:::RHMT::: Real Home Made Turbo
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: ratcityrex on March 21, 2015, 08:21:24 PM
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Just like it says. I put my Miller plasma cutter up on craigslist for $800. Looking to get a cheap ac/dc tig. Have any of you guys used the china tigs? Eastwood, everlast, ect. I want a foot pedal and Eastwood has there ac/dc tig with pedal for $750.
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I remember I had one of those Chinese smiley tools tig welders. I even made a post about it on the old forum. All I recall is that it was a pile of crap and right now it is a $400 door stop. Yep I still have it and walk by it every day. I keep it to serve me as a reminder why to never buy a chinese piece of garbage again. Now that said, I know that since the 2000's the Chinese quality improved on these products a bit and there are a few out there worth giving a shot. A buddy just bought a tig from princess auto which is the canadian version of harbor freight. It's made by Power Fist. He likes it but it also cost $1000 which is a lot for a Chinese product. Apparently (and this is going by reading he has done) it is the same as some Miller unit that is rebadged. Here is the link:
http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/powerfist-smart-tig-ac-dc-200p-inverter-welding-machine/A-p8560237e (http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/powerfist-smart-tig-ac-dc-200p-inverter-welding-machine/A-p8560237e)
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The irony of tig welders is that the hobbiest in his garage should probably have the best tig welder out there. As they have a far more stable arc, are easier to setup and are better units.
The better the welder you are the more you can fudge it and cut corners, give a guy like passanger dave, a bottle of helium and a couple car batteries and a cdm tig torch and with no voltage control he will still make a weld that will be better than 95% of us.
The cdm units I have used, were a bit lacking in their controls, both in the options and in the non linearity of them. They also really struggled to maintain a stable arc at low amperage and would duty cycle out on high amperage way more often than the listed duty cycle would lead you to believe. In the normal 40-100amp range they worked fine, in the 5-15amp they were almost unusable, and in the 200amp flat out welding aluminum they would cylce out before my hand would get to hot.
So I guess it just depends on what you want out of it and what you are willing to live with.
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I had a guy try and trade me his big ass airco 250 heliwelder with tig torch and pedal for my plasma. I don't know shit about them. So I started looking them up. Looks like they are 30-35 years old and I'm sure it's probably impossible to find parts for.
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Try get a trade for hobart 165 or miller diversion 180 but lack of AC weld setting. Both good DIY/hobby TIG machine for weekend enthusiast. Look on weldingweb.com for reviews on chink machines they all have mix reviews mostly everlast and eastwood. Supposedly they are china brand just rebadge with QC to companies brand. If you go the china route find one that offers the longest warranty.
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everlast!
Has the best ratings, ok price, and great customer service. One of the few cdm tig welders worth getting.
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everlast!
Has the best ratings, ok price, and great customer service. One of the few cdm tig welders worth getting.
That's what I've heard on the welding forums. Looking to pick one up used. But at the same time I just ford a real nice low use miller for $1000
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i have an everlast 200 amp, ac/dc, pulse etc. and its treated me well, i dont tig much and im not amazing at it but the machine has served me well over 2 years or so.
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i have an everlast 200 amp, ac/dc, pulse etc. and its treated me well, i dont tig much and im not amazing at it but the machine has served me well over 2 years or so.
Want to trade for a miller plasma cutter? Ha ha
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Why you getting rid of the plasma cutter? Just dont have a use for it or what? Its definitely one of those tools that you never really need till you finally have one then you wonder how you've gotten by without one for so long. Why not keep it, you never know.
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Because I've had it for 3 years and I never use it. Hell it's been sitting at my dad's house for 2 years in the corner of his garage. I weld from time to time and I would love to have a tig. Not that I'm gonna use that all the time but I'll use it a hell of a lot more than my plasma.
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i have an everlast 200 amp, ac/dc, pulse etc. and its treated me well, i dont tig much and im not amazing at it but the machine has served me well over 2 years or so.
Want to trade for a miller plasma cutter? Ha ha
lol i want a plasma but im not in north america.
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Dvst8r is right get the best tig you can afford. it will make a huge difference in novice level welders ability to produce proper welds.
Best bang for your buck is a Lincoln 225 tig. It doesn't have fancy options but you probably can't effectively use them atm anyway. It has enough power for 99% of hobby/ race car fab projects and there plentiful in my experience.
Don't even think about the old millers ( dialarcs, etc) they need massive power to run and although they work decent are just crude and I bet you can't power them in any typical garage setup.
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Ok all great info. I see lots if the old miller/dialarcs on craigslist. That being said, my breaker panel is in my garage and I have the room to add it in the panel and I was just gonna put the 220 plug right under it in my garage. That's what I did for my air compressor. Have a guy that suppose to come look at the plasma today. At least that's what he said on saturday. Who knows craigslist is full of flakes so I doubt it.
