Sorry another what tig thread

[Smyrk]

Hi sorry to cover old ground but ive been readin for last couple of days and ma heads wrecked.
Im new to tig, did a taster course at college last year just on dc
Now ive decided i want (need if ma missus is readinG this) to be able to weld aluminium, alloy wheels etc.
Ive never used a foot pedal or voltage control on torch, torch we only used dc at college.
I dont know what the hf start etc is?
I want to spend £1000 - £1500 ideally
ideally single phase
Also what affect does,the duty cycle have as alot of people say this and i dont quite understand it and its importance to a tig welder
So can someone,point me in the direction of a tig,weoder that might suit me cheers in advance

 

[Marc.]

Hi i am not sure what others would say as everyone has their own opinion but the most popular in your budget seems to be this one: http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/welding_equipment/Tig_Welder/Tig_Welder_R-Tech_Tig201

Marc

 

[chevy2]

Hi i am not sure what others would say as everyone has their own opinion but the most popular in your budget seems to be this one: http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/welding_equipment/Tig_Welder/Tig_Welder_R-Tech_Tig201

Marc

I've had one of these tig201 machines for about 2 years now,
A very good machine for the money,
you'll need this amount of power if you're thinking of repairing ali wheels as they need a fair bit of heat depending on the wheel thickness,
one of the reasons i bought this model was the duty cycle,
this one will run all day @160amps
Ali wheels can be tricky to repair as they're generally not the best grade of ali so might be best to get experienced on cleaner ali before attempting and struggling to repair wheels.

 

[chrismac]

Hi the duty cycle for instance if it was 60% @ 140 amps on a 140 amp machine, for ease of counting it would run for 6mins out of 10mins before the thermal cut out would cut in, but on that same machine it might give an output of 100% @ 100 amps which means at 100amps it would run all day, this is where you need to know how much work you are planning doing and how near the max limit you will want to work,
larger machines have higher duty cycles.

Chris

 

[500e]

Tig Welder R-Tech Tig201] with pedal

TEC-ARC 216i AC/DC TIG Welder + pedal

Which one??

 

[hotrodder]

Duty cycle is a bigger deal with MIG imo as you don't need to keep stopping to replace the electrode/grab a fresh stick of filler wire. While it can serve as a comparison between machines it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt... a Miller Dynasty 200 for example has an advertised duty cycle of 20% @ 200A which is pants compared to many other machines costing a fraction of the amount. Despite that it's in a different league to cheapnese kit and it's a safe bet that the duty cycle specs are done at 40C and if not accurate are on the conservative side...

Jumping the gun a lot but be aware that alloy wheels are typically heat treated which means that, welding flaws aside, welding 'em WILL soften (weaken) them local to the weld. Been discused lots of times, a search of the TIG forum for 'wheels' will get you a bunch of threads on the topic

 

[Smyrk]

Thanks for all your replies for some reason my email notifications arent working!
Illl look into the alloy whhel threads. That would be a long way off yet anyway i would definately just be practicing on clean bits until i get the hang of welding with a tig machine.

Ive looked at both the tec arc 216 (as we used the smalled dc machines at college) and the r tech. What do people think would be the best machine out of the pair?

 

[ukracer]

Hi i am not sure what others would say as everyone has their own opinion but the most popular in your budget seems to be this one: http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/welding_equipment/Tig_Welder/Tig_Welder_R-Tech_Tig201

Marc

+ 1 for this machines its a fantastic bit of kit. (Now I know how to use it) lol

Check out this thread. http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=37660

 

[Smyrk]

What are the east wood tigs like as there alot cheaper?

 

[ukracer]

What are the east wood tigs like as there alot cheaper?

Personally I have never seen of used one but to be honest I purchased R-tech 201 on reputation and sadly I needed the legendary support due to my lack of ability and knowledge. But its the 2 years ......collection.....fix... and send back to you......... with an option to extend this, that clinched the deal for me. I just happened to test the support side out...quickly. lol

 

[hotrodder]

From the last time the Eastwood TIGs came up... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=36440&highlight=eastwood

The usual rule of getting what you pay for applies... fairly obviously some of the premium for the big boys kit is because they're the ones developing the technology so you're paying for the R&D, attention to detail and a little for the name etc. At the other extreme end you're getting a cheapnese copy of an ancient/generic design thrown together with scant regard for details by someone being paid a bowl of rice a day [/tongue in cheek] In the middle there's some badge engineering to skew things from a value POV but the extra money over and above the cheapies typically pays for a bit of quality control, decent back up and a warrenty that's worth the paper it's written on [/gross generalisation]

Within your budget the only two names that are likely to crop up here are Rtech and Tec-arc. The length/spelling variations make the site search less than stellar so (playing with the hyphons) use google and terms like 'r-tech tecarc migwelding'. On paper the Tec-arc offers more useful pulse parameters imo but AC frequency is fixed. The R-tech has adjustable AC frequency but is limited to a low frequency pulse. Neither features are 'must haves' but pulse is more useful with thin stainless and AC frequency obviously only applies to ally and magnesium

 

[Marc.]

I dont know if its what your after but there is an AC/DC R-tech 250amp Tig on evilbay from R-tech themselves, shop soiled including the stuff you need and the pedal for only £1269 inc. VAT.

 

[cornishwelding]

Have a look at the Parweld XTI 201 AC/DC, 185 Amps at 60% duty, a good well built machine, (can be had for around £850), made in china like the R-Tech stuff, but Parweld go to China with a design, and have it built to their specifications.
It's the same with the Tecarc tigs and small inverters, they are built to their design, but the PCB's are repairable, whereas a lot of the Chinese machines use cheap copycat pcb's that are trashed once they go faulty.

The Chinese inverter bubble will burst at some stage, there's such a glut of very cheap, and sometimes dangerous machines coming in, that people will start to crave some quality and service again.......

The HSE are investigating certain Plasma cutters that are CE marked, but are actually very dangerous..........

 

[ukracer]

Have a look at the Parweld XTI 201 AC/DC, 185 Amps at 60% duty, a good well built machine, (can be had for around £850), made in china like the R-Tech stuff, but Parweld go to China with a design, and have it built to their specifications.
It's the same with the Tecarc tigs and small inverters, they are built to their design, but the PCB's are repairable, whereas a lot of the Chinese machines use cheap copycat pcb's that are trashed once they go faulty.

The Chinese inverter bubble will burst at some stage, there's such a glut of very cheap, and sometimes dangerous machines coming in, that people will start to crave some quality and service again.......

The HSE are investigating certain Plasma cutters that are CE marked, but are actually very dangerous..........

R-Tech stuff is not made in China it used to be but since they purchased the rights to distribute in the UK they are fitted out in the UK. The old R-Tech welders in the same cases used side by side are night and day different.

 

[matt1978]

R-Tech stuff is not made in China it used to be but since they purchased the rights to distribute in the UK they are fitted out in the UK. The old R-Tech welders in the same cases used side by side are night and day different.

I work in the industry and I think your mistaken there.

It's not to say that it's not good equipment and its not to say that all stuff from China is bad, but as far as I know nothing is manufactured in the UK.

AFAIK they might re-work some of the stuff and take some snags (re soldering dry joints etc) out before it leaves the UK warehouse but that's a completely different thing to actually manufacturing in the UK.

R-Tech have a great reputation for after sales care and service and are very competent machines within their price sector