium tube... I think I see some advantages to the non-gifted welder with some of the advanced features of the new machines. Things like pulse, balance, wave form, etc.

I know lots like the Miller Dynasty series, but I just cannot justify the expense, especially for my limited use. It would be a real surprise if my Econo-Twin had more than 200 hours on it in the nearly 40 years I have owned it.

What are some reasonable opinions on a new Tig unit? I have some Porsche restoration projects, misc tool stands/carts to build, some occasional aircraft parts to do in the future...

Regards, Glen

AKweldshop · Tue May 20, 2014 2:43 am

The HTP Invertig 221H has been getting rave reviews....
HTP is currently out of them, last time they got 80 machines in, and sold them all in 2 weeks...

They'll be getting them back in about a month....

My 2 cents

RichardH · Tue May 20, 2014 11:29 am

Hi, Glen.

I'm in a similar boat, but a much newer weldor. I recently picked up an Everlast 210EXT, and I've got to say I really like it. It's clearly not as rugged as the Lincoln PrecisionTIG I use at the shop, but a ton more features at a fantastic price. On the low/precision end I've used it to fusion weld 0.045 wire at 7 amps pulsing, as well as pushing its limits on 3/8" steel.

I never expected projects that heavy when I bought it, but it did the job. I could definitely see getting a machine in the 320A range in the future, particularly for aluminum work because AC calls for more juice. I like that the 210EXT will run on a 30A circuit, and it's below the cutoff for needing to add a water cooler to my torch (making it more expensive and less portable). It came with a chunky 26 torch, which is needed to get to 200A; I added a CK FlexLoc Series 3 (size 17) for lighter work.

The only mildly screwy thing is that they ship a quick-disconnect fitting for the argon inlet that's for 0.170" i.d. tubing, but the stock regulator they provide has a 1/4" i.d. barb. A quick trip to the LWS got me the matching fitting for the regulator.

They rev'd the model a few months back, fixed a couple things, and simplified the front-panel controls since my 2013 version. If you go the Everlast route, I highly recommend you exercise the "make an offer" button on their site and press them hard on price and free shipping.

Cheers,
Richard

Oscar · Tue May 20, 2014 1:05 pm

AKweldshop wrote:The HTP Invertig 221H has been getting rave reviews....
HTP is currently out of them, last time they got 80 machines in, and sold them all in 2 weeks...

They'll be getting them back in about a month....

My 2 cents

Yup, I know I love mine.

GreinTime · Tue May 20, 2014 1:23 pm

I have the PowerTIG250ex and love it. As Richard said, either call them directly and haggle about price, or send sales@everlast.com (will go to Tanya or Oleg, Oleg being the owner) an email asking them if them of they'd be willing to ship you the welder And whatever other accessories you want for free, and haggle about the price. I substituted a water cooled wp20 torch and their upgraded pedal for the stock units and got their water cooler as well, all for a few hundred off what they wanted for it at face value. I didn't realize how much of a difference the water cooled torches made as far as comfort and amperage, but I'd be okay with never going back to an air cooled torch!

--Sam

dirtmidget33 · Wed May 21, 2014 12:43 pm

Checkout the Thermal Arc 186. I just bought one not long ago machine works great. i would never thought of looking at this machine until a friend that deals in welders told me about them. unit has lot of adjustment features to fine tune the arc. You can get it with or without a foot pedal. Mine has foot pedal, they all come with a 26 torch with controls on torch. I always use foot pedal but if you need torch contols it has different inserts depending on what features you want to control with torch. The 26 torch a little large and combersome for my liking to fit in areas I weld. I use a #9 and #17 that i bought from usaweld.com to fit thermal arcs. I have done a lot of alumuim With it and pushed machine pretty hard have to say Iam really impressed and happy with it

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AKweldshop · Wed May 21, 2014 2:14 pm

How's that machine stick weld??

Does it do pretty good???

~John

dirtmidget33 · Wed May 21, 2014 3:32 pm

Could not give you an honest answer on stick welding with it. I hardly ever ever stick weld been about 10 yrs since I used a stick welder for anything. I prefer cleaner welds hate cleaning off slag and splatter. Not that stick doesn't have its purposes I just dont have a use for it. If i needed to do a long production weld and tig would be a big waste of time me personally i would grab the mig over stick any day of week. If. I was an iron worker welding on buildings that might be a different story but stick just not for me.

AKweldshop · Wed May 21, 2014 3:41 pm

dirtmidget33 wrote:Could not give you an honest answer on stick welding with it. I hardly ever ever stick weld been about 10 yrs since I used a stick welder for anything. I prefer cleaner welds hate cleaning off slag and splatter. Not that stick doesn't have its purposes I just dont have a use for it. If i needed to do a long production weld and tig would be a big waste of time me personally i would grab the mig over stick any day of week. If. I was an iron worker welding on buildings that might be a different story but stick just not for me.

I won't give you crap about it....

I was just asking.
I've heard these thermal arc's are really nice...

Just wondering.
I'm the opposite of you, I use stick most of the time, and rarely tig...

~John

dirtmidget33 · Wed May 21, 2014 4:12 pm

Each process has its needs. If i welded on the farmers equipment around me or really thick stuff that needed mutiple passes stick might be way to go.

Just checked my book when unit is in stick mode you can weld either AC or DC. Adjust arc force and of course either DC- or DC+ by reversing the dinse connectors

Yes the Thermal Arcs are very nice machines gotta spend 5000 to have same features with blue. I have found almost every big lws around me sells them of course they like to sell the 5000 to 7000 machines. Any specific questions you got on it let me know and i will try to answer it for you

coldman · Wed May 21, 2014 4:59 pm

This Thermalarc power source looks identical to the Aussie version Cigweld Weldskill 200acdc. I had one while I was at certification school and could not duplicate the same quality welds I was producing at school where we were using Dynasties. It had a weird arc in comparison. Also you could not set max amps in pedal mode unless you lit up on scrap and set amps with arc running which was a pain if you were doing low amp work. So I sold it and bought a Dynasty. Problem solved. Only blue for me.

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dirtmidget33 · Wed May 21, 2014 9:13 pm

Dont know anything about your cig weld but I use the foot pedal all the time with my thermal arc have no adjustment issues with amperage at all. If I had to fight a piece of equipment it goes bye bye real quick with me.

GlenC · Thu Jun 19, 2014 12:31 am

Well, I finally made a decision and after nearly 40 years with a Miller, I went with a used Dynasty 200DX... Now I have to really learn how to weld

Torchmonkey89 · Fri Jun 27, 2014 9:49 am

Hey Guys I have a thermal Arc 186 and it runs any electrode that I can throw at it. It burns 7018 like butter even up to 5/32 190A! Ran the machine all day at that setting never needed a cool down or a reset. I havent done to much TIG with it yet but Im sure that if it welds like it does on stick then i will have mo problem!!1