Tech arc tig vs the brand name tigs

[chris-law]

Hi all

I have a a tech arc 206i tig and have seen a few comments on the forum saying to avoid them , who has direct experience of this tig verses the likes of some of the so called quality brand ac/dc tigs , how do they compare , will the brand name tigs give a better quality weld ? , or is it reliability you are paying for .
I have a lorch m 252 mig and would love a matching tig to go with it , it's a very expensive luxury for the amount of time it would get used though .
Also does anyone have any experience with these http://www.1stopweldingshop.com/Cat...-Welders/Masterweld-221-ACDC-TIG-Package-230V

 

[justmental]

i have the tec-arc 206i tig and have had no problems with it at all.

 

[chris-law]

i have the tec-arc 206i tig and have had no problems with it at all.

Have you been fortunate enough to try any other tigs for a comparison

 

[justmental]

i did use this horrible machine of my friends a ine180 i think it was all digital panel display.
i hated it never could get a good weld with it cost him nearly £2000 even others i know that have used said the same as me.
a machine with more nobs on the front the better yes you could change ac frequency and get a more focused arc but i could not get on with it.
R-tech do some good machines and not been any complaints about them and good value for money and great back up from them too if you have any problems.

 

[hotrodder]

Probably 99% of weld quality with TIG is down to the person doing the driving. That said arc quality does vary... stability and smoothness, especially at low amperage, which can make life easier or harder for whoever's driving it. Probably doesn't apply to a full on AC/DC set but i've used cheapnese DC TIGs that had other flaws too- no preflow adjustment for example which isn't a big deal in of itself but when the machine activates the gas solenoid 1sec or so after the arc is initiated

 

[Shox Dr]

I have.
At first it produced a very clean stable arc [I was using it between 15-90ampso DC].

It wasn't until we got an Aluminium Job in the problems started. The arc would wander, splitting Tungstens, and blowing holes through 3mm ali on startup, one minute it would clean next none.

It was sent back 3 times everytime it came back 'No Fault Found' So I sent it back with Tokens to show the problems, still came back with NFF. The dealer wasn't interested, the rep told me he advised them not to buy the set, and he was washing his hands of it. So got thrown under a bench and AFAIK that's where it still is.

My take is everything breaks down from time to time, even the high end gear. What matters is how the manufacturer/Distributor deals with such outages.

There are plenty of reports on here on who does and who doesn't sort these out.


Buyer beware as they say

 

[chris-law]

Were you talking about the masterweld or the 206i Shox dr

 

[Shox Dr]

206i

 

[Wallace]

I've had a 206i since April 2009, the only issues I've had is an internal gas leak under pressure when tested but not in use due to a faulty hose clip and the HF start sometimes needs the Tungsten earthing on the work before pressing the pedal. I occasionally use a customers ESAB unit onsite for a small amount of their production work on steel and alloy, not sure of the model. After using the ESAB I raised my opinion of the 206i's abilities but the HF start is flaky in comparison to the lightning given off by the ESAB.

I keep meaning to investigate the HF problem further but just work round it, after reading this post about a WSME 200 HF fault it could be something simple like cleaning and gapping the contacts as it has developed over time. I'm also interested to see any visual differences between the two machines internally.

 

[chevy2]

I've owned several tig machines over the years and had first hand use of others either at work or owned by friends etc,
Owned murex, cebora, r-tech and currently miller,
Others used are various millers, parweld, chinese ones, ewm and lincolns,
One machine i owned for a while was an r-tech, we all know how many people rave on about how good they are on here but...lets be honest, for "most" of those owners its the only tig machine they've ever owned and so naturally it will seem great?
not knocking the r-tech but the minor issues they have and what most of the similar priced and spec'ed machines have are for example:- noisy cooling fans, poor arc stability at lower amps, poor foot pedal quality, erratic arc starting when on HF and not very smooth starting on HF, often a type of crackle and not precise start point when firing the arc if starting on low amperage,
not ideal if its an important job?

theres plenty that use the cheaper mid range machines and turn out some very nice work,
once you've had first hand experience of the top of the range machines, expecially the current ones that are packed with features you may want to find a few quid extra if weldings your thing in the future?

 

[hotrodder]

Forgot to mention specs last time, on the face of it a 250A R-tech has a 230A Kemppi beaten with not only a few more amps but also a 60% duty cycle versus 40% flat out for the Kemppi. On the other hand the kemppi is 5.7kVA and 15kg while the rtech is 7.7kVA and 32kg which is a small part of the reason why it's half the price...

 

[Wallace]

I meant to add that since 2009 there is a lot more choice in the 206i price range that wasn't available in 2009.

