Chinese TIG/Plasma Machines

[Leanne1979]

Hi All
I have seen on ebay a number of those cheaper TIG/Plasma cutting machines for sale, what i would like to know is for occational use are they any good? they seem to come with all the things you need to get you going and i have to say i have been tempted but obvously coming from china how good are they? obvoulsy no good for heavy use but for infequent occational use (which is what i would use it for) are they any good
thanks all
Leanne

 

[weldequip]

What if you have a problem, send it back to China @£150 postage?! Put 20% on top of the purchase price for import duty aswell, which you will have to pay on receipt.
Some are that cheap that if you get 12 month's good work out of them you can afford to throw them away, but that's exactly what they are!
weldequip

 

[rtbcomp]

I saw some of these on Ebay and noticed that they required 220v DC mains input.

They were being sold by a firm that sold quad bikes and other stuff no professional welder should be without. Another thing that instilled confidence in me was that they had a strict "no callers" policy.

 

[lexi]

Well what can I say? The whole Chinese thing is a funny set up. These companys are little enginnering shops who will have a go at a lot of things.
I`m trying to be fair and unpatriotic. Is that not what Hitachi and Yamaha do only in a HUGE way? Yamaha........from pianos to loudspeakers to motorbikes to outboard motors.........same with Hitachi.

Those little Chinese outfits have a two or three man design and engineering team. They design or copy a machine then test it and get it into production in a short time. You have to take your hat off to them. I know guys who have had their Chinese Tigs for 18 months. If I had payed 6 or 7 hundred for my Tig /Plasma it would have been a waste as it is only used occasionally.

I`ve only used the cutter and MMA and it works well. It`s a chance you take. I think it`s worth the risk but then I take risks all the time. Supposing you had a project to do...........like Simondrains boat.... and a lot of metal to cut. Is it not worth pricing £350 into it for a Plasma........you should get your moneys worth. The postage they quote guys is not the actual postage price..........It is a mark up for profit that is. The shipping on them is actually quite cheap.

Anyway the price of equivolent British Italian and Yank machines is horrendous.

Alex

 

[Leanne1979]

Hi lexi
I was hoping you would reply because i had read your post about your chinese machine. the one i was looking at was a mitech one and looks identical to yours. I have to say that in all honesty i only really want the machine to play with, so i can get an idea and a feel of tig welding and plasma cutting. I know MIG welding and anything i build i always use MIG (altho i am doing the night class for gas welding hopefully). so i just wanted others ideas and opinions
thanks all
Leanne
p.s just bought a clarke machine from weldequip

 

[lexi]

You`ll be happy with the Clark I`m sure. Bear in mind that Mtc 160 will not weld ally as it is DC only. It will cut ally though. There is a new Mitec one which is a Cut and AC/DC tig combined........more money though.

Alex

 

[degrom]

You`ll be happy with the Clark I`m sure. Bear in mind that Mtc 160 will not weld ally as it is DC only. It will cut ally though. There is a new Mitec one which is a Cut and AC/DC tig combined........more money though.

Alex

Hi.

Do you use the Tig welder on your machine? I am looking at buying one of the chines made welders buy I don't know witch one to take.

I have only recently started Tig welding and I am looking for a welder?

I have looked a the 3in1 welders and the 160Amp Tig welders with Pulse,Up slope,Down slope.

I was just wondering what the quality on the Tig welder was for your 3in1?

Also, is Mitech one of the better chines welders or not?

Thanks.
Bert.

 

[lexi]

I aint tried it yet. But the other guys who bought the machines with me say they are ok. Mitec and Greenbird seem to be the same machines but they don`t admit to it so I don`t know what the real set up is. I suspect that Riland may be the parent company or the supplier of the parts.
20 of us bought machines and they are all working so far. If you are buying from Ebay ask what the price is for shipping as it is cheaper than the silly price they quote with the buy it now. Also make sure you throw in all the extras like tips and torch . Maybe a foot pedal if it`s AC tig. The real cost of shipping is only about 95US Dollars per cu ft. BUT IT`S SLOW.

Alex

 

[degrom]

I aint tried it yet. But the other guys who bought the machines with me say they are ok. Mitec and Greenbird seem to be the same machines but they don`t admit to it so I don`t know what the real set up is. I suspect that Riland may be the parent company or the supplier of the parts.
20 of us bought machines and they are all working so far. If you are buying from Ebay ask what the price is for shipping as it is cheaper than the silly price they quote with the buy it now. Also make sure you throw in all the extras like tips and torch . Maybe a foot pedal if it`s AC tig. The real cost of shipping is only about 95US Dollars per cu ft. BUT IT`S SLOW.

Alex

Hi Alex,

I am from New Zealand. We have a similar site to E-Bay that's called TradeMe. They sell a lot of these welders on it. The people that sell them also gives a year warranty on them and they repair the welders after the year to.

All of the fittings are of NZ standard so getting consumables are also easy.

They go for around NZ$1000 or GBP360. That's the welder with tig torch,plasma torch,Arc torch,Argon Regulator.

All you need is a wall plug and a compressor...

Thanks for the info.
Bert.