tig welder queston

[83 crew cab]

ok been looking for a tig welder for some time found a good deal on slightly used syncrowave 350 I can get the unit with watercooler for $1000 more than a new syncrowave 180 none watercooled unit



my question is there that much of a diferance in the 180 and 350 I have used the 250 at work wicth would do everthing I need to do but I am not sure of 180 any help on this would help thanks Geroge (guess I am just trying to convience my self to spend the extra money)

 

[Todd T]

two words..... Duty Cycle



other than the increased duty cycle you may or may not have more accesories available for the bigger unit. in some cases the bigger units can support longer leads too.

 

[83 crew cab]

thanks Todd if that is all I get is dutty cycle it may not be worth it its for a home shop for rollbar work and aluminan maybe soime side work thansks George

 

[ETOBICOKE]

Tig Welder

The size of the Tig machine that you would need will be based on what you are planning to weld. If you will be doing aluminum , even only a 1/4" thick, you will need 350 amps plus and a water cooled torch of the same capacity. If you will be doing mostly steel a 175 amp unit and air cooled torch will do just about anything. I have a Lincoln 175 amp machine, it's great has a foot pedal and gas solinoid and high frequency. Also it's very user friendly, without all the usual numerous adjustments and switches found on even many base model machines. For example, there is a tig/ stick switch to change modes, it turns on the high freqency, foot pedal and gas solinoid and when you switch from DC to AC, the high frequency automaticly goes from start to continuous. When you plug in the torch the gas goes through the connector. The price of this unit with the torch, foot pedal, regulator and line cord all included was just under $2k cdn.

All that I needed to get to start ussing it was a gas cylinder.

If you want a budget rig to weld steel, you can make one from a DC machine, you can set up a foot pedal if the machine has a potentiometer to set the heat. You won't have high frequency start, so the arc has to be started by scratching, but for home or light shop use it's fine.

I tend to like Lincoln machines, overall they seem to be built the best across the whole product range, they also have the best service at least up here in Canada. I would stay away from Hobart, they are not what they used to be 20 years ago. The high end Millers are just as good as the Lincoln machines, however the low priced models often have aluminum secondaries on the transformer and the weld heat is not constant. If your purchasing a used machine, have a look inside the cabinet and check the conditon, usualy they take in a fair bit of dust, also check for aluminum wiring from the transformer and also aluminum shunts from the polarity switch. Also try the machine out, check all the switches and knobs to make shure they all work properly, also the foot pedal very carefully as they tend to get abused a fair bit. If the high frequency does not work it can be very expensive to get repaired.



If you would like any tig welding help pm me, will be back home this week end.



Neil

from world scale champs, Tillsonberg, Ontario

 

[83 crew cab]

thanks Neil it looks like Iwll get the big on I have used the 250 at work and love them I am not sure if Iwill ever need a 350 but its $300 less than a 250 with the same stuff I will be welding a good bit of aluminum and stainless maching is suposesed tohave 5 hours on it looks like I will go check it out thies week thanks George