malcolmsmill
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as the title says....
has anybody used a stahlwerk welder?
mig or tig or plasma?
has anybody used a stahlwerk welder?
mig or tig or plasma?
I cannot comment on there ability or reliability as I've heard very little on them. They are very cheap though which to some people is attractive but to me would be concern. A company selling a AC/DC tig for example wanting £600. How much has it cost to build. I bet no more than £300 inc labour. I also bet they allow for parts in that cost as potential warranty parts too. If you look at it this way it's going to be built out of elastic bands and paper clips. I could be wrong but quality components don't make profit in £600 welders.as the title says....
has anybody used a stahlwerk welder?
mig or tig or plasma?
So what was the commission on that write up?They've got some good reviews & plenty of satisfied customers. as for price, well we all know that as technology moves on these things become cheaper, also these things don't need to cost a fortune these days, this is tried & tested MOSFET inverter technology (which is actually quite old-hat nowadays), it's been about a long time now. £600 is still a lot of money, I would ask those commenting on price; how many welders they have built? Do they know what goes into one? (I don't exactly, but I've got a rough idea it's mainly PCBs & other electronic gubbins, & that's continually coming down in price as stuff moves on). You don't have the massive amounts of copper that older transformer welders had, they are much lighter & cheaper to ship around the world. They are also put together where labour is cheap. I bet one of these costs around £100, maybe less, to put together, & there's no reason why it shouldn't in this day & age.
As I understand it these particular machines are indeed built in China, but the company building them out there has German investment & German quality control engineers keeping an eye on things. Their warranty is a full 5 years & is covered worldwide. I also know (from on line research) that they honour that warranty without issue. They have also been going around 17 years now, so aren't likely to dissolve overnight & leave you without. Certainly a better bet that some of the British importers, who are changing company names every 2 years (mind you, they are even cheaper than this lot! Just over £400 for an AC/DC TIG with foot pedal, torch & leads!) But even them I have bought off in the past (a little Giant scratch start TIG unit, which is still working fine after nearly 2 years & cost a little over £100) so maybe even the cheapest of the cheap isn't so bad after all. I know that about 5 years ago, most of these large scale importers expected about a 10% return rate, which they would either refund or replace & throw the old unit away (be it welders, toasters, kettles, power tools, whatever). You'll always hear the horror stories because people like to shout when they're annoyed & others love to listen. It's nowhere near as interesting to hear that someone bought something & it worked as intended, & most people don't bother to come onto the internet & say as much (why would they?).
I think people are too quick to put these cheaper welders down, but plenty of people are using them out there & not just DIYers. If you were just starting up in business a machine like this could be just the leg-up you need, & could earn you the money to move you onto bigger & better things.
Anyway, I'm just waiting for UPS to bring mine over, I've gone for the AC/DC 200 pulse with plasma cutter, I'll let you know how it works once I've had a chance to set it up.
(been waiting in all day, maybe I'll go on line & write a bad review for UPS).
...There is a 20min vid which I learnt a lot watching on here showing some real eye openers on how these cheap machines look inside...
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/dontcha-wish-your-welder-was-cheap-like-me.54097/unreadI'd like to see that video ...got a link?
My last comment wasn't a dig at you, I just get wound up by these so called welding companies that sell sh#t and expect us to pay to return it and be without it cos they can't put it right 1st time round. It's not even a 1off these imported machines sold under European names quite often go wrong from day one.i've got a Stahlwerk ac/dc tig 200 pulse s , with built in plasma cutter , had it 3 months and it suddenly stopped working , the warranty says you have to pay to return it to them , but all repairs and return shipping are paid for by them , it was fixed and returned in 9 days , i received a packed of 10 tungstens and a big pack of ally rods as a compensation gift , its a pretty good welder although i can only compare it to the previous chinese tig i had and an R tech i have tried , some unusual features tho , up slope / down slope end current settings only work in 4T trigger setting , i had the foot pedal so i don't need that anyway , if you want to see your pulse settings , turn pulse off , switch on 2t and it displays high setting , switch on 4t and it displays low setting , the manual doesn't tell you this ... inside is neat and tidy , connections are all tight and marked with red paint . Since i had it back i hadn't done any ally tig until last weekend and it has a problem , no cleaning action , no matter how i adjust it . i have contacted them about it and they have agreed to pay for the machines return and repair ,, their after sales care is excellent , very helpful . obviously returning the machine to Germany is a pain . ill update when they have fixed it again .... would i suggest you go out and buy one ....... if it doesn't break ,then yes , it actually welds really well , back up is very good if you can afford to be without a welder for over a week if it needs fixing .
