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Inexpensive Tig welders

H

historicalarms

Ultra Member
buddy of mine is entering the world of tig welding. He has 3 options that he is considering so far ...converting his existing wirefeed with some sort of high frequency upgrade or purchasing a new purpose built on-shore name brand outfit for $ 3200 or one of the Amazon off-shore outfits for under $500. this machine will get sporatic use at the most.
My question is to anyone that has used one of the Chinese offerings....do they work??
 
I have an Everlast 200DV that is about 5 years old and still going strong. I use a Miller Dynasty machine at work and other than the difference a water cooled torch makes and the noise of the fan in the welder (the Everlast is much louder) I don't notice much difference.

The Everlast distributor in Canada sells direct to consumer and they're located in Stoney Creek. They sit somewhere in between no-name junk and the big name red, blue or yellow machines. Support has been ok, I bought a swivel style torch a couple years after I bought the machine and it had issues. They claimed it wasn't the torch but gave me my money back. Never had an issue with the machine.

The 200DV is $1700 right now. AC/DC, 200amp, pulse, a/c frequency and balance control, industrial level duty cycle (60% at 200amps). They have a couple machines that are cheaper than it with less features.

Another option I looked into was an offshore welder sold/serviced through local welding suppliers. I found the comparable model was slightly more expensive with less features so I went with the everlast. I can't remember the brand but I looked at one at my local welding supply place. I think maybe Canaweld?
 
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I am surprised nobody has pointed out that a wire feed machine is constant voltage. Stick and TIG are constant current. A wire feed welder is so easy to use because if you change the arc length the resistance changes which affects the heat which affects the amount of wire melted. For example if you pull the gun back from the weld the resistance increases which lowers the current which reduces the heat so the wire pushes back closer to the weld. If you get too close the opposite happens and the wire burns back to equalize. Tig and Stick are much harder because it is up to the operator to manage the arc length and keep the heat correct. You can convert a stick welder to tig with an HF box but not a wire feed. Some of the combination machines are inverters and do it by using electronics to convert between CC and CV. There were some wire feed guns that would work on a stick machine by using electronics to measure the current and vary the wire speed to match but that is a different ball game.

FWIW, I have been happy with my Everlast. It doesn't get used much but I got it 12 years ago. Duncan was excellent at after sales support.

Brian
 
If your friend is just welding steel...I'll toss my opinion in on Princess Auto.
I have one of their Pro Point 3 in 1 machines. It's the 180 amp model. Other than really uncommon consumables for the Canadian market (Orings for the torch leads) this thing is a work horse.
I've used the TIG function lots with it. Welds are nice and consistent, so long as you can keep from dipping tungstens lol
It's an inverter based machine.
 
I'm a little OCD when buying things and do my research which is why I went for the Primeweld, even prior to there being a Canadian seller. Bang for buck can be beat. I've already done Aluminium, Stainless and of course steel. No issues.

No I'm not a welder, or even trained in welding, all by trial and error. Have to say with this machine it was easy to pick up, Mig was harder.

There are a few extremely good YouTube videos that gave very simple approach to setups (despite all the available adjustments), comes down to a few simple settings, ac or dc for material, amperage for thickness, gas flow and left hand, right hand, foot coordination.

Finally I use only 2% lanthinated Tungsten, very good at everything, bad at nothing (there are better specific rods but...) so it is one less variable.

My 2 cents.
 
historicalarms said:
buddy of mine is entering the world of tig welding. He has 3 options that he is considering so far ...converting his existing wirefeed with some sort of high frequency upgrade or purchasing a new purpose built on-shore name brand outfit for $ 3200 or one of the Amazon off-shore outfits for under $500. this machine will get sporatic use at the most.
My question is to anyone that has used one of the Chinese offerings....do they work??
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I am not a professional welder, but I do a lot of welding. My advice is to stay away from Chinese welders and even most Chinese products. I use old Kenby welders, Miller welders, but I won't touch Chinese brand welders.

