Inverter mma , some advice please.

[Tommyf]

Hello all, this is my first post here. I am looking to buy an inverter arc welder for some general use around the farm ( machinery repairs, gates etc) . I am looking to spend up to £300-400 and was wondering if anybody can give me some advice on what will be a good reliable machine. I have been looking at the 200 amp tec-arc 206i and this looks a very nice piece of kit, any thoughts or alternatives would be greatly appreciated. many thanks

 

[Country Joe]

Hi Tommyf, and welcome to the forum.
Tec-arc are known to be a good make, round here, so I can't see it being a box of problems. Besides, even if anything does happen, I've heard that tec-arc are quite helpful, and have decent after-sales & service departments, so should be a worry free choice.

I've not used one of theirs before, personally - but there are others on this forum who have, so you should be able to get some feedback as to what they're like to use - failing that, do a search on the forum (box in upper-right corner of screen) and I would think you'd find something.

The inverter-fusion machines would be my choice, but I'm biased (as I have one of their machines) - but I don't suppose they're all that different to use. It works flawlessly in MMA mode, but also seems to cost a wee bit more.

I can't see any reason why the tec-arc wouldn't be a decent choice, though - but others (who hopefully own one!) will be along to give their opinions, I'm sure. Until then, the search-box is your friend!
All the Best,
CJ

 

[Robotstar5]

We bought an Oerlikon Miniarc 4.0i a couple of years ago for the maint dept at work, nice bit of kit to use.

 

[Shox Dr]

I used a Tec Arc 160ish really nice welder.

Only fault I found, and it was a pain; The Amp knob is very easy to knock, inadvertently adjusting the amps

 

[Tommyf]

Thanks very much for your replies guys, I think I will go for the Tec-arc 206i