What TIG

[brianjbox]

Hi all

I'm brand new on here.

I asked a friend some advice on buying a TIG welder and he pointed me to this forum so I joined

I've been welding since I was 17 and I'm now really old [well oldish], I did build commercial catering equipment so am used to tigging stainless etc, for the last 15 years I've been working on and restoring VW campers so mainly been migging.
I did a weeks work at a mates classic car restoration/body work business and was surprised to see him tigging everything, now I like tig and hate mig so have been contemplating getting another tig set. I haven't owned one for about 10 years and I know an awful lots changed since then so this is why I'm here, I don't know what a good welder is anymore, what's available and what will be best for what I want to do.

Right it's for home use so I'm stuck with single phase.
It will be used for light sheet metal work, mostly mild steel.
I will be fabricating parts to weld onto cars I currently own.
I want this for my own projects and not commercial usage.
I would love to be able to tig aluminium but doubt I can afford a set that can do this, especially off 230v.
I am between jobs so cost is a definite consideration.

I have been offered a used lincoln electric INVERTEC V160-T tig set, the set has been used commercially but is cheapish [£200], is it any good?

Help and advice greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Brian.

 

[shenion]

The Invertec TIGs are good and that sounds like a good price. I usually don't see them around here for less than twice the price.

 

[brianjbox]

The Invertec TIGs are good and that sounds like a good price. I usually don't see them around here for less than twice the price.

Thanks Scott
While waiting for a reply here been checking round the rest of the forum, it seems the R-Tech welders are getting good write ups, now as thinking new

 

[yarpap]

Ive had Invertec from new 4 years now use for business mostly tig stainless but its a nice stick welder as well, cant fault mine. and at £200 better than any China ebay jobby
Only my opinion though
Dave

 

[shenion]

I'd take the Invertec over the R-tech Chinese. Will be supported for a long time.

The R-tech are good, but still an import.

 

[brianjbox]

Ooh guys, your swaying me back the other way

Cheers for the comments, I haven't bought a new set for so long and they seem so much smaller and lighter that it's hard to believe they do perform well.

Guess I'm used to the big old heavy ones

 

[shenion]

Yes, i have a 750lb beast of a TIG Wants a 23KVA supply (108 amps at 240V.) 37 years young

I'll take an Invertec any day. The beast is great as it cost me almost nothing. As I'm not building battleships, it is way more than i need. I'd like a small inverter I could roll around to the work. Would also give me new features like frequency adjust, slope and pulse modes.

As there is nothing mechanical to wear out (like a wire feeder on a MIG), there is no problem with a used TIG as long as it works.

Really any welder is only as good as its support. Lincoln has repair centers near everywhere. They are expensive new and keep their value. I just checked ebay and the 160T is going new for $1450, over £900. I don't see any used ones. People keep them unless they go bigger.

The Invertec i want is about $3.5K

At £200, it is a steal especially if it comes with a footpedal (they cost at least that much.)

 

[brianjbox]

Yes, i have a 750lb beast of a TIG Wants a 23KVA supply (108 amps at 240V.) 37 years young

I'll take an Invertec any day. The beast is great as it cost me almost nothing. As I'm not building battleships, it is way more than i need. I'd like a small inverter I could roll around to the work. Would also give me new features like frequency adjust, slope and pulse modes.

As there is nothing mechanical to wear out (like a wire feeder on a MIG), there is no problem with a used TIG as long as it works.

Really any welder is only as good as its support. Lincoln has repair centers near everywhere. They are expensive new and keep their value. I just checked ebay and the 160T is going new for $1450, over £900. I don't see any used ones. People keep them unless they go bigger.

The Invertec i want is about $3.5K

At £200, it is a steal especially if it comes with a footpedal (they cost at least that much.)

Looks like I'm going for the Invertec then

Cheers all

Brian