I am planning on purchasing a TIG welder soon, and am wondering about the limitations of a 220 Miller. More specifically, how thick of material it can penetrate.

I currently have a small 120v MIG that I have used for sheet metal, and an older 220v stick welder that I have used for my heavier projects. My only experience with TIG has been for stainless repairs on prep kitchens, never anything where penetration is an issue.

My main question is if a quality TIG can replace my older 220 stick completely. I'd like to replace both of mine if possible.

Thinking about something like this... https://www.millerwelds.com/equipmen...165-tig-welder


Let me know what you think, thanks.

Erik

 

You need to be looking at the dynasty line up. Will do everything you are asking.

 

You are being somewhat vague with what it is your asking. You seemed concerned about penetration? If this is correct then tig isn't your answer.what material are you welding? How thick material are you welding? How often will you use this machine ? If your welding thin 3/16" base metal , stainless or carbon then a dynasty will be great. Thicker material I'd look at a Hobart 220v mig.

But I use a miller 150stl and it works fine for most situations I run into.

 

Buy an alpha from Amazon and save your $$. They have an excellent warranty.

 

the diversion 160 is a great machine. however it lacks pulse, ac balance control and pre and post flow shield gas timing. but if you are not into pulse and want something that can be repaired locally because this is your livelihood, i'd lean to the blue boxes.

that said i have the ahp 200dx for my home machine and love it. it dosent get 100's of hours a week but it seems to keep up.

 

Your comparing apples to oranges. I'm assuming your referring to the 200 Dynasty and not the 350. There is no comparing a dynasty to a mig period, two totally different processes. I x-ray tig weld for a living and I use my dynasty at home for side projects and hobby use. They are the absolute most versitile welder out there imo. Now on the other hand I also own a miller 211 mig that is for body work sheet metal stuff and general dinking around with a welder stuff like yard art etc. To the op's original question yes a good tig machine such as a dynasty will cover your tig and stick needs.

 

I'll start this with a disclaimer that I'm not a welder, I'm just a hobbyist with a passion for messing with this stuff in my free time.

I think you will find that technique and joint preparation is a lot more important than what the maximum output amperage of your machine is with tig welding. Your torch angle, arc length, even how you grind the tip of your tungsten will have an influence on what kind of penetration you get. The exception to the above is when welding aluminum - you need a lot of juice when you start getting into thicker sections due to its high thermal conductivity. It pulls heat away from the weld area very quickly so you need the extra capacity to get in and get melted without having to camp out on the part for too long. Weigh your intended uses though - if you're not going to be welding 3/8" aluminum every day then you don't need a 350 amp machine.

In steel, when you start getting north of 3/16-1/4" in thickness, you're going to be beveling out and doing multiple passes on anyway in order to get a sufficient joint size. If joint geometry wont allow for that, then get a 220 mig or your stick welder as their electrical arcs are hotter due to the chemistry of their respective shielding gases.

I bought an HTP 221H 2 years ago, use it pretty regularly and haven't had a single problem with it. Granted, I don't beat on it 8 hours a day but it has been more than enough for the needs at my shop. I don't weld a whole lot of aluminum but I've never needed more amperage than what my machine can put out. I'd steer away from the diversion if you can help it - I feel like you will grow tired of it's lack of features / capability pretty quickly as you get more tig experience.

 

Sorry for the delay on getting back to this post.

My main reason for purchasing a TIG now, is that I am not going to pay someone else to install my cage, as I just can't justify that much in labor. I would rather purchase the tools required, and have them available in the future. The cage is a mild-steel unit, due to the fact that weight is not a primary concern with this vehicle. I know that it 'could' be done with MIG, but I have a feeling it would look like garbage.

I've never heard of some of the other welders here, so thank you for the ideas. I know that I enjoy using my TIG at work with the HF start circuit, and the post flow for the gas, so I'll have to see if any of the others offer these features.

Time to get back to reading about welders, thanks again for all of the suggestions.

Erik

 

If your just looking to put a cage in your car i would just go with a dynasty and it would suite your needs just fine. They are portable, reliable and have a decent set of options.

After having an everlast welder melt down halfway through a repair job for a customer. i decided if its not blue or red im not buying it, since the money i could have lost due to there negligence is almost more than the machine is worth. I now have a syncrowave 300 with a dedicated circuit going to it in my shop. Single best thing i ever did for my business.

 

You don't have to take my advice
Just putting it out there from experience
If budget isn't a concern then buy a Lincoln precision tig
I have the 275 with pulse and water cooler
I have over 10000 hours on it and haven't had a moments trouble with it
Please don't buy an inverter style welder as they are very delicate
I have had issues with every one that I have used
If budget is a factor then go to an equipment auction and get a used Lincoln or Miller syncrowave 250 amps or higher
Whatever you do get a transformer welder with a huge lump of copper inside and It won't let you down
Again just my opinion from experience
Beaudacious

 

Can't go wrong with blue or red. I've always owned Miller's (currently run an old millermatic 185 for a mig) but I used my Dynasty 200 DX almost eclusively. I'm 100% self taught welder and I love it.

I've never burned medal with a red machine. Would like to try their products sometime.

 

I have a Lincoln 180 mig that's been a workhorse for me for a few years now, it will with the thicker wire weld some very thick steel with no issues, for what it is you can't go wrong.

I have a 160 diversion that I am playing with, mostly for a header project but now I'm using it for some chromoly welding on some of the last little parts of my car and it's working well. I'm nowhere near as good with it as I would like but I am getting better with every part I make.

Next week I will hopefully have some time to work on an interesting couple pieces that if they turn out good I'm going to have to jig up and have the small parts cut out in bulk as I think they're going to be a popular item (transam headlight cover mounts)

 

10,000 hours? Come on now dude, I weld everyday for a living and I find that statement to be a stretch. Inverters are delicate? I don't think so. Many many people use miller maxstars and dynastys everyday with zero issue. I personally own a dynasty 200dx and I've put it through some pretty tough paces. Welders are like many other things, you typically get what you pay for.

 

10000 hours of tig welding isn't a stretch at all
I've built 12 complete chromoly 6.00 chassis and 40 10 pt moly cages and 200 stainless steel exhaust systems and 30 sets of stainless headers and 5 full turbo setups and 300 aluminum fuel cells and aluminum tig repairs on tilt and loads etc etc etc
I'm not on here to fight anyone
I tig weld everyday and have been doing so for half my life
So it's not that far fetched
Besides I'm not trying to attain any glory
Just letting a guy know how resilient transformer welders are
Beaudacious

 

Nothing wrong with a tranny welder but if your gonna have a steady diet of loominum you'd love yourself if you had a dynasty. Huge difference on loominum.