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[90turboteg]

well. i have around 1500$ to spend on a decent tig welder, i would like to get a ac/dc so i can do stainless and alum. been looking around at some welders. i don't see doing much thicker than sch40 on steel and maybe 1/4-1/2 aluminum maybe. something that does well, has a postflow, don't care if its air or water cooled. i use a miller 250sw at work but its a little older.

lmk what you nogs think. thanks

[88dx]

ill sell you my Smiley tig for $1500 

[t_cel_t]

check craigslist like 5 times a day, thats how i found my setup. granted i did look for over a year.

[dvst8r]

1/2" Aluminum you are going to need some heat. Not sure you will find something with that kind of amperage in that price range.

[bigdaddyvtec]

Fuck I actually OWE the IRS money for the first time since Ive been actually making good money... Legally......

Tax preparer last year fucked up and the UI I was getting wasnt being deducted from like i thought it was. LOL... Owe 1500

[Passenger]

1/2" Aluminum you are going to need some heat. Not sure you will find something with that kind of amperage in that price range.

You need a minimum of 300 amps to effectively weld .5" aluminum without preheating. IF you have the service you might be able to find an old esab, miller aicrafter, or hobart cyberwave for $1500, most of the old esab had watercoolers built in. You will need a watercooler if you plan to weld over .25" aluminum. And those old transformer machines will pull over 100amps 3 phase.

[90turboteg]

ya well i doubt i will ever have to do anything that thick. i can use my syncowave 250dx at work for anything that thick alum... i mainly want to be able to do charge pipes/brackets and weld manifolds and downpipes. so 1/4 at most in my shop. ive been looking. there was a hardly used miller sw200dx on craiglist for 1500 with a argon tank and a bunch of extras like 3 months ago. too bad i didnt have the cash

[turbohf]

for 1500bucks you should buy my wagovan... 

[88dx]

for 15bucks you should buy my wagovan... 

Ill buy it

[90turboteg]

for 15bucks you should buy my wagovan... 

Ill buy it

as long as it comes with a welder, im still thinken about it, id like to sell my suby first...  :yes:

[Passenger]

Well I would say waiting for a another syncrowave 200 would be a good idea than, that extra 20 amps over the old 180's means something if you want to weld aluminum.

[nock]

im into this setup about $1000. i traded the welder for an old beat up mig-master with a bad drive motor (wish i never bought that thing) and $500 cash. all the other crap (bottle, regulator, cooler, h2o torch,) was about $500. and its 900lbs so there is no way anyone will ever steal it unless they bring a fork lift. and yes lights dim when i crank it. one time me and mer were welding up the oil cooler and a transformer blew out down the street, just a coincidence, i think

if you use a syncro at work, welding on one of these will be like kissing your sister.

[malichite]

Got danm, I forgot how hidious that beast was 

[nock]

its former life as a forklift charger has left it with a bitter disposition, dont stair or it will eat you, it was hard enough just to get a picture.

[rsmith2786]

http://houston.craigslist.org/tls/1569372374.html

[nock]

http://houston.craigslist.org/tls/1569372374.html

that one looks great, looks like a water cooled torch too. just make sure its not so old that it has selenium rectifiers, they look like this:

http://www.lphoying.com/images/selenium.jpg

that machine dosent look old enough for seleniums, but its good to check. when they go bad you cant get replacements, silicon rectifiers will never go bad unless the machine was abused some how. i think there was a guy on the hobart forums who replaced his bad selenium rectifiers with silicon rectifiers. any how, if there bad you cant get a "drop in" replacement.

even if it dose have selenium rectifiers, dont rule it out, it dosnt mean there bad, just make sure to test the machine before you hand over the money.

most hf problems with older machines are spark gap related and can fixed without to much trouble. i had to clean and reset the gap on mine before it would work at all. the guy i bought it from didnt even know that the machine had a hf gap! 

[90turboteg]

ya, im thinking of just saving up more to get somthing that i wont have to replace. id like a sw250dx but the 200 is half the price or less and will do pretty much anything i need to do. i have a 20x30 workshop right now, just starting to get shit in there, making benches and what not, its more of a place to work on my/friends cars. its only 200 a month so i cant complain has 220 and lots of lighting

[nock]

by the time you find "the perfect cheap machine" you may have saved up more then it would take to buy a new syncro, or an older 350 amp syncro anyway.

[90turboteg]

i meant i was going to save up for a new machine...