R-tech 201 ac/dc

[HughF]

I took delivery of my r-tech 201 today with cooler, so thought a quick review would be in order. I've used various ages of syncrowave, an aerowave, a murex squarewave and a rehm tiger ac/dc before, so have a few things to compare it to.

It is certainly a big heavy ****** compared to the rehm tiger, but to be fair, that is unbelievably small and light. I'm impressed with the qualtiy of the accessories, the stick holder is good and the tig torch goes together well, but I will be using a wp20 with it when not out and about.

I have yet to try it on tig, but it's dc stick performance is superb, runs Thyssen Phoenix 6013 and Comet E50N 7016 rods like butter. A little hotter than my super cheap chinese stick inverter on the same dial settings and the same rods, which is nice. A bit heavy to take on site just for stick though.

Some DC tig lined up for it for tomorrow evening, see how we get on.

 

[HughF]

Did some DC last night, 12mm 4130 tube onto solid steel lumps (1970's March F3 car front suspension parts), ran very nicely at 70amps off a 13A plug adapter. Good quality HF starts, the WP26 torch is actually quite nice, but a little large for some things.

Going to play with the pulse tonight - shame it doesn't go above 25Hz, I should have checked that really - the similar looking everlast tig sets have a low and hi pulse setting.

 

[Shox Dr]

Highest is 250hz lowest 50hz. I don't think you'll need any more than that.

 

[HughF]

No, that's the AC frequency...

The pulse frequency range is 0.5-25Hz

 

[Shox Dr]

Doh!

 

[pedrobedro]

Going to play with the pulse tonight - shame it doesn't go above 25Hz, I should have checked that really - the similar looking everlast tig sets have a low and hi pulse setting.

The power supply is 50Hz and old transformer sets run at that, surely a modern inverter can ramp that up to a higher figure not cut it down to half ? I would think that Shox is more in the ballpark and R-Tech have a misprint in their literature. Worth checking with them but you will see the results if it is crippled to 25Hz as it will give you epileptic fits (only kidding but it is annoying) Their 200 amp Digital version manages 0.5 to 500Hz

 

[HughF]

No, the max pulse frequency is 25Hz, AC frequency is max 250 - I either pulse at 1-1.5Hz or 25, I'd like the 25 to be 30, a bit less epileptic, but it's acceptable. Jody from 'weldingtipsandtricks.com' would have something to say about it for sure though!

 

[HughF]

This was 25Hz pulse, 40a base, 85a pulse, 4130 12mm tube - March formula3 suspension parts. No foot pedal, 2T latching.

 

[Mid Wales welder]

Hi guys, I am in the market for an inverter purely to keep my skills up (as I only do Mig in work) and for a bit of spare cash! I'v started a few threads on this forum asking about different welders and most of the info is great but my head is just spinning with info, I'm still not sure weather to go for a multi process Mig, Tig & stick welder or just a TIG inverter with MMA. The multi process welders would be more practical because of the ability to Mig, but the TIG inverters have alot more functions & capabilitys to play around with which would be better practice & it's very interesting! My max price range is £1500 all in but preferably wants to be a bit cheaper! Anyway, reading this review of the R-Tech & looking at it online it looks like a very good welder. I was also looking at the Everlast powertig 250ex which Jody reviewed on 'weldingtipsandtricks.com' and this also looks like a very decent welder, but I can only seem to find it on U.S sites in $'s so not sure if you can buy them in UK & what the service would be like, of anyone knows any different the please let me know! Anyway i'v babbled on for far too long now so any views people can give me would be very much appreciated!

Regards

Dave

 

[HughF]

Had a chance to try this in anger last night on a fabrication made from 10mm aluminium plate...

First things first, there is an error in the R-tech user manual:

'Set at 50% this provides balanced control suitable for most AC Welding. 30% is max cleaning and 70% is max penetration'

On my machine, 30% is max penetration and 70% is max cleaning - this seems to be correct as R-tech then go on to say:

'Tip. If you are welding close to the tungsten limits, I.E 200amps on a 2.4mm tungsten and the end of tungsten is wobbling and falling off, turning down the SP% will give better tungsten stability'

So I guess the manual is wrong slightly.

Anyway, back to the weld. Did it with a 3.2mm Zirconiated ground to a point, max penetration (for most of it), no preheat (It needed it, but I had no access to gas where I was), Argon gas (Ar/He mix would have helped) and full whack on the pedal...

200 odd amps from a 16A blue on a C16 is impressive, but it reminds me why I hate air cooled torches - hot... hot hot hot hot... If I was doing it in my garage, I'd have used the cooler, but it is just too much hassle to take around.

Another interesting 'quirk' - doesn't like arcing up a 3.2 Zirc on max penetration when the tungsten is cold, you have to floorboard the pedal than back off as soon as it starts, which is quite unlike any AC set I've used in the past - crank it back to 50% from 30% and it fires right up... loads of HF there, just won't fire up.

I'll be finishing the job tonight, it aint my best work (the alloy used is a bit hit 'n miss for cleanliness) but i'll get some pics up.

 

[HughF]

10mm ali, downhand fillet, 2nd pass weaved, max penetration, 3.2 Zirc, set on maximum, pedal floored:

Tungsten after that joint:

 

[Shox Dr]

Not bad, I see it was getting a bit hot towards the end, your dips are wider apart

 

[HughF]

Yeah yeah, whatever :P

 

[Shox Dr]

It would have been a damn sight hotter without the cooler

 

[HughF]

I did that with the supplied -26 air cooled torch! I honestly didn't think it would hold up, it was hot as hell after that capping pass was weaved on.

Should have felt the air coming out the front of the machine too, hot hot hot hot

 

[HughF]

A quick follow up, after a year of light use.

I managed to blow the MOV on the AC Input PCB last night. A quick email to R-Tech today has a new PCB in the post for me to fit. Worth mentioning that I asked for the PCB to be shipped to me so I could fit it, as I work in electronics. I'm sure they would have been happy to have it back for repair.

100% pleased with the service received from them, highly recommended.

And a damn good set too! Been running it all weekend, flat out, on some heavy wall aluminium jobs, can't fault it.

 

[pc18]

any chance of some pics of the damaged board and the new one?

 

[HughF]

Ummm, the old board just had a blown MOV (which is a small round disc component) so isn't really photo worthy.

The new board looks like this: