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I have to say give this one chance, only giving 14 hours for folk to reply when most of that is through the night might not be enough for many members to see this, let alone respond 
There are lots of Oxford / Tec arc users on here.
The inverter sets haven’t been for sale that long, they were selling transformer sets right up until the cut off date so the inverter set user group will be quite small. This may be why you haven’t had any responses.
Surprised to hear you were having cold start issues with your 330, I can’t say I’ve had any bother with my 330 transformer set, nor the 251 and 180 sets I had prior to that. Capacitor failures aren’t uncommon, and do cause issues on lower power settings so if it wasn’t purchased brand new that could have been causing your starting issues
(If it was purchased brand new then please ignore the above)
There are lots of Oxford / Tec arc users on here.
The inverter sets haven’t been for sale that long, they were selling transformer sets right up until the cut off date so the inverter set user group will be quite small. This may be why you haven’t had any responses.
Surprised to hear you were having cold start issues with your 330, I can’t say I’ve had any bother with my 330 transformer set, nor the 251 and 180 sets I had prior to that. Capacitor failures aren’t uncommon, and do cause issues on lower power settings so if it wasn’t purchased brand new that could have been causing your starting issues
(If it was purchased brand new then please ignore the above)
Thanks for posting, I shall hang around and see if there is any further response.
My 330 definitely had cold starts.
I bumped into the man I sold it to one day and asked him how the welder was going,
he said good except for the cold starts.
I had an INE 300 amp transfomer hooked up to the same plug on the wall, no cold
starts ever, and a very smooth selder, sold it after I had my job done, wish I didn't,
had I known then there would be no more transformer based migs I would have kept it.
My 330 definitely had cold starts.
I bumped into the man I sold it to one day and asked him how the welder was going,
he said good except for the cold starts.
I had an INE 300 amp transfomer hooked up to the same plug on the wall, no cold
starts ever, and a very smooth selder, sold it after I had my job done, wish I didn't,
had I known then there would be no more transformer based migs I would have kept it.
addjunkie
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Can your local supplier not arrange a demo for you. I have a Transformer 270 and never had cold start issues.
arther dailey
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buy one of the oxford transformer jobbies second hand , wait and take your time one with 4 roll drive will come along and then you have a mig for life . any faults (i have had none) can be easily repaired , I got the largest single phase one second hand and can still go ddown and do 1mm tin with 1mm wire no faultering or blowing through .
MetalMonkey
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But he had one, and didn't like it? That's why he sold it...
Must admit I haven't had any cold start issues with my 270, but I'm not a very good welder, so by the time I’ve warmed up the machine probably is too.
I'm sure I saw somebody had bought one of those inverter oxfords recently on here, but I can't think who it was.
Earlier threads discussing MIG cold starts:
Hiya folks it's me again....it seems that people like to read my nonsense so i've decided to start this thread with some help of Matt1978!
I've been playing around with the settings on my Oerlikon mig at work....unfortunately my trusty kit (named "Paulie"
) has so many settings that i don't understand, that i decided to create this thread with Matt and help others too by explaining these terms....
I really want to know what hotstart, softstart, downslope, anti crater, anti stick, etc means! And of course how and when do i use them?
Matt??
I've been playing around with the settings on my Oerlikon mig at work....unfortunately my trusty kit (named "Paulie"
) has so many settings that i don't understand, that i decided to create this thread with Matt and help others too by explaining these terms....I really want to know what hotstart, softstart, downslope, anti crater, anti stick, etc means! And of course how and when do i use them?
Matt??
I got someone who deals with the company who supplies them to ask, no demo, so not hope for me getting one 120 miles away from the supplier.
I think the reason for no demo is no one is buying them here, he has one smaller one on
his shop floor for a very long time and if I want a 400 amp it will have to be ordered in.
No, I read on here one man was looking to get one, no export was the answer, since brexit.
arther dailey
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ah, I read that he had one of the latest and did anyone else have same problem with the inverter type , obviously misread it !
Ok, so for me the tecArc inverter migs are a non runner.
No adjustable motor ramp, given the range of 20 to 400 amps
I would imagine a fixed value for this is not going to suffice.
No crater fill at the end of the weld run, not going to play
around stopping a weld run and having to pull the trigger
another time after waiting on the puddle to cool a bit just
to finish every run.
The above features are built into many other welders at
at this date in time no point in making life more difficult
buying a machine without them.
No adjustable motor ramp, given the range of 20 to 400 amps
I would imagine a fixed value for this is not going to suffice.
No crater fill at the end of the weld run, not going to play
around stopping a weld run and having to pull the trigger
another time after waiting on the puddle to cool a bit just
to finish every run.
The above features are built into many other welders at
at this date in time no point in making life more difficult
buying a machine without them.
Yes their design and features are slightly archaic, and a modern inverter machine will run rings around them in many situations.
The main lure for these is there are very few alternatives at the 300+ amps range in single phase. For those with 3 phase, there are countless machines to choose from, and you’d have to have a strong love of the brand to buy and use a Tec arc over the competition. Up to 250a, there are plenty of single phase machines to consider which have those features you want.
At the end of the day, you pays your money and take your chance on whatever you’ve chosen. There are far worse machines out there than the Tec arc, but equally there are far better ones as well. Good luck with whatever you do end up buying.
The main lure for these is there are very few alternatives at the 300+ amps range in single phase. For those with 3 phase, there are countless machines to choose from, and you’d have to have a strong love of the brand to buy and use a Tec arc over the competition. Up to 250a, there are plenty of single phase machines to consider which have those features you want.
At the end of the day, you pays your money and take your chance on whatever you’ve chosen. There are far worse machines out there than the Tec arc, but equally there are far better ones as well. Good luck with whatever you do end up buying.
In Ireland there is a 300 amp Parweld Inverter, it is only in Ireland as one of
the big Welding suppliers got it made for them.
There is also the Hans brand 300 amp inverter mig.
But no one makes large inverter migs other than TecArc.
I had problems with an oxford imig 330 with bad starts, It
would seem TecArc have zero ability or interest in solving
the problem even in their inverter range, speaks volumes really.
the big Welding suppliers got it made for them.
There is also the Hans brand 300 amp inverter mig.
But no one makes large inverter migs other than TecArc.
I had problems with an oxford imig 330 with bad starts, It
would seem TecArc have zero ability or interest in solving
the problem even in their inverter range, speaks volumes really.
Dozzer
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Its the same machine as the Oxford CS machines.
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/oxford-cs-271.135661/
Its a significant step up from the older transformer models, not it probably wont last as long, maybe only 10 or 15 years. but Tecarc/oxford can repair any of their machines.
Had it just over a year have welded 1mm to 5mm, 3mm to 15mm, stupidly thin sills on friends KA, re build ride one mower deck and few other jobs, i love using it.
im not a professional welder, but do quite a bit of welding.
think the welder is more capable than me.
