Aluminum TIG Welders

[MoonRise]

Yeah, I know this was an old thread that came back.

Forum says Bill was last seen on GJ over a year ago.

 

[jabshire]

A lot of very good discussion here.

Keep it coming!

Bill

Bill,

One good place to look is on bidspotter.com, You can find some deals on this site if you have some time to spend searching and looking for auctions within your driving range. Example, I bought my Clausing lathe for 2500.00 with a small amount of Tooling, I picked up an older Miller syncrowave 350 with the Pedal for under 500.00. I believe I have won around 45 auctions on there over the last 5 years and not really had any negative experiences. That being said used always comes with some Risk. Hope this finds you having a blessed Day.


Jeremy

 

[quartermeter]

Just for comparison to a similar machine, this is the tag off my Syncrowave.



You can see the input power required to use full output on 230v is 130 amps.

I have it on 480v which helps a ton with amperage, but transformer machines take big power to use, especially on high amp AC tig output or a higher arc voltage process like large diameter stick welding.

In my old shop I only had 208v power, and I put a clamp meter on this machine running about 280 weld amps, and the machine was pulling between 110 and 120 amps. I put it on a 100 amp breaker because my shop only had a 150 amp main and I didn’t want to trip that if I could help it.

that’s a much larger 350 amp welder. too big for most home shops. But more is always better. the spec on the 225 Lincoln Precision Tig says at max it draws 50A on AC and 36A on DC.

 

[dr_clyde]

that’s a much larger 350 amp welder. too big for most home shops. But more is always better. the spec on the 225 Lincoln Precision Tig says at max it draws 50A on AC and 36A on DC.

The OP’s machine was a 350 class machine.

 

[Jswain]

that’s a much larger 350 amp welder. too big for most home shops. But more is always better. the spec on the 225 Lincoln Precision Tig says at max it draws 50A on AC and 36A on DC.

Wrong.

It says 42a at rated output, and it's rated output is 90amps @ 100% duty cycle.

So when you're welding at 90amps it will draw 42amps from the circuit. When you're welding at 200amps AC it is ~100amps from the circuit, I have one and tested with an amp clamp.

Still works ok on a 50amp breaker, because of duty cycle and breakers being able to withstand 2x the current for x amount of time prior to tripping, but a 70amp breaker would allow you to leave it cranked without worrying about tripping.

 

[speed bump]

I haven't paid much attention to transformer machines for a while but that Syncrowave 350 power plate really reinforces why you buy inverters. An XMT 350 or (more relevant to the conversation) dynasty are only 16a power draw on 460v.

 

[finn]

I haven't paid much attention to transformer machines for a while but that Syncrowave 350 power plate really reinforces why you buy inverters. An XMT 350 or (more relevant to the conversation) dynasty are only 16a power draw on 460v.

It also explains why a lot of production, or formerly production weld shops have several of those old transformer machines piled up along the fence behind the building.

They must cost a fortune to run in a production environment.