TIG welder advice

[willgeorge]

Looking to buy.
Kinda have mind set on Lincoln.
Would mostly be used on .080 Alum

I've done a very limited amount of TIG welding, so looking to take advantage of the experience of those willing to share.

I have a Miller Diversion 165 with the foot pedal. its an awesome machine for a great price. really easy to use and puts out nice welds. it sounds like you are looking for something easy to have in the shop or trailer. its a machine you can just turn on and start running beads. unless you are planning on doing mass production of stuff I would def suggest it, works greats for every project I've ever done.

 

[joshkoltes]

ac

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LINCOLN-PRE...40505889902?pt=BI_Welders&hash=item20b6cdbc6e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MILLER-DYNA...30480037286?pt=BI_Welders&hash=item1e61375da6

 

[LoudHandle]

So you tried to tig with the xmt and it didn't work loud handle? I haven't run that model but it looks like a great machine being it can do everything. Where as with the dynasty i would need to buy another power source for other applications. Then I have a lot of stuff to move. Was also thinking maby a trailblazer but I don't have an arm or leg to spare.
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/multiprocess/

It will TIG but only has DC so if you want to weld aluminum your stuck using a squirt gun. For me that is a deal breaker as I refuse to squirt wire, but that is entirely your call as I don't know what uses you have in mind. For the OP'er the XMT would not satisfy his stated intentions.

 

[joshkoltes]

It will TIG but only has DC so if you want to weld aluminum your stuck using a squirt gun. For me that is a deal breaker as I refuse to squirt wire, but that is entirely your call as I don't know what uses you have in mind. For the OP'er the XMT would not satisfy his stated intentions.

you know, i never made the connection when i read the graph on the site oops. it just says it does alum well and does tig well but didnt notice the fact it dosnt do ac. dang!
that lincoln 225 i posted looks to be the compareable to the dynasty 200 and has a little more umph. plus still small enough to toss in the truck if needed.

 

[LoudHandle]

you know, i never made the connection when i read the graph on the site oops. it just says it does alum well and does tig well but didnt notice the fact it dosnt do ac. dang!
that lincoln 225 i posted looks to be the compareable to the dynasty 200 and has a little more umph. plus still small enough to toss in the truck if needed.

A co-worker of mine just bought the Dynasty 200, loves it! but wishes he had spent a little more to get the 350, finds he needs to preheat some of the thicker aluminum pieces to get the perfect stacked dimes look, it will leave a flat bead if that is what you are after, but lacks the punch to heat the thicker sections fast enough to drop the filler and step on. We are a bit spoiled at work with the 700, even with the 3" thick aluminum main pivot on our berth gangways I didn't need to preheat it with the 700. For the average Joe's garage the 200 is probably perfect. I'm just used to having more on tap and am contemplating TIGing a 50'-60' Aluminum Catamaran for open ocean cruising in retirement. I live in Alaska and my Parents have a place in Vanuatu, about 5500 miles one way, Hawaii is just over half way at 3000 miles. So my long term goals / needs are far different than most.

 

[powderlites]

Tig welder

Being a Welder by trade the only Lincoln I would personally consider is a engine driven Pipe liner. I have used both brands of shop machines and the Miller's will outlive the Lincoln's three to one for same size, same use, situations. I personally own a Syncrowave 250 (about 20 years of use and abuse). At work my favorite is the Dynasty 700 and have used every available Amp on numerous occasions.

Parting advice, Miller is better! Define what you want to be able to do, buy a machine that will do that, plus leave you some room to expand your capabilities.

I have used and the shops down the road have 9 machines for production so I went and tried a few machines before I bought a Squarewave Lincoln with pulser attachment 14 years ago and we have had a few welders come and go but everyone commented on how nice this machine welds and HD 250 water cooled torch.
I even used same machine without water cooled torch and not impressed.
setup and type of gas lens etc make the welder for sure.
My welder went to California to learn a little about SPD welding headers SS and gee they had Lincoln machines so I would go with same lincoln again as dynasty new we have I never use much and it's gone now.

 

[LoudHandle]

I gave my opinion and you gave yours. The bulk of my 30+ years have been TIG'ing aluminum with a fair ampumt of stainless, titanium, and carbon steel thrown in, and I personally have welded four brand new Lincoln's into retirement. If you had good luck with them, good for you. My money will not go towards a Red machine. But that is just my opinion based on MY experience, for what it is worth.