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I did have a guy offer to trade me a old school airco tig heliarc 250.
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the thing to watch out for with alot of the old transformer machines is needing 3 phase power, and even still your going to need a good size 240v feed for any of these single phase welders mentioned, i feed mine off of a 40 amp double pole breaker with #8. you may be able to get by with a 30 amp #10 feed for some of the smaller inverter machines, but id rather have a little head room, especially when using a breaker on a welder they like to pop alot easier than a fused disconnect.
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it seems according to miller a dynasty 200 only need 15 amps at 240 for a full 200 amp output
https://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/spec_sheets/AD4-8.pdf (https://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/spec_sheets/AD4-8.pdf)
using that as a baseline it would indicate that a dedicated 30 amp feed would be more than sufficient.
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Miller dynasty is a new style inverter machine (it is what I own). It is extremely power efficient vs the old transformer boxes. Many of which need 40amps or better.
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That's why I was going to put in a 50amp plug. Pretty much would run anything I need.
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So I'm thinking about this....
http://www.eastwood.com/tig-welders-eastwood-tig-ac-dc-welder.html (http://www.eastwood.com/tig-welders-eastwood-tig-ac-dc-welder.html)
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That is a rehashed longevity tig welder. The welder is a giant paperweight do not waste your time. Pedal is garbage, arc control suck sat low amps. Personally I have used one for some odd jobs at work and I would avoid it. Btw the fittings are not Miller/Lincoln universal. There a weird style converter fitting pure garbage.
Seriously look into a Lincoln 225 used we have bought them for under $1000 and beat them hard fan running almost all day on some projects, biggest issue is Lincoln's weak pedal connector that can cause issues when it wears out.
I have used almost every random tig brand from hf tig box, longevity (3 models), everlast, thermal arc, Miller, Lincoln, ect. If a/c is a must have honestly go name brand used. You will thank me.
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Ac is not a must, but it sure would be nice to weld on radiators and shit. I don't think I've seen a name brand welder on craigslist for under $1400-1800 used. I me fuck, there is a guy local that is selling his Lincoln setup for 3300. Granted it has every bell and whistle but way more then what I need.
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What about the ahp units? Been reading some killer reviews about them. Seems like a lot of welder for $800 and I sold my plasma cutter today for $700 not bad considering that I paid like $40 for it...lol
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Ok, so after reading for hours, and watching hours of videos, I decided I'm going to end up with one of the 2015 ahp alphatig 200x, "IF" I don't find a used miller or Lincoln on craigslist in the next few weeks. Been doing lots of reading and for a hobby welder pike myself it seems like it will fit the bill just fine.
Here is a few videos to watch if you want to burn some time.
AHP AlphaTIG 200X https://youtu.be/tHN0OqTg4UI
Welder Comparison - AHP AlphaTIG vs Eastwood TIG200 vs Longevity TigWeld...: https://youtu.be/oISSe0Itq7U
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What do you nogs think of this old beast? http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/tls/4958353105.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/tls/4958353105.html)
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i had an everlast. it was a 3monthlast.
miller or nothing.
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i had an everlast. it was a 3monthlast.
miller or nothing.
How often were you using it? How many hours did you have on it b4 it died? And how long ago was that?
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i had an everlast. it was a 3monthlast.
miller or nothing.
Our everlast at work failed quite quickly and if I remember correctly it is probably still being "fixed". This was 2 years ago.
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i had an everlast. it was a 3monthlast.
miller or nothing.
Our everlast at work failed quite quickly and if I remember correctly it is probably still being "fixed". This was 2 years ago.
What is it exactly that you do for a living? I mean I'm looking for a welder that might see 30 - 50 hours of run time a year.
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I owned a welding fabrication shop for quite a few years had 6 welding stations that built just about anything automotive exhaust related. Welders on at 7 off at 5:30 5-6 days a week. Makes the cheap welders bust quickly. Miller's were always rock solid. :noel:
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I can see why your shop would kill a cheap tig. So 1 week at your shop is going to be comparable to 1 year in my garage....lol
So these AHP alphatig 200x aren't going to be in stock for another 2 weeks. So until then I'm going to keep looking on craigslist. If nothing pops up in 2 weeks then I'll probably pull the trigger on the china unit. I would love a miller or a Lincoln, but nobody has anything for sale. I'm looking all over the state up to about 200 miles from me. And there ain't shit except for a 3 phase thermal arc.
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If you have a Gases Plus or Norco or some other welding supply store near a technical college or school, every semester when school starts, you can pickup a used good welder for half cost or less.
Some tech schools have semester start every 8 or 9 weeks. :noel:
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I want to buy this but the dude won't respond to me.... :'( http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/tls/4964753420.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/tls/4964753420.html)
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Thats a good deal and with tanks...just hold out for decent machine
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MOTHER FUCKER!!!! I HATE CRAIGSLIST!!!!! He never responded to my emails and then all of a sudden he emails saying it's sold. For those who didn't see it, it was a miller syncrowave 200 with a bottle of helium and argon for $1200
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So close!!
