What to go for in choosing a home/hobby TIG

[GrahamGKD]

Hi Folks,
I'm toying with the idea of getting myself a TIG for my home workshop and am trying to work out the pro's and con's of different types. I guess my budget would be £1,000 give or take. It would have to be single phase but I do have a 32A industrial socket. Since it would be for home use I'm thinking I wouldn't want to be getting involved with water cooled units? If I'm going to take the plunge I'd want AC/DC to handle all metals and I'd want to be able to use it for MMA as well. I guess I see myself using the TIG aspect mostly on lighter stuff (probably mostly aluminium) but I need a machine beefy enough for MMA (150 to 200A). Workshop space is limited so I would need to avoid a huge second hand ex industrial unit. I'd like the machine to be well made (i.e. not a cheap unsupported import) and with the promise of a long service live (especially as my usage will be low). What are the pro's and cons of inverter versus a more conventional machine like the Portamig TIG please? Any thoughts on what would be the right choice for me would be much appreciated. Cheers. Graham.
BTW. I have never done TIG welding but I have done loads of MMA and a fair bit of MIG.

 

[bawjaws]

pm weldequip, hes a well reputed dealer on the forum, hell give you good advice on good machines and what will be the best for you

 

[oceanobsession]

Re what to go for in choosing a home/hobby tig

HI graham. im also looking for an ac dc machine. if you are going to spend a
thousand pounds and you are after a new machine and you wont 200 amps
you will only get chinese my recomendations for these would be

1. r tech 201 895 pounds on ebay at the moment (igbt)
2. mta 206i 849 pounds +vat (mossfet)
both these companies offer g tee and back up also there circuit boards are
seperate and they can supply parts in stock seperate boards are better
because you can replace less circuitry. my choice would be the r tech 201
Both offer pulse bal pulse freq etc all these
features are needed for good ac results for aluminium you could buy a seconhand ac dc machine for a thousand pounds my recomendations would be
1. kemppi
2. lincoln invertec
there are also better machines but again more cost
1. fronius
2. lorch
3. ewm
the other thing to consider is when a circuit board goes wrong in the chinese
machines with back up in this country they are not going to cost the earth
r tech told me that his price for a circuit board would be 120 pounds to replace a circuit board in a none chinese machine would be a lot more costly
the other thing that i like is the anoloque controls and seperate adjustments
if you were to spend more then you could get away from the chinese market
i did see a murex tradestig ac 220 for 1500 ish on ebay but im not sure who
makes that machine if money was no option i would buy a fronius magicwave
second to that would be the lorch and third ewm just one other thing if you
are welding 3mm aluminium you will need a water cooler or some thick gloves
cause it can get hot and you wont get a tidy weld with hot hands ive posted
some links cheers ocean

1.(http://www.migtigarc.co.uk/TIG_Welder/tig_welder.html)
2.(http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tig-Welder-20...14&_trkparms=72:1298|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318
3. http://www.migtigarc.co.uk/TIG_Welder/TradestigAC220.jpg
4. http://www1.ewm.de/produkt-bilder/29/index.html
5. http://www.lincolnelectric.com/community/newsletters/archive_deta
6. http://www.lorch.biz/index.php?id=431&L=1

 

[dopplershift]

Wow... £1000! Thats over $2000AUD! Are TIG machines alot more expensive than MIG/Arc machines then? Howcome...? Is it all the electrickery that goes into creating a nice smooth arc with pulse, waveform control etc?

I haven't looked into TIG at all really, but that seems like alot to me!

 

[matt1978]

R-Tech stuff is supported very well in the UK, Robbie, does a great job with his aftersales support etc and I know of some end customers who have got his stuff, but as far as I know, its Chinese built machine (or largest percentage of the parts are) and your hinting that Kemppi tigs are too and they certainly wouldn't like that.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Cheers for all of that info Ocean. All good food for thought.

In the meantime I have been in touch with Weldequip and he has sent me info on the Portamig TecTig machines. The TecTig 182 is just about within my budget (although the foot control is extra). Anyone have any experience / views on the TecTig? The searches I have done don't throw up much other than to acknowledge their existence!

I have to say, I'm pretty chuffed with my Portamig MIG.

Graham.

 

[aero]

the tech arc or portamig doesn't have such a good reputation in industry due to build quality issues. Ask any professional welder, no one uses them.

However they are built from good quality parts and have good back up, if you can get in contact with the people that make them. They don't deal with the public and can be testy to deal with if you have to, so you need a local friendly dealer to act for you. Which can be a pain if there isn't one close to hand.

I was thinking about the TIG machine, but there are much better inverter based machines out there.

