Looking to buy a new tig, are Parweld any good ?

[Flump]

I cannot tig weld to save my life although it seems I am pretty good at welding the tungsten to the practice piece at the start, but it is something I really want to become good at.
At the moment I am using a Thermal Arc 175 SE lift tig but want to upgrade to something with HF start and capable of welding Aluminium.
I have mobility issues in my lower legs and feet so a pedal would be difficult and painful for me to use.
The welder will just be used for home projects.

I have spent the last few weeks looking at information on the net about welders and one which I think will suit my needs is the Parweld XTT212Di
It has torch controls instead of a pedal and the price is attractive at about £1050 delivered.

I wondered what you guys thought about Parweld welders ? and if there are any other welders I should be considering around that price ?
Also I wonder about their 5yr warranty, does the welder need to be serviced by them annually for the warranty to stay valid ?

 

[David_W]

As a proper amateur with TIG, I've got that Parweld, based on some research and R H Davey I bought it from. It's been flattering to someone learning, so definitely a thumbs up

 

[Flump]

Thanks David, do you have to hold the start button on the torch down all the time or is it one press for on and one press for off ?

 

[chrismac]

Thanks David, do you have to hold the start button on the torch down all the time or is it one press for on and one press for off ?

you can set it either way, one press on one press off, or hold the button down for on and let the button go it turns off, well all that will be with slope ups and downs of course, so the amps rise and drop over a preset time, like 2s up 5s down.

 

[Flump]

Thanks Chris, my current tig does not have a button on the torch so this is all new to me.

 

[chrismac]

Thanks Chris, my current tig does not have a button on the torch so this is all new to me.

The machine will be of reasonable quality, I am unsure of the newer ones, I believe the older generations were expensive to have repaired should an issue creep in, I have read they were/are generic machines from China but again cant comment with any hard facts, I have the older XIT 202 AC/DC it played up but healed its self after some poking and prodding inside...... dont know what was up with it but its now working again.

There are plenty of them about so hopefully if you do take the plunge it will serve you well. Out of interest have you compared R-tech as an alternative, they get a great after sales reputation.

 

[500e]

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[Flump]

Yes I have read that Parweld machines are designed and made in China but their main base is in the UK, I have also seen on their FB page that they recently kitted out Newcastle college so I guess they cant be too bad ?
The reason for my scepticism is I read a review about one of their MiG welders and the guy who apparently has 30yrs experience welding gave it a very long and scathing review.
I am unfortunately one of those people that see 1 bad review and then start second guessing if I should get one or not.
It's nice to know the old Parweld welders have self healing capabilities, lets hope the new ones do too.

I have looked at R-Tech and generally they get good reviews but again I have read some bad ones too and they look like a small company where Parweld are global and represent well
at lots of welding shows/faires so I would hope the quality of welder, spare parts availability and support would be quite good.

 

[Flump]

What about site sponsors.
Top right there is a small discount for members

Welding Supplies | TIG Welder | MIG Welder

Welding Supplies Direct supply and sell a wide range of MIG welders, ARC welding, Plasma cutting machines, welding and safety equipment. Browse our online store to buy online.

www.weldingsuppliesdirect.co.uk

Thanks I will check them out.

 

[addjunkie]

Ignore the china thing…..everything you buy now, regardless of where its made will have chinese components in it.
Every brand has failures, when bad reviews are written is it the after sales is poor or the product. If a large organisation is offering a 5 year warranty on a chinese made box of electronic jiggery pokery for industrial use they must be fairly confident on its quality.

 

[Flump]

Hi addjunkie, yeah fair enough I think I will go with the Parweld if nothing else comes up in the near future.

Thanks everyone for their comments I think this one is done and dusted I will make a new post in the Tig section with some pics of my Tig endeavours

 

[Cheesie]

I used a parweld xt 202 for 3 years daily, it was used for around the same before I used it,
it lasted another 2 when I left, run on a 13amp household plug, it blew fuses at around 180+amps if used for anymore than a few minutes,
I couldn't fault it against far bigger brand names and at least twice as good as an r tech monologue 175 amp welder I gad to use

 

[tom2207]

you dont buy a welder these days , you buy a warranty and they lend you a welder ,,, buy what you can get fixed locally , or what you can get from a real shop that deals with welders and welding kit ,, may be a tad more expensive , but should something go wrong and you have back up , it will have proven its self to be a bargain.

 

[Flump]

you dont buy a welder these days , you buy a warranty and they lend you a welder ,,, buy what you can get fixed locally , or what you can get from a real shop that deals with welders and welding kit ,, may be a tad more expensive , but should something go wrong and you have back up , it will have proven its self to be a bargain.

Hi tom , yeah I will definitely be buying it from a proper welding shop (online)

 

[chrismac]

Ignore the china thing…..everything you buy now, regardless of where its made will have chinese components in it.
Every brand has failures, when bad reviews are written is it the after sales is poor or the product. If a large organisation is offering a 5 year warranty on a chinese made box of electronic jiggery pokery for industrial use they must be fairly confident on its quality.

Thats a valid point, my mistake was not mentioning in my quest to find a repair, it seemed quite difficult and replacement boards were priced way over what I would have paid for the repair, the lack of information, circuit diagrams and so on meaning the resource here who possibly would or could have helped diagnose the fault impossible.

Not that anyone buying a new welder wants to be going in about it any time soon, 5 years is a long time and a good warranty.

 

[addjunkie]

Thats a valid point, my mistake was not mentioning in my quest to find a repair, it seemed quite difficult and replacement boards were priced way over what I would have paid for the repair, the lack of information, circuit diagrams and so on meaning the resource here who possibly would or could have helped diagnose the fault impossible.

Not that anyone buying a new welder wants to be going in about it any time soon, 5 years is a long time and a good warranty.

Yes information or the lack of it, is one of my main moans with most things Ive bought that have needed work. The standard with white goods for example…error code 123…get repair man out, error code 345 get same repair man out.

I do suspect the repair agents get diagrams though, but I think in the modern age of info at your finger tips its a partly cultural thing as the normal man in the streets no longer has the skills to fix things. And relies on videos on utube for most things.

As for cost of boards, they are probably at cost a fiver, the rest of the price is finding it, packing it, shipping and tax plus the dealers cut, this drives us more and more to the throw away culture of TVs for example. Also the stuff is evolving so quickly do they really keep 10 years spares.

 

[Flump]

Thanks everyone, new welder turned up today.