Just be wary of the Chinese synergic welders, I had an R Tech MTS255S and the synergic lines for Aluminium were a waste of time. I only ever use a Mig for Aluminium so never tried the steel or stainless synergic lines but I suspect they are just as poor.
The welder itself was very nice when set up manually and I had no complaints about that but as said the synergic lines were useless and I suspect most of the Chinese ones, certainly the cheaper ones, will be the same.
As Hood says, there is absolutely no point in buying a cheap synergic MIG, if the work you are doing warrants a synergic, buy it from a local distributor who can show you how to set it up and will help you with any ongoing issues you may experience
So what was wrong with it?
I only want it for ease of use. Why would it be difficult to set up?
The one I had would allow you to alter the voltage but as soon as you altered the wire feed it would fall back to the voltage it deemed appropriate. That is not how a synergic welder is meant to work, a synergic welder is no use if you can tweak the basic settings to suit yourself but then disregards them if you adjust the wire feed again, that is simply not what a synergic welder does, it is supposed to alter things as a whole and maintain that relationship throughout the wire feed range.There's very few "synergic" MIGs that are actually bob on with their auto settings, and the cheap Chiynaa ones won't be among that group.
The best ones get it somewhere near, and then let you adjust arc length a little one way or another as well.
I agree, that sounds either broken or just stupidThe one I had would allow you to alter the voltage but as soon as you altered the wire feed it would fall back to the voltage it deemed appropriate. That is not how a synergic welder is meant to work, a synergic welder is no use if you can tweak the basic settings to suit yourself but then disregards them if you adjust the wire feed again, that is simply not what a synergic welder does, it is supposed to alter things as a whole and maintain that relationship throughout the wire feed range.
It soon becomes apparent why they are nice if for example you are down in the bow of a boat welding away and your welder is 8m up a ladder and out a hatch. You have different thicknesses and different positions to weld so you need to adjust the voltage and wire feed/current. With a synergic welder you adjust the wire feed and the voltage changes to suit, with a non-synergic you get lots of exercise climbing up and down ladders and through hatches to adjust the voltage to suit the new wire feed you have just set via the pot on the gun .why bother , Synergic is really only a rough guide , most of the time I run on manual for my own style , and preferences for the job in hand , I certainly wouldnt put it as a must have on a mig shopping list .
Abit of scrap laying on the bench and a few seconds trigger pull works way better for me.
It soon becomes apparent why they are nice if for example you are down in the bow of a boat welding away and your welder is 8m up a ladder and out a hatch. You have different thicknesses and different positions to weld so you need to adjust the voltage and wire feed/current. With a synergic welder you adjust the wire feed and the voltage changes to suit, with a non-synergic you get lots of exercise climbing up and down ladders and through hatches to adjust the voltage to suit the new wire feed you have just set via the pot on the gun .
No but you may be lying under a car with a bad back and your welder is 4m away, crawling out from under the car with the previously mentioned aches and pains soon leads to more aches and pains. Granted most Mig torches do not have an adjustment for wire feed on them but they are becoming more common and will soon be the norm.Totally agree , but you tend not to be doing that type of work with a Chinesium mid price welder ,,,
The leads not long enough .
if youve a bad back , get some one else to lay under the car , you soon learn to put the welder where you can reach it though ,, Ive seen me weld under Land rovers , granted on a ramp , and not touch the welders control for days on end , but fair point.No but you may be lying under a car with a bad back and your welder is 4m away, crawling out from under the car with the previously mentioned aches and pains soon leads to more aches and pains. Granted most Mig torches do not have an adjustment for wire feed on them but they are becoming more common and will soon be the norm.
Most of the Cats I fit out/work on are GRP but that one was all Aluminium. I believe it was built in Australia, whether it came over here new or was bought second hand I am not sure. It is used as a survey boat and is owned by Forth Ports.nice cat ... very tough and purposeful looking . I worked off a multicat installing a water turbine at one point and it was just so handy.