national tigstar s300 . any gen on these ?

[philpullan]

hey guys new guy here . been after a tig for awile for alloy and stainless work a guy offerd me this from the pub lol yes i know but he over heard a conversation and he does reposetions anyhow i poped round to see it , its not one ive seen before ie has no torch fitting or one ive seen before also has two push type fittings one front and one rear dont have a clue what there for . anyway any info on this machine would be nice pics below

cheers guys phil

 

[Wozzaaah]

I think you'll struggle finding out anything about that machine Phil, I've certainly never seen the name on here before and with all the legends in errr....oriental writing, there's little chance of deciphering anything on it other than comparing the figures on the controls with another machine to ascertain what each knob might do.
Where's those Chinese forum spammers when you need one?

 

[philpullan]

Where's those Chinese forum spammers when you need one?

haha too true could do a little pay back helping me out with this

its mainly all the wire and sockets im needing help with , ive serched tigstar google brings up panasonic tigstar,s that are very similar so perhaps i can work some nobs out from them .

phil

 

[gordon stephenson]

Hello Phil,
Strange you should ask about this tig set, I spoke to the reposession man a couple of days ago (by phone)and explained what I am about to write here. I was semi-interested in buying it, Full story; there was a lot of these came on the market a few years ago, I think they had been removed from a japanese car factory,My local machinery auctioneers had about 30 of them, and they sold for about £40-00 each, I bought a couple on the off chance they were O.K. Any way they are made by Panasonic,But here's the catch they run on 200v single phase and the only thing that works when plugged in is the cooling fan.But without proper modification they DO NOT WORK, I did get them working, after taking them to an expert man that understands welding sets like the back of his hand,
If you require any further info send me a P.M. I will then give you my number so we can have a further chat.

Cheers Gordon.

 

[philpullan]

brilliant pm coming your way gordon

 

[gordon stephenson]

Hi Chaps.
Just looked at the photo's again and it is deffinitely one of the auction jobbies, all the cable connection seemed to be wrapped in sticky tape,Some had torches and some didn't, I'm thinking someone bought it,took it home and plugged it in and then NOTHING, Don't be bothered about the japanese writing, the knobs are quite self explanitary, Once adapted to run on our voltage they are a really great machine,D.C. only but very responsive to any small adjustments made on the knobs.
Gordon.

 

[matt1978]

Panasonic are usually very good machines too. You've had a steal at £40 Gordon even if you had to spend a few quid gettin them running.

Chances are they would of had very little use in a Car plant, Tig is not widely used in car production. Probably from maintainance department.

 

[gordon stephenson]

Hello Matt,
The machines were excellent, I think they cost me about £80-00 each to have them fettled,but after that they could not be faulted.I have since sold them both as I got an offer I couldn't refuse.As I said before there were loads for sale, I bet there are still a lot in garages and sheds just needing the voltage sorting out, everything about them just was so quiet and the arc could be turned down till it virtually wouldn't scorch paper. The seller had a starting price of £200-00 on ebay otherwise I would have had a crack at it. Maybe they were used to fab some of the smaller parts, just seems to me that there were too many to be from a maint'ce department, there were more up for auction a couple of weks after the first lot,It took a month or so to get mine sorted so didn't know to buy some more,Don't know what they did to alter them but it took time because they managed without having to alter or rewing transformers etc.
Cheers Gordon.

 

[JayRS4]

I was going to say, i`m sure i`ve seen one of these on ebay recently, i`ll have a look and see if it`s still there

 

[gordon stephenson]

Hi,
JayRS4 these pic's are the one from ebay, It's ended now,Starting price of £200-00 and it did not get any bids, I thought all you guys would have come across them before,I.e voltage problems etc, and thats why no bids.

Gordon,

 

[JayRS4]

That would explain it then. Seems quite a few possible bargains if you know what your looking at on there lately

 

[onehot.t]

this is my tig star 300

iv,e had it about 5 years and it works great will only do mild steel and stainless ,,thinking of selling it and buying one that dose ally