Hoping to get some specialized advice here.

I'm looking at upgrading my welding capabilities. For background, I trained as a welder nearly 40 years ago. I haven't welded much since; I can, but rarely do. I have no qualms about relearning, I actually do well when I want to now.

Presently, I have 3 machines: a 110 mig, a Dialarc250 with hf and stick and tig, and a Forney ac farmer type welder; although a better one than most. I also have oxy-acetylene and a victor standard size torch, a harris jewelers size torch, and a smith little torch. I'm somewhat of an expert at OA, I did it extensively professionally for 7 years. However, it has its limitations and I'd like to move up into the 21st century with TIG capabilities.

I'd like to get back into capability to do gunsmithing welding; I have a fair backlog of stuff that I'd like to weld. I'm finishing a new shop so that's the timing element to thinking about this now.

The Dialarc has rudimentary controls, and about 30 amp minimum. Too much by far for good precision work. The lack of foot control, pulse, and other controls doesn't help it. It's a great machine for welding 1/4" thick steel, not so much for repairing a worn extractor.

I'm looking to get a new TIG machine. As I've looked at new technology, it appears that going inverter and pulse is the way to go. Hf to avoid scratch start. Pulse to dial back the heat a bit for small stuff. Pulse modulation to be able to control the heat characteristics, and to be able to agitate the weld puddle on carbon steel to remove carbon precipitation. High frequency pulse to control arc stability. Foot control to control weld heat and help with carbon removal and puddle control. Lots of things that really didn't exist 40 years ago.

I'm willing to spend a fair amount of money, but don't want to get into a ridiculous amount for a machine. One that looks good is a Lincoln Square Wave 200. It has hf, pulse modulation, pulse from .1 to 20 per second, foot control. Limitations are the 20 cps pulse (in the 100 to 500 range would be great), 10A minimum (2 or 3 would be great). It's really a heavier machine than I need, but has some nice control features.

Any recommendations on other machines that might be more suitable, or things I'm not considering? Typical work would be welding bolt handles, tangs on single shots, building up extractors on single shots, Building up worn pins and parts, trigger guards and floor plate mods, etc.

Look at the Lincoln and Miller offerings and pick the one that meets your needs. Both companies build good machines. Pulse range on the Lincoln is more than adequate, you probably never pulse to either extreme. Minimum amperage set to 10 with a foot pedal will be from 0 to 10. Hope this helps.

Dave

I purchased a Miller Diversion 180 just before Christmas. I mostly bought it at the whim of my accountant who reminded me that my taxation year end is the end of December and Miller has a $700 rebate on that model for 2017. I had an old Miller Econo-Twin but I don't have the power requirements to run it here. I havn't got the new machine yet and the excuse from Miller is that they ran out of controller boards to make them and can't ship until the 24th of January. They say they will still honor the rebate because I paid for it December 29th of 2017. The duty cycle on those little inverter buzz boxes is pretty short but it's more than adequate for anything I will do in my shop. It will also run fine on standard 15 Amp 110 or 220 - 30 Amp and my shop is wired for both. I will be nice to have a TIG again.

quote:

Originally posted by ssdave:
Hoping to get some specialized advice here.

I'm looking at upgrading my welding capabilities. For background, I trained as a welder nearly 40 years ago. I haven't welded much since; I can, but rarely do. I have no qualms about relearning, I actually do well when I want to now.



One that looks good is a Lincoln Square Wave 200. It has hf, pulse modulation, pulse from .1 to 20 per second, foot control. Limitations are the 20 cps pulse (in the 100 to 500 range would be great), 10A minimum (2 or 3 would be great). It's really a heavier machine than I need, but has some nice control features.

I bought the Lincoln Precision TIG 225 a couple years ago. It will do anything I will ever need. Did have to drag in a #6-3 50A circuit to up grade the 30A in the garage. I went with the thumb control, just cant get my brain, hand & foot on the same page

I am thinking about getting a everlast invertor welder.

I was looking seriously at both Lincoln and Millers mid '16. Couldn't get my finance's together and let it drop. Had decided on the Miller combo rig for around $3500 until something as costly and more important waylaid my plans.

In college welding class one of the instructors had worked with Dad for several years, apprenticeship mate too. He had to dig me now and then. "IF you ever get half as good as your old man with a torch, you'll be damned good!"

He tried quite a few times to get me trained with tig well enough to weld an inch strip bent into an L on the bottom of an aluminum pie pan. He could weld both sides perfectly. I couldn't get the arc started hardly without blowing holes in things.

I welded for around ten years for a living, but, almost never used tig again. Once on titanium but, it was much heavier. Hundred miles or more mig though. Three full sets of growsers on dozers with stick. Always wanted to do a set with a big mig.

Whole different deal than gun work.

Be interested in what you buy and how it turns out. I'm still wanting.

George

I have a Lincoln Precision 225 as well. It will do anything I will ever need I like the foot control

I use a thermal dynamics thermal arc tsw185. It has worked real well for me it's a true square wave with high frequency or touch start I used to do a lot of welding with it when I was the production manager at c sharps I did 99% of the welding there, everything from welding the tangs on the 1875's to building up a rim fire firing pin for an 1885. I've welded aluminum, bronze, and steel.

I have one of the Miller Multimatics; tig, stick, mig and spool gun. The tig is a lift arc and if I was to buy another tig it would not be a lift arc.