 

[smwizzz]

Good info

I own a fab shop that does custom welding and fabrication. There will always be brand battles. I believe that the info some of the guys here who weld for a living are comments to be valued. They know the products that hold up. We run Miller. I am not sure how many machines we have now but my main unit is a 300 Dynasty DX liquid cooled unit and we are close to purchasing a 350 or bigger soon. The Dynasty is a power source and can be set up to stick or mig weld. We have ours set up for mainly tig but also with stick. I also have a little portable 150. The main thing to consider is AC/DC. My 150 is a sweet unit but is only DC so aluminum is out of the question. If you have the cash the liquid cooled unit is the way to go and square wave is also the way to fly.

As far as welding goes... not even comparable to mig... don't expect to pick up a torch and weld like a mig. Practice is what makes a good tig welder... some people are not capable of welding with any unit of any type. If you are not co-ordinated it may not be the way to go. That said, if yo are pretty good with other processes and you don't weld much, you are probably capable with practice.

Consider tig as being the closest to oxy acetylene(propane) welding or brazing. The tig has more control and it is my opinion that it is easier to use as it is not a burning flame.

I would suggest going to a local dealer and talking to them. Most dealers have a demo unit you can try and hopefully someone who can set the machine up and give you a few tips. You can then make an educated decision on product service (dealer) and get a trial run to see if you even want to buy a machine by actually welding.

Hope this helps...

 

[LoudHandle]

I own a fab shop that does custom welding and fabrication. There will always be brand battles. I believe that the info some of the guys here who weld for a living are comments to be valued. They know the products that hold up. We run Miller. I am not sure how many machines we have now but my main unit is a 300 Dynasty DX liquid cooled unit and we are close to purchasing a 350 or bigger soon.
Hope this helps...

If your welders like the 300 they will really enjoy upgrading to the 350 or 700. IMO, at least with the one we have here at work, their is an oddity (hard to describe but a un-anticipated delay or pause right when I / you would expect it to transfer) on the transition from high frequency to weld current that drove me crazy the few times I had to use it. Even sent it in for diagnostics for it, they gave it a clean bill of health but it did not fix the oddity. The repair shop claimed we had to use a certain tungsten to get past the oddity, but if we did we are out of proceedire and that is unacceptable to those making the rules. So the 300 sits in the corner collecting dust. They did fix the oddity with the 350 or the 700 (2-350's stacked).

 

[smwizzz]

Interesting...

If your welders like the 300 they will really enjoy upgrading to the 350 or 700. IMO, at least with the one we have here at work, their is an oddity (hard to describe but a un-anticipated delay or pause right when I / you would expect it to transfer) on the transition from high frequency to weld current that drove me crazy the few times I had to use it. Even sent it in for diagnostics for it, they gave it a clean bill of health but it did not fix the oddity. The repair shop claimed we had to use a certain tungsten to get past the oddity, but if we did we are out of proceedire and that is unacceptable to those making the rules. So the 300 sits in the corner collecting dust. They did fix the oddity with the 350 or the 700 (2-350's stacked).

It's always good to hear the little tweeks from guys with experience and pride. I started tig welding with a high freq box on an old Lincoln buzz box... I always said if you can weld with this, you can weld with anything. The new tech is so awesome and user friendly.

I have not had the chance to try the brand new machines, my dealer called me and said the reps were in town and to drop in. They usually bring a semi trailer with all the new gadgets and a BBQ for a couple days but I was just too busy to stop in. We bought a new plasma table last year and our capabilities have expanded greatly so we have been checking out some new welding gear. I chose to miss the welding and fabrication trade show this year too... next year!!!

I will be checking out the 700 now that you have perked my interest. I priced out the 350 but maybe we will just go for the big gun instead.

As far as tungsten goes... when we purchased our 150 we found that pure tungsten (green) just didn't cut it. It had huge problems initiating the arc. Really that was our own fault. We didn't have any 2% thoriated in 1/16 for SS so we tried to use the 100% tungsten. I actually thought the unit had something wrong with it but we got a bit lucky and talked to the right guy at Miller and he set us straight. Never would have thought the tungsten would cause that problem until we changed... fixed right away. No more cheating!!! lol. We make sure we have the correct components for that little rig.

Cheers.... Happy Trails!!!