I see where your coming from. We just have very different views on these topics. Your veiw is a very valid point.I'm just saying that the main thing is that it gets fixed, its not good (and something that needs to be looked at by them i.e. more stringent testing before its sent back out / do more indepth testing to catch components that are borderline) that it wasn't fixed first time, BUT they have stepped up to the plate, agreed to pay to have it collected and returned at their expense as they didn't sort it properly first time.
I'm also just pointing out that I've known people with premium brand cars that have been in and out of the dealership with various faults (that have been sorted under warranty) and at times not been rectified properly first time...as in it can happen.
Yes it would make me look at other options...but I'd be asking them the same questions re warranty issues, turn around times etc...
Cheers so do I, I couldn't afford a new one I bought it 2nd hand. so if it goes pop it's gonna have to be repaired out of my own pocket.As you come on here in a few months ranting about how its been back to kemppi 3 times and come back with different faults everytime...lol
seriously though...hope it works well for you and you have no problems with it.....
Just read your review of your STAHLWERK tig set I'm just writing to see if you are still happy with it?.They've got some good reviews & plenty of satisfied customers. as for price, well we all know that as technology moves on these things become cheaper, also these things don't need to cost a fortune these days, this is tried & tested MOSFET inverter technology (which is actually quite old-hat nowadays), it's been about a long time now. £600 is still a lot of money, I would ask those commenting on price; how many welders they have built? Do they know what goes into one? (I don't exactly, but I've got a rough idea it's mainly PCBs & other electronic gubbins, & that's continually coming down in price as stuff moves on). You don't have the massive amounts of copper that older transformer welders had, they are much lighter & cheaper to ship around the world. They are also put together where labour is cheap. I bet one of these costs around £100, maybe less, to put together, & there's no reason why it shouldn't in this day & age.
As I understand it these particular machines are indeed built in China, but the company building them out there has German investment & German quality control engineers keeping an eye on things. Their warranty is a full 5 years & is covered worldwide. I also know (from on line research) that they honour that warranty without issue. They have also been going around 17 years now, so aren't likely to dissolve overnight & leave you without. Certainly a better bet that some of the British importers, who are changing company names every 2 years (mind you, they are even cheaper than this lot! Just over £400 for an AC/DC TIG with foot pedal, torch & leads!) But even them I have bought off in the past (a little Giant scratch start TIG unit, which is still working fine after nearly 2 years & cost a little over £100) so maybe even the cheapest of the cheap isn't so bad after all. I know that about 5 years ago, most of these large scale importers expected about a 10% return rate, which they would either refund or replace & throw the old unit away (be it welders, toasters, kettles, power tools, whatever). You'll always hear the horror stories because people like to shout when they're annoyed & others love to listen. It's nowhere near as interesting to hear that someone bought something & it worked as intended, & most people don't bother to come onto the internet & say as much (why would they?).
I think people are too quick to put these cheaper welders down, but plenty of people are using them out there & not just DIYers. If you were just starting up in business a machine like this could be just the leg-up you need, & could earn you the money to move you onto bigger & better things.
Anyway, I'm just waiting for UPS to bring mine over, I've gone for the AC/DC 200 pulse with plasma cutter, I'll let you know how it works once I've had a chance to set it up.
(been waiting in all day, maybe I'll go on line & write a bad review for UPS).