Welding Tips and Tricks

Looking at a TA 185. Owner sez he used it very little. Works as it should. and still has the original box.

I want to use it for car restoration sheet metal work primarily, and down the road maybe some lite ga aluminum

Question I have.....
I recall reading on one of the forums that the software/firmware in the machine makes the pedal act flaky at low amp jobs

Anyone have any info/thoughts/suggestions about this

I am also looking at the new Lincoln SW 200 for the same application
The money for both machines is about the same, the big difference of course is the Lincoln would be new.

Thanks for your time

outsider347 wrote:Looking at a TA 185. Owner sez he used it very little. Works as it should. and still has the original box.

I want to use it for car restoration sheet metal work primarily, and down the road maybe some lite ga aluminum

Question I have.....
I recall reading on one of the forums that the software/firmware in the machine makes the pedal act flaky at low amp jobs

Anyone have any info/thoughts/suggestions about this

I am also looking at the new Lincoln SW 200 for the same application
The money for both machines is about the same, the big difference of course is the Lincoln would be new.

Thanks for your time

Since the 185 is used maybe the owner would let you try it. If that's not possible then get the serial number and call Thermal Arc (I think Victor owns them now, could be wrong) and speak to customer support about your concern.

The Lincoln SW 200 is new, Jody did a video and reported that it lights up at 25 amps, which doesn't seem like much unless you really needed 10 amps

For the money I think the 185 offers more value due to it's feature set vs the Lincoln 200. Compare their duty cycles on AC, I think you'll see the Lincoln would only be for "lite" aluminum work, but for your needs that could be okay. Your call.

HTH

outsider347 wrote:Looking at a TA 185. Owner sez he used it very little. Works as it should. and still has the original box.

I want to use it for car restoration sheet metal work primarily, and down the road maybe some lite ga aluminum

Question I have.....
I recall reading on one of the forums that the software/firmware in the machine makes the pedal act flaky at low amp jobs

Anyone have any info/thoughts/suggestions about this

I am also looking at the new Lincoln SW 200 for the same application
The money for both machines is about the same, the big difference of course is the Lincoln would be new.

Thanks for your time

I think you are confusing that with the Chinese built TA 186 which is a totally different machine to the Japanese built TA185 Sanrex machine. The Japanese TA machines are fantastic. I own an LM300 and just had a really nice arc to it. The 186 had and may still have a known issue with the pedal.

southpaw
Thanks for the clarification

soutthpaw wrote: I think you are confusing that with the Chinese built TA 186 which is a totally different machine to the Japanese built TA185 Sanrex machine. The Japanese TA machines are fantastic. I own an LM300 and just had a really nice arc to it. The 186 had and may still have a known issue with the pedal.

I thought he was talking about the Thermal Arc machine as his subject line suggests

By TA I'm pretty sure he meant Thermal Arc. I have a 186 and can verify it is made in China. I've had it for over a year and burnt 100# plus of stick as well as about 50 # of various tig rods. I have had no issues but I have and prefer the thumb wheel controls.

LtBadd wrote:

soutthpaw wrote: I think you are confusing that with the Chinese built TA 186 which is a totally different machine to the Japanese built TA185 Sanrex machine. The Japanese TA machines are fantastic. I own an LM300 and just had a really nice arc to it. The 186 had and may still have a known issue with the pedal.

I thought he was talking about the Thermal Arc machine as his subject line suggests

The Thermal Arc (TA) 186 is made in China as is all the TA machines now. TA laid off most of their US employees a couple years back and moved everything to China.
For about the first year of production, the TA252i was made in USA that was basically the last American made machine from them until that too moved to China. My understanding is some of the former TA folks now work for Hypertherm.

soutthpaw wrote:

LtBadd wrote:

soutthpaw wrote: I think you are confusing that with the Chinese built TA 186 which is a totally different machine to the Japanese built TA185 Sanrex machine. The Japanese TA machines are fantastic. I own an LM300 and just had a really nice arc to it. The 186 had and may still have a known issue with the pedal.

I thought he was talking about the Thermal Arc machine as his subject line suggests

The Thermal Arc (TA) 186 is made in China as is all the TA machines now. TA laid off most of their US employees a couple years back and moved everything to China.
For about the first year of production, the TA252i was made in USA that was basically the last American made machine from them until that too moved to China. My understanding is some of the former TA folks now work for Hypertherm.

Ok thanks. I wasn't sure why you brought up the Sanrex machine

LtBadd wrote:

soutthpaw wrote:

LtBadd wrote: I thought he was talking about the Thermal Arc machine as his subject line suggests

The Thermal Arc (TA) 186 is made in China as is all the TA machines now. TA laid off most of their US employees a couple years back and moved everything to China.
For about the first year of production, the TA252i was made in USA that was basically the last American made machine from them until that too moved to China. My understanding is some of the former TA folks now work for Hypertherm.

Ok thanks. I wasn't sure why you brought up the Sanrex machine

Sanrex is the factory that manufactures the Primary components (Not sure about the whole machine) for TA. They are known for extremely high quality in general. The new Sanrex line of welders are basically updated designs of the machines they designed for TA

If they want to sell these in the US, they have a long way to go with their website.

