Murex Tradestig 161is

[Landy Lad]

Hi all

Just looking at a Murex Tradestig 161is ac/dc tig.

Are these any good or are they knocking on a bit now?

What else do you guys in the know recommend. I have also been thinking of the Portamig tig to make a set of 3 Portamigs but don't know much about tigs and if an inverter is best as a tig over transformer based.

Thanks very much.

 

[hotrodder]

Personally i prefer inverters... while the extra AC arc shaping possabilites they offer over transformer kit isn't necessary it's nice to have and makes some jobs easier. They're smaller, a lot lighter and a lot less power hungry. The only down side to 'em is that they contain a lot more in the way of delicate witchcraft i.e. typically more complicated and expensive to repair

Sooo comparing the Portamig Tec-TIG 185 to the Murex... the later has a better dutycycle (35% @ 160A, 100% @ 100A), is 1/4 the weight and 1/2 as greedy input amperage wise. While it's fairly basic as inverters go it automatically varies AC frequency which is something that transfomer based kit can't do. If the Murex you're looking at is used then potentially it's a bit of a gamble, especially if a private sale

Thread here about a broken one... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=26984 could always send Notanormalcoder a PM about the model, common faults whether he's had hundreds of the things in for fixing or very few etc

 

[inchpincher]

I picked up a tradestig 161is about 3 years ago, second hand and well used but not abused, complete with foot pedal and decent earth clamp etc think I paid 500. It's been good as gold for me to learn on (still learning) but having never used another persons tig I can't give you a comparison. If you've got a bigger budget I'd look at more amps as aluminium really sucks up the heat and the torch gets ****** hot at full whack.

 

[Landy Lad]

Thanks for replies. It was on ebay but it was from a local supplier that sells good quality machines, mostly 3 phase industrial stuff. They had serviced it and it came with a pedal and 6 months warrenty. I thought it was dear at £1050 inc vat but thought it maybe some fantsatic machine so thought i would ask the question.

I am new to tig so don't know a great deal about it yet, I am not in a desperate hurry to buy one, but if one came up that was a good buy I would buy it. Any suggestions on the best to buy would be most welcome, I have been thinking about the Portamig, and have looked at a couple of cebora ac/dc tigs after our fabricator at my last work hired one a couple of times to do some ally welding with. He was very impressed with it. My only concern was that I have seen them selling for around £800 secondhand, and thought for just a bit more I could have the old reliable transformer based Portamig with 2 years warrenty. I don't like chinese welders and would rather buy a good second hand set that can be repaired if needs be than something to throw away when it breaks.

All suggestions and opinions welcome and appriciated.



Thanks again.

 

[keith19]

"My only concern was that I have seen them selling for around £800 secondhand, and thought for just a bit more I could have the old reliable transformer based Portamig with 2 years warrenty."

Which Portamig were you thinking of? Even the 235A costs less than £700. Or did you have something higher up the range in mind?

 

[Ragnarok]

"My only concern was that I have seen them selling for around £800 secondhand, and thought for just a bit more I could have the old reliable transformer based Portamig with 2 years warrenty."

Which Portamig were you thinking of? Even the 235A costs less than £700. Or did you have something higher up the range in mind?

he's talking about tig welders

 

[keith19]

Didn't know Portamig made TIG welders. We learn something new every day.

Couldn't find Portamig TIGs on TecArc's site, but I see Weldequipe has one, looking very much like a TecArc TIG....

See what the OP means about the price now.

 

[Ragnarok]

aye, i got the info on them when i was getting a tig, decided to get an inverter though, and i don't like the chinese made welders much at all..

always gunna be some risk buying a used welder, some places offer warrantees of about 3 months but thats pretty much the safest you'll get on a used one tbh, and with transformers you don't have as much control over the arc in AC, they also use a lot of power compared to inverters, and minimum amps is much higher, most inverters go down to 5 or less depends how thin you'll be welding though!.

there is of course a reason that the welders you're talking about still cost, or rather are still worth £800 or whatever when they're used

have you looked at the R-Tech welders?

good luck