Parweld

[Onoff]

Parweld...........on the verge of buying Parweld XTi 160 Inverter Arc Welder from wedequip:

http://www.weldequip.com/parweld-xti160.htm

Did the obligatory general search on Parweld and came up with a thread from on here, albeit from a few years ago citing Parweld as being a re-badging, "box mover" type outfit and not having in house inverter specialists in the event of an issue etc.

I'm confused. The blurb in the above ad too concerns me by saying; "Other machines from the same factory, under different badges, require a 25 amp+ fused supply to be able to run at maximum power." What are they saying there, the same size model? Are the ones branded Parweld modded or something?

Presumably then they're made in China? In the UK is the backup there?

Cheers

 

[Bill Edwards]

I can't really answer your questions, all that I can say is that buying it from Weldequip should mean you're fine if there's a problem during the (2 year?) warranty period, I think they'd be OK to deal with. I've been very tempted to buy one of those myself.

Most inverters seem to be made in China. Some say that the decent makes specify higher spec/quality components resulting in a product that appears similar to a cheaper brand but with better parts, and importantly a reliable make to fall on if it does pack up.

 

[PTvor]

Maybe the others with the same design from the same factory are tuned to give a higher max current, 175A say. You can tune an inverter to produce different max currents by altering a few components or changing the firmware if it's microcontroller controlled. Obviously that won't improve the duty cycle unless you improve the cooling.

Contact Weldequip and ask. It's his sales blurb. Note it doesn't say that the max power of the Parweld is the same as the others.

Most of the more affordable inverters are made in China. Some of the IFL range is UK made and NewArc is I think, EWM, Lorch and a few others are made in Germany, but you are talking about inverters which are not cheap. There are a lot of inverter welder manufacturers in Italy; CEA Cebora, Telwin, Deca and others. Some of them don't sell under their own names in the UK. Some of their stuff is DIY grade and some is industrially rated.

Parweld started as, and still is, a highly regarded maker of welding torches. After that they branched into sourcing and selling other welding equipment. "Rebadging" covers quite a lot of ground from buying container loads from China without knowing or caring much about it, to getting things made offshore to a specification, making sure there's QA in place and being able to stand behind them.

A few people on here have bought that Parweld and rate it highly. I imagine if it goes wrong within the warranty you send it back and they either fix it or send a new one. If it goes wrong outside the warranty period, there are a few companies who can fix them. I'm pretty sure Weldequip does inverter repairs and also R-Tech, and there are quite a few others. Prices start from £75. This is a definite potential problem with inverters. If they go wrong they are expensive to fix and you may not think it's worth spending £75 plus to repair a machine which only cost £200 to begin with.

 

[Jim Davey]

Parweld have their own in house repair facility and a small but growing network of service trained dealers, you'll be fine buying one from Weldequip or anywhere else for that matter.

 

[mgarym]

I have had a paweld 160 for about 18 months now with no problems
It a massive improvement from a buzzbox

 

[chip]

theres parweld tigs dotted around the place I work for (sheet metal) but im yet to see one in action..only been there a couple of month

 

[Richard.]

The biggest thing you already sorted which is buying from a local a reputal company. So you know any issues you may come across will be professionally delt with. With regards to the product I'm not too familiar with par weld welders. I have on the other hand had use of there Tig and mig torches and I'm not a fan personally. But that's not to say the inverters are no good I just haven't found there torch quality to be that good.

 

[Kent]

Buy it from a regular Welding equipment supplier and you will be fine. Forget all this China nonsense nearly all inverters are made in china, in fact so are most other goods. Your guarantee is here with the seller as long as they are actually here

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Parweld is heavily stocked at all 4 of my local welding suppliers, they're tidy little machines according to the people I've spoken to about them.
Never used one myself mind.
Think I'll be picking up one of their pro grip mig torches soon for my mig.. Concerning the little inverters its deffo made in China but Parweld's warranty is real good, as far as I've heard they pay for pick up and dispatch back to you once its fixed, cant complain really.

 

[Onoff]

Not that I want to try TIG particularly but I not with an additional kit the Parweld XTi 160 Inverter can do TIG as in "basic TIG welding of most ferrous metals".

First question, why not non ferrous like aluminium? Does ali need AC?

Second, why only "basic" TIG welding, how does it get better?

Third, scratch vs lift arc...............can someone explain / point me in the right direction as to an explanation of each?

Cheers

 

[Onoff]

Scratch start - scratch tungsten on surface to start an arc
Lift - touch tungsten down and lift to start arc
HF - No contact required, place close to surface, push button and HF spark will jump and activate the arc.

Ali needs AC to break through the surface oxide layer on the ali

You're a gent! Cheers for that.

 

[smpw]

Parweld...........on the verge of buying Parweld XTi 160 Inverter Arc Welder from wedequip:

http://www.weldequip.com/parweld-xti160.htm

Did the obligatory general search on Parweld and came up with a thread from on here, albeit from a few years ago citing Parweld as being a re-badging, "box mover" type outfit and not having in house inverter specialists in the event of an issue etc.

I'm confused. The blurb in the above ad too concerns me by saying; "Other machines from the same factory, under different badges, require a 25 amp+ fused supply to be able to run at maximum power." What are they saying there, the same size model? Are the ones branded Parweld modded or something?

Presumably then they're made in China? In the UK is the backup there?

Cheers

Just purchased a Parweld 160 from Steve at Weldequip, ordered in Monday and arrived the next day. Very pleased with my purchase and the service
I received from them.

 

[chip]

I recently bought an rtec 200amp dc but after seeing the parweld acdc unit in the flesh I wish I held out bargain for the money