Also the only difference I see of any significance between their 185AP and the 200AP is 15 amps of output, and they want $500 for that!

I have and use a TA 185 and love it.

soutthpaw wrote: I think you are confusing that with the Chinese built TA 186 which is a totally different machine to the Japanese built TA185 Sanrex machine. The Japanese TA machines are fantastic. I own an LM300 and just had a really nice arc to it. The 186 had and may still have a known issue with the pedal.

The pedal issue with the TA186 was very few and was corrected long ago. If you search net it is very hard to find any complaints about TA186 that are even credible. Never used the TA185 from others I know that have used it they liked it and still own them.

Thermal Arc or Thermal Dynamics is a all part of ESAB brands including Tweco, Victor, Arcair, Stoody, Turbo Torch, with offices and manufacturing all over the world. One of the main offices is in St.Louis Mo.

Sanrex Website
by LtBadd » Sat Feb 13, 2016 5:05 pm
If they want to sell these in the US, they have a long way to go with their website.

Also the only difference I see of any significance between their 185AP and the 200AP is 15 amps of output, and they want $500 for that!

Most of the posters have touched on the facts.
Sanrex is still a Japanese company based in Japan that has factories in Japan as well as a few in China and other asian countries as well as Offices in Europe and USA according to the Sanrex map on their website in 2015 that i looked at. Sanrex is a subsidiary of a larger Japanese company in Japan-whose name escapes me now.
They specialise in making the semiconductor devices used in both the inverter welders they sell directly as a Sanrex product and were contracted by Thermal Arc to build the TA185 TSW, TA200 Arc Master,TA 300TSW, LT300, LT400 models with the purple/ maroon coloured side outer panel/case and others that are now discontinued.
The contract with Thermal Arc prevented Sanrex selling Sanrex inverter welders in the US but that changed when that contract came to a close.
The Sanrex semiconductors were also used in Miller Electric inverter welders made in the USA like the Maxstar300 Dx and Lx and the Dynasty 300Dx series.
Sanyo Denki also a Japanese company also supplied the cooling fans for these models as well as for some of the Miller models I listed.
I have all of the inverters listed above from TA and Miller, all bought Used from ebay in the as is /where is or parts only condition. They have all been disassembled and cleaned with the appropriate service manuals opened for reference/ guidance BEFORE input power was applied to see if they work! Or don't work/ have issues!
TA185 and TA200 models differ slightly as the TA200 model has a store/recall memory button to save weld parameters and the TA185 doesn't have program memory so the circuit boards that handle this would obviously be different, I suppose that's the reason the "spec sheet" differs between both models.They share the same outer case except for an insert panel-no biggie.
The TA185 "remembers" the last welding parameters when switched off however.
The plastic outer cases for the TA models i have seem to be made by a Chinese supplier and I'm not a fan of this plastic case as they developed cracks that are challenging to fix with good ol JB weld. I will have to do more research to what plastic welding rod I can use for stronger repairs.

What people outside of Japan in the WEST are not familiar with is that Sanrex also make inverter power supply units for their entertainment /sports/ billboard signage industries of various wattages that from the brochures look IDENTICAL in design and outside dimensions to the old Maroon TA welder models and the current Sanrex welder models in black case.
(The parts/service manuals have a very similar numbering system between both products)
Would love to get a couple black cases for mine and swop stickers.…
The TA185TSW/200 Arc Master/300 TSW all use dual speed fans but are still quieter than the Miller single speed "fan on demand"
The TA LT300/LT400 use a single speed fan, on all the time but still quieter than the Miller
units
All the working TA units i have welded with ,weld the same- soft quiet controlled arc i prefer over the Millers louder arc, although i use my miller pc-300 pulse unit to change the arc sound and arc force to suit my liking - just my personal liking on days where i feel to weld quietly at night.

To the OP, from a repair cost DIY view point Sanrex semiconductor replacement parts are still available for the TA185 models and earlier LT and TSW units and I suspect the current Sanrex inverter would share most of the same proven semiconductors.
If the US semiconductor price structure is too expensive, then source from Japan.

Sorry about the long winded post hope it helps the OP

If you open up a 186 pedal, you will notice there is no way to correct that mess,without snipping a few wires..(add a preview disconnect switch) Dual switch for Preview was never corrected, and is a issue, along with the stepped software.. Credible or not, it's what it is. The early ft pedals had a rack that was out of spec, and was rough. That machine will never tail out like a good 185, but it has better power and welds nice, other then the lumpy software ramp up... I had a few real Sanrex's to compare my 186 too.. Sure is not a Esab 2200i is how it controls the arc..(or 185 for that matter) Not even on the same planet. The standard Tweco 211i on DC is much smoother then any 186 in current control. by the way the 211i ft pedal will work on the 186,but you loose preview settings unless un-plugged.. Tweco gave me my pick of ft controls, when I talked to the tech. My email got forwarded to many people at Tweco, so there was really a problem. Call SSC controls, and ask if any of this is real... They got caught by the short hairs on that one.. Tweco builds a machine without a panel preview switch, and makes the ft pedal guys fix their F**K up.. They did the best they could ,with what they were working with.. I guess we just set around and make this stuff up for fun..