Sanrex (thermal arc)

[Richard.]

Mate of mine emails me last night from Yorkshire. He's just bought himself a thermal arc 200 AC/DC. I say nice one what did you pay he tells me £900. I say you've been ripped off they don't cost much more than that new. Then he tells me it's the arcmaster 200 acdc. Ahhhhhhhhh sanrex yes you've got a bargain.
I'm itching to try this thing out. I've heard they were way ahead of there time and very hi tech sets. I'm up in Yorkshire Xmas time seeing family so I'm gonna make a detour to try this thing and tick another off the list.
Has anyone here tried a sanrex before? I'm interested to know if they live up to the rep.

 

[HughF]

I have not, no. Didn't they also make the Lincoln v205 ac/dc?

I would like to try a Stel...

 

[hotrodder]

It was (still is?) Selco that made the v205t and at least some of the other invertecs. At least the European ones, i believe the US versions are Hecho en Mexico instead of wearing a made in Italy sticker
Only ever heard good things about the Sanrex made Thermal Arc stuff but never that they were way ahead of their time or particular special before

 

[HughF]

Thanks, I knew it was someone other than lincoln who made them. Are CEA any good? Another brand that slips under the radar

 

[hotrodder]

I've never seen any CEA kit in the flesh let alone used one but IIRC they're pretty well thought of and considered great value for money by several memebers?

 

[Richard.]

I have not, no. Didn't they also make the Lincoln v205 ac/dc?

I would like to try a Stel...

Yeah as said above the v*** models are selco.
Stel did a bit of a colour change with there murex transtigs and they are very nice sets. I've used a CEA matrix 220. Again it was a decent set. All 3 of these brands are Italian . Sanrex are Japanese.
Ahead of its time might not of been the correct term but a service engineer friend of mine has told me that comparing to a lot of other high end sets the sanrex gear is over engineered

 

[addjunkie]

I have this very machine...arcmaster acdc200. I like it, quality piece of kit. I bought it when I was flush and wanted a quality machine so It could only be me at fault. But I dont have enough experience of other machines to compare it, so your views will be of great interest to me. Its far better than the chingalese machine I had before and the sip I used the other day.

 

[Richard.]

I have this very machine...arcmaster acdc200. I like it, quality piece of kit. I bought it when I was flush and wanted a quality machine so It could only be me at fault. But I dont have enough experience of other machines to compare it, so your views will be of great interest to me. Its far better than the chingalese machine I had before and the sip I used the other day.

I didn't know you had a sanrex mate. It's been on my try out list for quite some time. So has the v205 from Lincoln for that matter.
Yeah if I get chance to have a go I'll pass on my thoughts.

 

[HughF]

http://www.sanrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/EUROPE_03.31.2015_catalog_SANREX_S-1.pdf

That is their current European catalogue. It seems that they are the 3rd Japanese manufacture to offer the 'mixed tig' on AC (Hitachi and Panasonic being the other two), perhaps it is a feature that the Japanese welders are fond of.

 

[Richard.]

http://www.sanrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/EUROPE_03.31.2015_catalog_SANREX_S-1.pdf

That is their current European catalogue. It seems that they are the 3rd Japanese manufacture to offer the 'mixed tig' on AC (Hitachi and Panasonic being the other two), perhaps it is a feature that the Japanese welders are fond of.

Some strange wave forms to chose from there. No traditional square wave or triangular from what i can see.
Soft/sine wave is there. It's gonna be interesting to see if I get to try it out.

 

[HughF]

This is the US product range which covers the machines made for Thermal Arc:

http://www.sanrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/USA-Welding-140422.pdf

 

[Richard.]

AC welding starts at a min 10amps
Usable definitely but most good sets start at half that.

 

[Jim Davey]

I've used modern Sanrex, had them in for a demo earlier in the year. I was very impressed by how controlled the arc was.
I've also got first hand experience of some of the CEA range of TIGs, got a CEA Matrix 220 AC/DC behind the counter at the moment and they are great little sets, more compact than an EWM, closer in size to a Kemppi but possible smaller still (Not quite Rhem size though).

 

[Richard.]

I've used modern Sanrex, had them in for a demo earlier in the year. I was very impressed by how controlled the arc was.
I've also got first hand experience of some of the CEA range of TIGs, got a CEA Matrix 220 AC/DC behind the counter at the moment and they are great little sets, more compact than an EWM, closer in size to a Kemppi but possible smaller still (Not quite Rhem size though).

Have I been told truthful info Jim. Are the sanrex machines over engineered comparing to others from a under the clothes PoV.

 

[Richard.]

I was impressed with the matrix. It was actually an older one I think I tried out could of been the matrix 200 iirc.

 

[addjunkie]

This is the US product range which covers the machines made for Thermal Arc:

http://www.sanrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/USA-Welding-140422.pdf

Looking it that they dont seem to have changed much, mine must be 8 years old now! Not the best picture but the similarities can be seen.

 

[Richard.]

I think they look great.
Got a bit of a lorch thing about them. I see them crop up on eBay from time to time for big money.
Addjunkie what made you chose it out of interest. Did you buy it new. Have you seen the coolers for them? They look very fancy things too.

 

[Appyasme1]

I have been down this road before, as Richard knows but why did Sanrex stop making the Thermal Arc 200TS.It fit our purpose perfectly

 

[Shox Dr]

Looking it that they dont seem to have changed much, mine must be 8 years old now! Not the best picture but the similarities can be seen.

Cant see a welder for wacking gret Shovel infront of it

 

[roofman]

Cant see a welder for wacking gret Shovel infront of it

cant see a shovel for a wacking big blower on it