Well after spending a week literally nearly full time reading advice from this site and watching machine reviews I took the plunge today and gave R-Tech a call. They had a shop soiled R-Tech I-MIG 180 discounted, so I ordered together with a pack of spare tips and a reel of 0.8mm. Just had the email to say it will be delivered sometime tomorrow Just need to sort out the gas....
I watched all of John's (Double-Boost) review videos on the 180 last night and hopefully it'll be a good machine for me to learn on.
As I mentioned in my intro post I currently have a Clarke TIG130 Electronic" circa about 20 years old, rated at 130 amp, it can do Arc and scratch TIG (even does basic pulse TIG!). It's an electronically control transformer welder, I think it was Clarkes first attempt at TIG even came with a reasonable TIG torch although I never did use the TIG function.
I saw on John's review he connected a scratch TIG torch to the 180 to do basic TIG. My Clarke has a scratch TIG torch, not pretty, but it does have a gas flow trigger and micro switch in the handle. I was wondering if it's worth scrapping the Clarke and reusing the TIG torch or buying a new torch and trying to sell the Clarke as-is, not sure how much It's worth, still runs perfectly.
Roll on tomorrow and let the adventure begin
I watched all of John's (Double-Boost) review videos on the 180 last night and hopefully it'll be a good machine for me to learn on.
As I mentioned in my intro post I currently have a Clarke TIG130 Electronic" circa about 20 years old, rated at 130 amp, it can do Arc and scratch TIG (even does basic pulse TIG!). It's an electronically control transformer welder, I think it was Clarkes first attempt at TIG even came with a reasonable TIG torch although I never did use the TIG function.
I saw on John's review he connected a scratch TIG torch to the 180 to do basic TIG. My Clarke has a scratch TIG torch, not pretty, but it does have a gas flow trigger and micro switch in the handle. I was wondering if it's worth scrapping the Clarke and reusing the TIG torch or buying a new torch and trying to sell the Clarke as-is, not sure how much It's worth, still runs perfectly.
Roll on tomorrow and let the adventure begin