jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Seeing a lot of these on eBay at about $500 and thinking
of getting one for light TIG and sheet cutting mostly. Anybody
been using one? Any brands you know of that use standard
Miller or Lincoln compatible fittings / tips / consumables?

rickou812

iTrader: (10)

I'm signing up for this one..

Silver LT

Join Yahoo Groups Chinese_TIG_Welders. Should be able to find the answers there.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

i have seen them, and if they do what they say they should they would be great for the money. it is cheap chinese **** and you get what you pay for. anybody who welds a lot will tell you go with a brand name. im a welder and i say, go with a brand name.

Ari G

iTrader: (25)

Have you used them?What "brand"?

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

i used lincoln stick welders, miller wire gun and miller tig in welding school. all worked great. i use a miller tig and a lincoln wire gun and work and they work great. i personally have never used off brands, but the cheaper 110 and 220 lincoln wire welders i have heard work good. its no surprise that good tools are expensive. my tig at work is a tig/stick and it shares the same power supply you just flip a switch. i could see how a plasma cutter could be used with the same power supply also. i wouldn't expect the cheaper welders to work as long or as hard as the brand name ones but if you aint doing welding for a living then they should be sufficient.

jw33

iTrader: (8)

I've got one and I still haven't done much TIG with it, but it does work. Here's a link to another forum where I posted some pictures..

http://www.dfwstangs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=323416

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

I've been looking more carefully at the particulars and the
different links people have offered.

You need a pulse ("AC") TIG for aluminum. This is the
"gotcha" on the lowest-cost eBay ones. AC ones are
not so common on eBay but are showing up at about
the $600 price-point (or higher). Got my eye on the
200A weld / 50A plasma cut model with the foot pedal.
I will have one when the bidding is right. Lot of DC-only
ones out there too, but I want the aluminum capability.

mrdragster1970

.

Didn't we do this thread already. The cheap foreign combo units were junk, and will not last. IIRC a couple of guys from welding business' said don't waste your time. Good luck, & becareful checking them out before you buy.

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xfactor_pitbulls

iTrader: (16)

You recall the fiasco from several months ago. I bought one from ParkerMP. Its "ok". The general quality is cheese. I have had to resoldier several different wires. The stick feature is horrible at best. DC tig is actually very good. Its crisp and has very good arc start. Plasma is pretty good, but not production quality, nor does it do quite the thickness they advertise. The duty cycle is a bit soft too. Most all of these chinese units have the exact same gutts. Just slightly different packaging. I work with metal for a living and the 160 amp unit I bought does have a place for what do. Its great for doing on job site tig work, and some plasma ripping. If you think you are going to get Miller, Hypertherm, or Lincoln quality..............think again. Any specific questions, feel free to drop me a pm. This is something that would probably totally fulfill the hobbiest. Not the hardcore part time or full time metal worker. Also, I dont know where you found a combo AC-Hi-Freq unit for $600. Those must be very low amp units or something. Dont buy any AC unit under 160amps. You need more heat than typical DC to weld aluminum and other hi-freq alloys.

Brandon

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

very true, aluminum needs juice to weld good. i finally broke down and bought a welder for the house yesterday to weld my sub frame connectors in. i got a lincoln wire gun from home depot for like 469. it has four voltage settings and i was on the second one to do that job. it worked great. having heard bad things about welding with no sheilding gas and just using flux wire i was very optimistic. but it turned out to weld very smooth so i was impressed. plus lincoln also has a great warranty.