It will be cheaper if you buy out of state and save yourself some state tax.
I bought my TIG welder and accessories for 1950 and paid ZERO sales tax because I bought from a welding supply out of state.

BTW- I bought my Huntsman helmet from BR Welder.. Great service when my head gear broke..

 

Any problems outta the Thermal Arc machine? It looks like a nice deal compared to the Millers and if it only pulls 30A that's a big plus. BR has it right now for $1750 with the kit.

I don't mind paying sales tax if I can just go pick something up especially at BR's prices.

 

Sorry, I made a mistake.. I actually paid $1650 shipped from AAA Welding Supply.

If you buy it from BR Welder you will pay $1855 assuming 6% sales tax.

I'm not trying to deture you from BR cause they are great. I bought my Huntsman helmet from BR and the head gear broke. They gave me Jackson's customer service number and a new head gear was shipped. They are very friendly over there.. I'm just comparing price.. It's your call.

Anyway.. I love my Thermal Arc 185TSW. Not a single complaint. A friend of mine who is a welder and uses a Miller Dynasty 300DX, 200DX and Syncrowave 280SD tried my T/A 185TSW and said he loved it. The only thing he didn't like about it was my torch because he's used to using a water cooled torch. You can get a water cooled torch for the T/A but you gotta buy the external pump and cooler.

I HIGHLY recommend the T/A 185TSW.. where ever you get it

 

Hey

Thanks for the link to AAA. For a couple hundred dollars I could be persuaded to order it VERY easily.

I just don't like ordering stuff from random companies on the internet I know nothing about. If you've bought stuff from them and everything was good I guess they're ok. I guess I'll have to call for a price because they don't list the 185 on the website.

Thanks again.

 

XLR8NSS,
Before you buy your welder check out this board:
http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/

There's a small group of guys there but there's a ton of really good info before you make your purchase..

Do a search on the T/A and see the reviews for yourself.. I was going to buy a Miller 180SD Runner but changed to the T/A 185 after reading the reviews on that site and I glad I did!

 

The 180 is a big machine. If you are space limited, I would suggest another machine.

for another small forum,

http://www.millermotorsports.com/mboard/

What other welding message boards are there?

 

There are only 3 welding message boards that I know of..
They are:
http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/

http://www.millermotorsports.com/mboard/ (Mostly racing applications)

http://www.chaski.com/ubb/postlist.p...&Board=welding

 

Would the Miller Econotig make a good entry level tig machine that could do steel, stainless, aluminum? or would stepping up to a bigger machine be advantageous?

 

It all depends on what your goals are. The econotig is a nice machine. Small, versatile, and cheap

 

Ok then, Maybe something in the $1,500 range.
Would like to do maybe up to 3/8" on all three kinds of metal, some kind of alternative to the Henrob that My dad has.
Plus Tig welds can be pure art!

 

.375 is a bit much for an econotig. A Syncrowave 180 SD seems it would be better suited, but it is large, and heavy.

They can be had for 14xx-16xx bare, and with running packages

Here is one of my beads on a Lower A-Arm on a road race car

Pic Here

Louis

 

The little flux core machine I have lays down a much nicer weld.

 

yeah yeah yeah, you and your beads

http://harlan-engineering.com/projec...1-1138_IMG.JPG

 

Bring it biAtch!

 

Owned!

 

I use a Lincoln Precision Tig 375 at work, and it is a great machine, but for home use I’ve also been looking at the Invertig 200 AC /DC because of its small size, weight (65 lbs.) and low current draw. This welding supply site http://www.dencoweldingsupply.com/htp_tig_welders.htm sales this machine for $ 2273.94 with free shipping. The thing that I’m concerned with is the reliability of the inverter type and cost of repair compared to the transformer machines. Anyone out there care to respond to this question? Another machine I’m looking at is the ESAB Heliarc AC/DC 161 Tig & Stick which sales for under $ 1600.00 from weldmart.com with all the bells and whistles, but again I don’t know about the reliability or performance. Any comment? Thanks.
Lee

 

Transformer based machines are old technology.. Yes they will be around for a long time but manufactures are focusing on Inverter technology. Look at Miller's top of the line TIG Dynasty inverter machines.. They are awesome.
Inverter technology has been around for many years but there were some issues early on. Those issues no longer exist. I have a 200Amp 45lbs. inverter tig that I absolutely love. I paid about $1700 and it has all the features of a more expensive machine (pulse/ AC).

Now, if you don't buy Miller or Hobart then you'll suffer a little bit on the service side. Almost every local welding supply sells Miller products. However, the reality is if your welder breaks you will likely have to wait for your local welding supply to send the welder out for repair..

I bought a Thermal Arc welder. I know if there is any problem with my welder I will have to ship it out for repair.. That's not a problem for me since it's for home use.

Check out this site: http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/

Lots of good welding discussion.