Not that they can't be used, if -- I mean if you just weld two pieces of metal together without any other requirements, and there's a possibility of using it a few times and then not using it, I think you can buy it and use it. But if you want to have the gradual improvement of technology, the gradual improvement of welding quality, welding comfort, welding machine durability and other aspects of consideration, please stay away from Chinese products, because I live in this country! Because no one is making the product ------------------
 
@a smile funny advice as most welders now are made in China, including the top of the line brand names. The real question becomes the control of the source (ie quality control prior to leaving the factory), done correctly, product matches what is made here, incorrectly, well.... you get what you paid for. Same applies for product made here.
 
Degen said:
@a smile funny advice as most welders now are made in China, including the top of the line brand names. The real question becomes the control of the source (ie quality control prior to leaving the factory), done correctly, product matches what is made here, incorrectly, well.... you get what you paid for. Same applies for product made here.
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The trick is to find a quality brand. If buying from Alibaba I order from vendors that have sell only products that related. I stay away from the ones that sell tooling and blowup dolls.:)
 
phaxtris said:
@bhowden, there are so many 3 in 1's out there now it's hard to make the assumption they have a CV only machine

@historicalarms does your buddy want to weld aluminum
....
That's the big price jump for a tig machine
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I don't know of any 3-in-1's that would need other stuff added to them to make them work in another format, ie: you cannot buy (as far as I have seen) a stripped down single use machine with the ability to add to it later to add the other functionality. They would not actually be 3-in1, otherwise, no? I think he has a fair point.
That sort of only works if you go high enough up the food chain in a name brand machine, and add in the TIG and Wirefeed additions to a CC/CV capable power source, which is NOT the budget option. In my case I have a Miller Bobcat 225D, a Miller HF TIG Box, and a Lincoln LN-25 wire feeder for.

Agree re: Aluminum. AC and continuous High Freq add a LOT to the basic build cost of a machine!

I'd suggest that depending on the local market, it may be well worth buying used, name brand equipment, if it can be got for near to the price of new import. One of my 'other' welders is an AC/DC Miller 250HF, it's a big heavy pig to move (so it lives in the shop, and doesn't), and really needs a bigger than the 50Amp circuit I use it on to max it out, but I got it, leads, some TIG torches and consumables, all for about half the cost of a lunch box sized Princess Auto welder goes for. It's most complicated electronics are in a board that controls the timer for the HF TIG Start, but the component values for the discreet components on that board, are listed in the parts manual.

Aside from the weight and bulk, the main downside, that the new machines can give you, is that the used machines seldom have any multi-voltage capability.

If not in the grips of fear of the risks of no warranty, used may be an option!

(coming back some hours later to edit in:) : )worth noting, that if the bells and whistles are wanted (Pulse, variable frequency, and a bunch of others, you pretty much cannot afford those on a relatively new, or even not abused, used name brand machine, while you CAN get those for fraction of the cost, on a new one. IIRC, the Lowest end of the Miller Dynasty machines, is north of ten grand out the door.

Suffering, as I do, from two very strongly felt issues, used suits me pretty well. Those issues are that I am one cheap SOB, and that I tend to feel very nervous, around electronics devices that I am unable to dig in to and blunder my way through, as far as troubleshooting and the like. So this too flavors MY opinions! :)
 
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Degen said:
@a smile funny advice as most welders now are made in China, including the top of the line brand names. The real question becomes the control of the source (ie quality control prior to leaving the factory), done correctly, product matches what is made here, incorrectly, well.... you get what you paid for. Same applies for product made here.
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An awful lot of the smaller welders sold by the Brand Name outfits, come from Italy, where they have a surprisingly active domestic made welding machinery supply.
 
+1 to post #13 and #18m by @trevj

I bought by Millermatic 250 from Air Liquide, in from lease, for 800$. I got my Miller EconoTig for the same price, with 300$+ consumables and a bottle. Like "This Old Tony" I could use the space, but I know these 2 will be welding long after I'm forgotten. Reliability over convenience.

HOWEVER @johnnielsen taught me something unexpected in this regard. He bought a Lincoln (I think it was a 225) inverter MIG unit. and it welds.... sweet... It is a tiny suitcase welder that handles .035 wire, but its sweet spot is .023. Once we set it up, it was doing very well on welds up to 1/4", no prob. (1/4" needs multiple passes, but the welds were some of the best I've done).

I'm far from a paid-for welder, and only weld 2-3 times a year. These newer welders make it easy lo look like you know what you are doing.
 
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