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I'm still kinda butt hurt about the deal.
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I bet!!
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Damn that would have been a deal.
Local heavy construction company just posted up 10 Miller 250 dialarcs for $300 /e might need to pick up one of the old things to beat on. Spare my syncro 200.
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What do u guys think of this? http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/tls/4979346141.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/tls/4979346141.html)
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Duty cycle is pretty weak on the 175. Probably offer $800 and see if they bite.
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Not a bad machine for the price. The duty cycle aspect probably won't be a huge deal for hobby work. The only negatives I see are lack of shielding gas control adjustment, and no aluminum adjustment. But those are a given on entry-level machines.
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Idk, this might not be the deal I'm hoping for. Some chick is selling it for her husband and the whole thing seems off.
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Ok, so this whole thing is kinda sour...lol she told me last night that her husband is a master welder and that he won't be around tomorrow to show me that it fires up and runs. So I know that area that she lives in real well and I know someone in that area that is a "master welder" so I ask her if his name is Darwin (guy I know that's a "master welder") she said no, his name is david. Then I ask her today why she is selling it and she tells me because he passed away. So wtf? If she will take $800 I would do it. But not for 1200. I asked her if she's open to offers and she said she would take 1150.
So unless she changes her mind on the price, I'm gonna pass.
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if i were you right now i would look at the htp tig at usaweld.com, ive been welding alot more tig recently and im woried my everlast will go poof, it hasnt had a problem yet, besdies the amp display shows crazy numbers. it hasnt missed a beat welding wise, and the AHP is a subsidiary of everlast. the htp has purely positive reviews online and dealing with usa weld for my consumables has proven to be the best customer service ive ever gotten. it is almost the price of dynasty tho is you get the dual voltage.
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I've really been looking into the ahp. Heard nothing but great things about them. But I might be able to jew something here soon of a used American made one. We will see.
Have a line on a Lincoln precision 225, but it's 3 phase. I know on some of the older machines you can just change some wires around inside and your good to go. I don't know about the newer ones like this. So I'm gonna call my local welding store and see what they know about all that.
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a few of the old millers you could re arrange the taps etc theres a well documented log on practical machinest forums, i dont know about the lincoln or any of the new inverters at all, but if you get the ahp id love to know how it goes, id buy one to have as backup but im getting over the cheap chinese welder phase of life right now, i hate feeling like on my next bead itll go pop.
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So my local welding shop directed me to a welding repair shop in seattle. So I talked to them and from what he told me is that lincoln hasn't built a 3 phase only machine since the early 90s. Pretty much it's just unhook ing 1 lug inside and capping it off. Now with that said, I was looking in the manual for online and it looks like there is a few different models that have different power voltage. So I'm gonna call lincoln on monday ad see what they have to say. Hopefully I can pick all 4 tig welders up for dirt cheap and then I can rewire them and flip them for some cash.
2 of them are precision 225 with miller 3 water cooler and water cooled torch.
the other 2 are Lincoln square wave 275 with miller 3 water cooler and water cooled torch.
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i could be interested in one for the right price, depends on how much it would cost to ship to miami, cause id have to get it to miami then to me.
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i noticed the percision 225 is listed as single phase but 460 or 575 volts, but i see the 275 can be rewired for 240 volts, i dont know if they all can be, or if even the manual i found covers the units you found
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/servicenavigator-public/lincoln3/im609.pdf (http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/servicenavigator-public/lincoln3/im609.pdf)
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Right, I've noticed that too. But on page 10 I think it list different models with differ voltages. So idk. I'm gonna call lincoln tomorrow and see what they have to say.
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Well, after talking to lincoln, it sounds like they are all single phase. But I won't be picking up the square wave 275's. He said that you will need a 125amp service just to that welder. Said it draws almost 60 amps at idle.....lol so I'm gonna try to snag both the precision 225's and flip one, or hell" maybe both. And go buy a brand new syncrowave or just flip one of them.
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wow thats alot, i cant imagine how that is possible to draw that much at idle, for full power i know they are hogs.
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wow thats alot, i cant imagine how that is possible to draw that much at idle, for full power i know they are hogs.
That's what I thought but fuck, I was talking to the rep. Not that all reps know there shit, but this dude seemed pretty on point.
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Just downloaded the manual for the 275. @ 230v it draws 110 amps, at 460v it only draws 55amps.
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yeh as voltage goes up current goes down p = vi . p is a constant so as v increases i decreases. p = watts i = current v = volts
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Yeah, I just don't have the power for all that. And I don't know if it's worth even bidding on as most other people won't have the power either. But I am going to try to win both precision 225's.