 

[weldequip]

the tech arc or portamig doesn't have such a good reputation in industry due to build quality issues. Ask any professional welder, no one uses them.

That's nonsense Aero! Every welding service engineer in the UK uses them for parts, wire feed units, bespoke machines etc. Maybe the Portamig of old (circa 1980's) but choose your words wisely please
weldequip

 

[Wozzaaah]

the tech arc or portamig doesn't have such a good reputation in industry due to build quality issues. Ask any professional welder, no one uses them.

There must be some in use within industry Aero, it simply wouldn't be worth them designing and manufacturing big machines if they didn't sell any. Agreed, the Portamig name might not have the same clout as the big players but they're only a small company so it's understandable that they can't compete with the likes of miller, lincoln, etc.

However they are built from good quality parts and have good back up, if you can get in contact with the people that make them. They don't deal with the public and can be testy to deal with if you have to, so you need a local friendly dealer to act for you. Which can be a pain if there isn't one close to hand.

The first port of call for support is the seller and we all know how good Weldequip's aftersales support is so that part's really not an issue.

Just out of interest, do you have first hand experience of dealing with them and if so, why did you find them unhelpful?

 

[madkayaker]

before you get a shiny new tig have you checked that you have a big enough supply to run it?

 

[irondarren]

Admittedly this thread is about Tig.
But i really cant fault my Portamig Mig welder. The wire feed units are good and solid. The circuitry in the control boards is perhaps a little strange. In that the board is quite large for the number of parts on it. Almost looking home made in way, from parts you would buy and solder to a circuit board yourself. Of course then you realise these machines aren't made in mass, so the electronic boards aren't mass produced.
Thinking about it more you also realise that the more space between parts the less heat produced, thus less risk of heat damage. As for the Tig units based on experience of the Migs, i am seriously considering purchasing a 250 amp Ac/Dc transformer based portamig unit later in the year. Which will be for commercial use

 

[GrahamGKD]

before you get a shiny new tig have you checked that you have a big enough supply to run it?

I have a 32A industrial type socket on a C curve MCB which should do it, as long as I don't go overboard. I have tried out my Portamig 215 running from this supply on the highest setting without problem. Thanks for mentioning it though.

 

[madkayaker]

Good planing

 

[aero]

I've got the 181 and its been fine, apart from the wire feed control knob that slips round the shaft to keep you on your toes.

I was dissappointed to hear from 2 welders that their companies had sent machines back due to realibility issues and as a result the portamig/tech arc machines had a reputation for being unreliable and not as capable as the big names.

Even my suppliers said they would rather I had a Lincoln or a migatronic from them as they didn't really want to get into warranity issues on the portamig (they deal with TAS all the time an knew of the portamigs), they even reduced the Migatronic price by a huge margin to try and tempt me.

 

[snowcat]

That's nonsense Aero! Every welding service engineer in the UK uses them for parts, wire feed units, bespoke machines etc. Maybe the Portamig of old (circa 1980's) but choose your words wisely please
weldequip

now now, I had never heard of the portamig brand before this site, It does appear by the models made (all transformer type machines) that they are very much aimed at the Hobby/ bodyshop especially the TIGs as i would imagine that most of the market is now inverter based machines....

I know there only a small co. but TPS soon got a buzz amongst welders about Fronius and the product went from an unknown to the machines to buy in the time scale of a couple of years...

Im not saying theres anything wrong with the machine, just pointing out where its market might lie, If you wish I would be more than happy to test a 500 amp machine for a month or so, I know a certain German mfr thats more than happy to send there machines on proper road tests

 

[malcolm]

TPS marketing was probably quite handy but TA marketing is non existent.

I'll stand up for the Portamigs. Lovely to use, decent components, and good support if things do go wrong. British made too so we're keeping our guys in jobs. That's important these days as they might buy your stuff in return and keep you in a job too. *****ies won't if you buy theirs.

Mine is bottom of the range retailing in the £500-£600 price bracket. I've used a couple of other MIG machines in the same price bracket that I couldn't set up the way I liked - they just didn't work nicely at all. No experience of the TIGs though.

We're hijacking a thread here before it's finished.

 

[aero]

I'd be more then happy to test the TIG on some aircraft parts, for a month or so.

 

[matt1978]

I'd be more then happy to test the TIG on some aircraft parts, for a month or so.

Where bouts do you work mate? You could try a nice shiney T Series??

 

[dutchman]

TPS marketing was probably quite handy but TA marketing is non existent.

Que?!? Je ne understand those abbreviations. Also what is TAS?

 

[Archie]

TPS as in TPS-Fronius and TA as in Technical Arc. TAS could be Technical Arc Services but don't quote me on that one.