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tinman123
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yeah, but seeing since this forum is for welders and such i thought id ask in a thread for some opinions on tig's..
id also imagine that one could research tig welders for the rest of ones life and still not have found the right answer.
by the sounds of it you've owned a lot of tig welders and do a lot of welding which is great.
but id just like to buy the right one the first time.
Richard.
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I wish you the best of luck in your search.
All those welders I owned were nothing less than excellent.
The reason I suggested you research more is you have some info that doesn't sound quite correct to me and I don't want you to be put off certain things by what you might of read or been told.
Used machines will weld as good as new ones and with smart buying can be a better bang for ££ .
3k and under (not much under mind) can see you with new high end kit.
2k and under can easily see you with good used high end kit.
Transformers can produce weld quality on any thickness equal to inverters.
HughF
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Buy the Rehm that @Richard. Has got for sale, you won't go far wrong with that. It has what Rehm call 'dual wave' mode, basically it switches between ac and dc electrode negative, giving increased heat input for a given amperage setting allowing thicker material to be welded than on a regular straight ac machine. It also reduces tungsten heating and therefore balling at high currents.
My Hitachi has it in a simple, old form and it works very well, I would not want to buy a machine that didn't have this now I've experienced it.
It is definitely one of the most feature rich and portable 200a class machines produced and for the price Richard is asking it is a great buy.
If you find that at a later date you are short of amps, sell it, buy a 300a machine. You won't loose money.
My Hitachi has it in a simple, old form and it works very well, I would not want to buy a machine that didn't have this now I've experienced it.
It is definitely one of the most feature rich and portable 200a class machines produced and for the price Richard is asking it is a great buy.
If you find that at a later date you are short of amps, sell it, buy a 300a machine. You won't loose money.
Richard.
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I couldn't get on with the mixed (dual wave) on the Rehm. I found its flick between the polarity quite distracting.
Tbh it's not a fancy set up like it was on the Mls2300. You just select it in the hidden menus and the computer works out the rest.
I hardly used any of its bells and whistles tbh. I just set it on AC and tweaked the freq/balance then kicked it off.
tinman123
Putting the Extra into ordinary.
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i know little about them Richard, as you say, what i may have read or been told could be skew too.
your a knowledgeable kind of fella when it comes to tig welding, and i don't mean to be beating a drum, but humor me if you wouldn't mind.
what is your opinion of that tec arc in the first post, have a read through it and see if there is anything that dosent sit right, or is it actually not a bad machine.
MattH
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If I had a 2k budget for a good ACDC tig and Richard was selling one I'd bite his hand off.
If it's good enough for Rich it would be good enough for me.
I don't need it (been to busy to touch the RTech) but the Rehm would make a another nice Christmas present for myself
If it's good enough for Rich it would be good enough for me.
I don't need it (been to busy to touch the RTech) but the Rehm would make a another nice Christmas present for myself
tinman123
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i had a look at his welder there, fine looking machine i must say.
if i was after something in the 200A range id say we would be chattin.
the only thing is id kinda like to go higher in the amps, 3-350 id be in my head.
if i was after something in the 200A range id say we would be chattin.
the only thing is id kinda like to go higher in the amps, 3-350 id be in my head.
Hood
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I had the forerunner to that TecArc, the TecArc 251.
Nice machine and I liked it a lot and was actually sad to see it go.
The reason I sold it was the hassle of getting it to jobs. If it was solely workshop based Tig I did then I would have kept it but as I do a lot away from the workshop (on boats etc) then I decided to get an inverter.
One bad thing, well if you could call it bad, was it was not silent on DC like the inverters, it kind of rattled a bit.
It could do nice welds on both AC and DC, think the thinnest stainless I did with it was 1mm wall round tube, thinnest alu was probably 1.5mm round tube, handled both well.
MattH
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Just my 2p but a 300a requirement is going to make finding something much more difficult.
If you think the majority of the time you will be under 200a then buy a good 200a set and then trade up if or when you find that you are running out of amps. If you are smart on your first purchase you will in all likelihood not lose any money doing it this way.
If you think the majority of the time you will be under 200a then buy a good 200a set and then trade up if or when you find that you are running out of amps. If you are smart on your first purchase you will in all likelihood not lose any money doing it this way.
Richard.
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Sorry if I came across a tad Balchy there tinman. Your dead right mate.
I cannot give you an honest opinion based on my own experience with the tech arc you mentioned as I know very little about them. Never even seen one in the flesh tbf. What I would suggest if you are going to go big current you will need a water cooler at some point too. 300 amps AC through a gas cooled torch will leave you with your gloves stuck to the handle mate.
Hugh mentioned a machine for about a grand on eBay which I highly recommend which is the murex 353 inverter with water cooler. It's actually a branded stel machine but I've used a 201i version and it was somewhat stunning to use. A real pleasure.
Richard.
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Keep a watchful eye out for the big 260-300 amp ewm tritons too. I've spent 10 years with a triton by my side and again highly recommended by my own experience.
The single phase 220 versions fetch a packet because everyone can power them up but the bigger 3ph ones go for great deals and they are bang on bits of kit.
The single phase 220 versions fetch a packet because everyone can power them up but the bigger 3ph ones go for great deals and they are bang on bits of kit.
tinman123
Putting the Extra into ordinary.
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i actually have 3 or 4 water cooler units here, one is a miller which works and the others are more of a small suitcase sized kind, look like they originally were in some form of a rack but would be grand for mounting and using id say, afaik they are all runners but may not be.
ill have a look for that murex, the only thing id bother me a bit there is id say parts for that going forward could be hard to source seeing since they just upped and left.
i had another gander at tigs and it seems that 6-8mm is whats recommended for some of the 2-220A tigs, if thats was something to go by id like to be able to weld thicker than that from the kick off which id mean id have to go up in amps anyways.
i dont know if your better off with dials instead of programes either, something tells me that i might be better off going with dials instead of having to do a refresher course on the manual to set things up.
maybe the fancy displays are the way to go, i dont know tbh, but the fancier it gets the more the coin is too.
ill have a look for that murex, the only thing id bother me a bit there is id say parts for that going forward could be hard to source seeing since they just upped and left.
i had another gander at tigs and it seems that 6-8mm is whats recommended for some of the 2-220A tigs, if thats was something to go by id like to be able to weld thicker than that from the kick off which id mean id have to go up in amps anyways.
i dont know if your better off with dials instead of programes either, something tells me that i might be better off going with dials instead of having to do a refresher course on the manual to set things up.
maybe the fancy displays are the way to go, i dont know tbh, but the fancier it gets the more the coin is too.