 

[Jim Davey]

The brand names perform better, that much is a given. How much better and if they are worth it comes down to what you buy and how much welding you do. The extra performance vs. cost argument will rattle on until we are all pushing up daisies. However, I view tools as a lifetime investment, I'm not about to stop using mine in the next thirty years (God willing) so I buy the best I can afford, as long as I feel I'll get the use out of them and the cost is justified.
I've used lots of sets, and the 206i wasn't bad, but its' not great either. It is a lot of set for the money though, and I like the fact its easily fixable if it fails. The pulse feature is either too fast or too slow, the arc isn't the most stable on AC and as said the HF could be better, but at the asking price I don't think people have much to complain about.

An EWM/Lincoln/Lorch/Kemppi/Miller would all be nicer to use on a daily basis, and if you're really good at tig then the increased performance will translate to a better end result, but it will be fractional, not night and day different.

If it were me, and I wasn't doing lots of welding, I'd go middle of the road and opt for something like a GYS 207 AC/DC, its much nicer to use than a 206i, has more features to play with when you get good, and it doesn't cost the same yet as some of the bigger more established brands.

 

[chris-law]

I totally get your point about the reviews on the Chinese tigs , if you haven't used the pro machines you can only report your own findings , and let's face it who is going to admit to buying a peach , hence the reason I started this thread .
I have been toying with the idea of upgrading to something better , I probably don't need too , I'm just a sucker for quality kit these days .
What's the opinion on cemont tig welders , iv seen a new one with a fair bit of discount , also a esab that has been discounted , I'd love a miller but just can't justify 3k worth of tig for occasional use .

 

[chris-law]

Jim , I totally agree , my tools are a lifetime investment to me , I might not use them much now , but I'm slowly building up a nice workshop with quality kit that will see my time out hopefully , it's surprising though how many times you fixing something at home or on the car/ bikes that the mig or lathe gets used .

 

[Wallace]

and let's face it who is going to admit to buying a peach , hence the reason I started this thread .

Err...Me! I was under no illusion when I bought my 206i that it was going to be the worlds greatest Tig welder and I still feel the same about it even after using the ESAB and raising my opinion of the 206i. Just out of interest, what lead you to buy the 206i in the first place?

 

[chris-law]

I was restricted by money at the time , I could have got a cheap ebay tig but spent the extra for the backup and reviews on here , don't get me wrong I'm in no way saying its a peach , I'm just asking if it's worth the investment to upgrade .
so are you saying you wouldn't trade up to an esab , I wouldn't say its a peach if that's what you mean , the esab 2200 is £1400+ more

 

[wheresmejumper]

I was restricted by money at the time , I could have got a cheap ebay tig but spent the extra for the backup and reviews on here , don't get me wrong I'm in no way saying its a peach , I'm just asking if it's worth the investment to upgrade .
so are you saying you wouldn't trade up to an esab , I wouldn't say its a peach if that's what you mean , the esab 2200 is £1400+ more

The esab 2200 is a peach.i was in a workshop full of them, all brand new with factory water coolers . absolutely terrible.
Everybody hated them.the cooler would decide to shut off on its own, or not come on at startup, the amps used rise by 1 every time you pressed the trigger on a couple.
the torch switches regularly packed up.very limited ac freq and balance.very noisy on ac, squeals like a shook wasp hive.horrible to stick weld with, pretty much limited to 6013, and it cant even run them well.just shocking overall,and cost €4000 each x14 for w/c setup

 

[Wallace]

I was restricted by money at the time , I could have got a cheap ebay tig but spent the extra for the backup and reviews on here , don't get me wrong I'm in no way saying its a peach , I'm just asking if it's worth the investment to upgrade .
so are you saying you wouldn't trade up to an esab , I wouldn't say its a peach if that's what you mean , the esab 2200 is £1400+ more

Pretty much the same reasons here for me, wasn't going to risk the money on a cheap Ebay Tig and no experience in Tig at the time to risk buying a secondhand machine and it had to be AC/DC. I would certainly trade up if I had the opportunity or need to do so but what to I don't know, possibly a Lorch or Kemppi just from what I have read on here about them but I would have to be doing a serious amount of Tig work at home to consider either. Although I do some onsite Tig production work I still consider myself to be a bit above novice/hobby level using the production work as paid experience and I'm under no illusion that the ESAB makes me a better welder! I guess there might come a time when I outgrow the 206i as I consider it an entry level machine.

 

[Jim Davey]

I thought if something was peachy, it was good, if it sucked it was a lemon? Why don't people speak proppa English no more?