In the market to purchase a tig welder .Didn't really want to break the bank buying a miller or Lincoln machine.(I am Scottish after all ).Just a hobby machine after all . 60 hrs a year??
What are you using ??
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It' a good thing we dont get as much goverment as we pay for !!!
Lincoln SP135. Great little machine (110 volt). Weld anything from 22gauge to 3/16th. material. I have gone through eight rolls of wire with no trouble at all. On sale they are under $500.00.
I have an esab 120/220 volt tig arc pack, does stick and tig, was 800 bucks. so far has worked perfect, best thing being esab just sends you a new machine if theres any problems, no questions asked.
You can hook a tig to a buzz box and make it work .All depends on what you plan to do with it . if all you ever plan on is welding steel a dc machine will be fine
You can hook a tig to a buzz box and make it work .All depends on what you plan to do with it . if all you ever plan on is welding steel a dc machine will be fine
BUT,,,,,, scratch start is a pain in the a$$. You will become real good at sharpening tungsten though TMJ
I found in my research the best value added machine was either 200 amp inverter (DC , AC-DC models sold by Eastwood quick delivery support and stand-by their product and cost . Had a new Lincoln scratch start lift tig on demo burned up twice the warranty people had it over a month and I never did give it an adequate test it wouldn't draw a bead on 22ga.let alone the advertized 1/4 -3/8 material with-out failing. The average guy can;t afford to purchase a Hobart or Miller .
I have an older ArcWeld machine that is a rebadged Miller Thunderbolt. I have no pedal so I use it as scratch start.
If you end up looking at older machines, some of them have "full voltage" pedals where all the welding amperage goes through the pedal - avoid these machines. The pedals are very expensive (more than I paid for the entire machine) and not easy to find. The other machines have very large transformers in them however, so the arc is very stable, and this one will also do AC/DC which is nice. Given the chance again, I probably would not buy it and would save up for a newer machine.
In the market to purchase a tig welder .Didn't really want to break the bank buying a miller or Lincoln machine.(I am Scottish after all ).Just a hobby machine after all . 60 hrs a year??
What are you using ??
Awesome! At least I'm not the only cheap Scot here :)
I've been looking for a Lincoln Square Wave 200 or a Mikker Diversion 180....
no luck yet.... really want one, but can't justify new, for the amount I'd be using it. Have a friend that bought an Eastwood AC DC 200 TIG....says it's a great machine...and all in, under a grand US....