God Bless, Louis

I've got a Miller Dialarc HF weighs #500. It's got a foot pedal & chiller and works well for AC or DC tig. It's not very portable.

A few years back I bought an Everlast power I tig 200 amp DC only. It's an inverter tig/stick weighing around #40. There are several analog controls for controlling the arc. It's my go to for tig welding steel. If I were to start over with a larger budget, I'd probably buy a Miller or Lincoln inverter with both AC and DC from a local distributor. Probably try before buying at a welding supply store open house or local C-College.

Nothing wrong with the big heavy transformer machines. They just use more power, take up more space and can't adjust the arc as many different ways as the inverters can.

I didn't use the tig torch that came with my everlast. bought a new USA made adjustable angle head with a super flexible lead that makes welding less of a chore positioning the torch where I want it.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

All the replies I have got back (both here and on another board) have been from guys with equipment similar to my existing, or hobbyist tig setups.

The specific things I'm looking at, as an upgrade to my Dialarc, are wide range of pulse and very low amperage capability.

I know the Squarwave would be an upgrade. A diversion would also. However, both are limited in their pulse capability, and pulse with a wide range of control seems like a very real tool to give more precise heat placement, and more adjustment of heat control. Pulse is new enough that it's not well known; the primary uses for it have been to narrow weld zone heat and increase speed in commercial fabrication. However, the new inverter computer controlled technologies have really opened up possibilities for using it for more precise heat control in small work.

There just isn't enough good information out there to let me make a decision I feel good about, and most of the machines with more pulse control and lower amperage are in a much lower class of reliability and cost than the red and blue I'd prefer.

I'm in the situation where I'll probably buy a red or blue, with known reliability, great warranty ands service, and potentially less features and higher cost, rather than take a chance on a more cutting edge machine, that could easily be out of commission and impossible to find parts for 18 months from now.

Kind of like buying a .45-70 original winchester High wall, known reliability and easy to work on, in preference to a Browning BPCR 1885 with it's maze of hard to work on internal parts. Some advantages to the new Browning, at the expense of longevity and reliability. (by the way, I own both original high walls and an 1885). I may get to the same place buying a Lincoln or miller, plus some unknown import with great features.

I am not out in the shop so I cannot check, but I am reasonably certian my Lincoln is a 225.

I don't know about where you are, but used welders are readily available around me. Especially if you opt for a diesel powered one.

I bought mine used, went over the the guys shop, ran a few beads with it on thin wall tubing, looked it over, paid $1000 cash.

Personally I could not function without a foot pedal...

As far as having controls. I have run a plethora of welders, including some space ship Lincolns. I am not a professional welder, but have done some specialized welding. I have worked with some really REALLY good welders. Very FEW of them NEED the controls. I have found with this little Lincoln, I can weld just about anything except THICK material. I have not had any issues with small tiny delicate work.

Dave you should check out weldingtipsandtricks.com lots of good info on there.

Thanks, Nick,

Tried reading and searching some of the welding sites. The problem with most of the info there is they are all trying to figure out how to tig heavier and more conductive aluminum parts with smaller welders. The recommendation I see over and over is buy the biggest, high capacity machine you can afford. I already have the solution to that problem with my Dialarc. I'm having a hard time getting good information on what machine and features to get for small, precision parts, and very low heat input applications.

Some of the new technologies seem very promising, but not a lot of information out there; and the big two (red and blue) don't have much of those features on their machines. Makes me suspicious, but at the same time I don't want to pass up useful new technology advances.

Power source considerations for the hobbyist-

AC w/continuous Hi Freq-alum/magnesium.
300amp to 1/8" material
600amp to 1/4" material
pure/green tungsten

CC-DCSP w/START Hi Freq-steel/stainless/inconel/monel etc.

Pulse will INDUCE 2X the heat for the inexperienced.Useful for rhythm doing fillets.

CC-DCRP choose tungsten wisely!

CV-DCSP/DCRP contactor/controls for MIG welding

Inverter or transformer power source
Air cooled or water cooled torches
Duty Cycle
Input power

Dans40XC when would one use DCRP? I have always used it to ball the end of the tungsten but wonder what other application it was used for.

Dan,

Thanks for the info. If I had you available to me close, I'd not need to be looking at this stuff at all. Unfortunately, I've got some things that need welded that do not lend themselves to mailing out; making the jigs to align them for welding by someone else is so time intensive as to not be worthwhile; I can easily align them in my own shop in minutes, and then do the welding.

I decided to buy a Lincoln square wave 200 today; I got a decent deal on an excellent condition used one where I traded off an old Forney stick welder, a small Oxy-Acetylene set and $700 cash for it, along with a 125 cf argon bottle. I didn't have a bottle for my Miller since I moved, so that was a plus to get it with the setup. Won't be able to try it out immediately, as still completing a new shop and can't pour the floor in it and finish it until the temps warm up a bit, probably late March.

J_Zola,
DCRP works well to BALL pure tungsten prior to TIG welding aluminum or magnesium.
Another application where DCRP shines is TIG welding copper/brass etc.

ssdave,
Concrete will cure if covered & insulated w/ a little indirect heat.
Lincoln 200amp AC/DC Hi Freq machine?
Your 125CF tank is a lease w/hydro to exchange or ship out to fill?