Damn that dynasty is nice, specs say it can light off at 1amp, but also some $$$$. For a hobbyist like me it would be really hard to justify spending that much. The synchrowave seemed to be pushing the upper limit of what i would want to spend.

 

Yeah just a weebit more than Im looking to spend

And yeah single phase power in my garage as I'd imagine is most residential properties. Ive got 100amp panel out there and a 50amp welding circuit FWIW.

My thought is that since Im just a hobbyist is that I should hopefully be able to get away with an air cooled unit. Duty cycle wont really matter in my case bc being that I wouldnt be operating a business who cares if I need to wait 10 mintues for the torch to cool down.

The challenge is that I'd like to find something of quality with cool features such as high frequency start pulse pre and post flow adjustment etc. I really havent done much research on new machines as my Powermig was a fairly recent purchase as well and Im still getting my feet wet with MIG. I've dabbled over the years with my Tombstone ARC welder but thats not really useful when it comes to car stuff.

Some day I will buy a TIG but for now sorta is what it is. Im attempting to curtail my spending granted thats a never ending battle.

 

Ive been considering this for small projects

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us...incolnElectric).

Certainly not a big production machine but seems quite capable and has good reviews so far. Plus having the option of 110v if my 220 is being used by the CNC or if I need to take it somewhere.

 

Your link didnt go anywhere specific...which unit are you referring to?

 

Stupid link, gotta take out the "(lincolnelectric)"..

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us...roduct=K5126-1

 

Ok I assumed that's the machine you were referring to. Its only been out for a couple years now but from what I've seen the review are positive. I've got its brother in MIG form and not that Im a welder so I don't exactly know what Im doing with it, Ive been able to run some really nice beads. Its pretty user friendly in that regard so I'd imagine being that the interface is similar the same would apply to their TIG.

The only thing that Im not seeing is in regards to starting. Is it a scratch start or lift arc unit? It doesnt appear to be high frequency start which seems to be the hot ticket and would make it much more user friendly especially starting off. Not that its a deal breaker but that is something that I'd really like to have as I think it makes it that much easier less chance galling up the tungsten sticking it to your work etc.

 

i was looking into that lincoln too, only real downside is it seems to have a pretty high amp start, which makes welding very thin material pretty difficult.

 

I would say all inverter machines have HF start... even the cheap chinese ones..

looks like a nice machine..

 

Maybe I am using the wrong terminology here? I thought HF start allows you to essentially depress the foot pedal while holding the torch close and it starts the arc without actually touching the work piece vs scratch stand and/or lift arc where you need to touch to complete the circuit as if you were stick welding.

Now maybe its difference being that my machine is a multiprocess welder however its in essence a MIG machine but nonetheless its an inverter machine. However if you want to TIG with it, there isnt HF start but rather you do scratch start or lift arc depending on which setting you have the machine on.

 

Yes, does have a high frequency start. Looks like it starts with 25amp for a couple millisec then drop to set point. At least that's what I gathered from watching some videos. Doesn't seem to have any problem with burning through thin stuff on start.

I definitely don't want any scratch start stuff.

 

I have that welder. Works decent for what I have done with it. Features/settings are limited (not a Dynasty).

Frequency range is useful on the low end but doesn't go high enough to really take advantage of the high frequency tig welding (150Hz max).

Argon purge setting is not adjustable so every push of the pedal is 10 seconds of gas or so after lift-off.

It is a simple machine that works pretty well.

Unfortunately I haven't put a lot of hours on it since I got it a few months before I moved and had to replace the engine in the car. I just recently got it unpacked and bought a proper welding table with fixtures (Buildpro).

I will be building a lathe bench and the rest of the benches for my shop in the coming year so I will probably start putting quite a few hours on it.

 

Nice, thanks for the review. Sounds just about perfect for occasional garage use. The issues you have probably aren't of any consequence to garage projects.

 

OK sweet deal then. They tend to have MIR all the time whether you end up buying blue or red so keep your eyes peeled for a deal and then scoop one up! If you end up getting that squarewave TIG please keep us posted with your feedback on it!

When I was in the market for a MIG I was pretty much set on buying a MM211 as it seemed perfect for me. I was about to buy a brand new one as Miller had a $200 MIR at the time but I was also keeping my eyes open on Craigslist. One day I noticed the Powermig popped up and just about brand new but came with an 80cuft bottle cart extension cord some consumables etc for a great price so I went out ran a couple beads with it paid the man and went on my merry way.

 

What does this even mean?

Regarding the post flow being 10 seconds regardless. I can see that being wasteful for certain scenarios and when Im welding Ti I might need longer than 10 seconds of post flow. But I guess its a compromise no matter how you look at it so once again as a hobbyist I'll maybe go through a bottle a year so I guess its not the end of the world.

It seems welders are pretty religious when it comes to their choice. I was told stay away from anything that isnt blue or red but at the same time the everlast or thermal arc both seem to get really good praise for economical TIG machines so it might be worht looking into as well.

 

Here's what I have handy. I can take comparison picks of the cores themselves this weekend.

Stock:



Blitz:



Obviously the Blitz is quite a bit bigger in comparison...