Looking at a first TIG welder

[LeeG]

I am in the market for a TIG welder. It will be strictly for suburban home shop use. I have primarily been a woodworker, but over the past few years, I have crept some into the metalworking world. All of my work is either for personal use, gifts, or items I donate for sale at charity auctions and fundraisers.

I currently have a Miller 211 MVP mig, a Hypertherm 45 Plasma cutter, a Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC stick welder, and a mid size set of oxy-acetylene bottles with a good assortment of tips. In addition to just learning a new skill, my goal is to be able to do more precise welds in mild steel and aluminum.

My only real requirements are High Frequency Start and AC/DC output. Pulse would be nice. I doubt I'll ever need to weld anything thicker than 1/4", but I do expect to work with 1/4" so I want a bit of capacity beyond that. I currently have my shop wired with a 50 amp circuit, so I don't need to restrict myself to a 110 unit.

I am looking to spend no more than $2000 on the entire package. I already have the argon bottle and all of my PPG, but will need a flow meter and foot pedal.

Looking forward to your input.
Lee

 

[johnny5c]

I have a ESAB 186i and it's a great little machine that meets all of your requirements. The other one I was considering was the Miller Diversion 180 but ended up going with the 186i because it was about $300 cheaper but has a higher output and pulse control.

 

[txvwnut]

AHP Alpha Tig meets all your requirements and with your budget you could buy a couple. These are great welders for an amazingly small price tag for what you get.

 

[Advan]

Lincoln Squarewave Tig 175. The stick welding capabilities would be lost on you, but they are good transformer machines that weld great and should last forever!

 

[great white tj]

I p/u a Lincoln Square wave tig 200 a few weeks back. I have a lot to learn with it ... but I will get there. I am using this welder the same as what you are looking for..

 

[KM223]

If you look hard enough and wheel and deal you could pick up a Miller Dynasty 200DX for the $2k your looking to spend. That's where I'd put my cash.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Does the Squarewave have high frequency start? When I was researching TIGs a bit back it seems like I don't remember finding out whether it had it.

 

[not-required]

The older square wave 175 transformer machines have high frequency start, I'm unsure about the new 200 inveter machines.

 

[theoldwizard1]

AHP Alpha Tig meets all your requirements and with your budget you could buy a couple. These are great welders for an amazingly small price tag for what you get.

Yep, Best bang for the buck !

 

[dr_clyde]

I just purchased a Lincoln Square Wave TIG 200 last week. I used it on a couple jobs and was impressed. You get a lot of welder for $1500. Fits all your criteria. Haven't had it long enough to speak to longevity, but so far I really like it.

If you can find a miller Dynasty 200DX for 2 grand, they are the best of the 200 class TIG welders IMO. I've had one now for maybe 6 years? I forget... Anyway, the Dynasty is my favorite TIG machine behind the Aerowave, good luck finding one of those now.

 

[atthebeach]

I've also been researching tig machines lately. The Lincoln Square Wave TIG 200 does have hf start per page A6 of the owners manual.

The AHP Alpha Tig machine looks like a terrific machine and has many happy users, however, there are also many unhappy owners online who needed repair service either in or out of warranty and found AHP pretty unresponsive.

 

[great white tj]

The only thing I did not like with this Square Wave 200 is not the welder... it's the manual that Lincoln gives you. There is not a lot of info at all on this unit.... Not one thing on the tig torch or how to do this or that. Now I am slow..... it can take me two hours to watch 60Min.... I sure could have used more info.. I could post some pict. of the welds.... but you can get the idea ... when I say they look like some welds one would have with there first stick...

 

[G-ManBart]

I have three different brands of welders right now...Miller, Hobart, and Everlast. I say that to cut off the folks who are invariably going to jump on the anti-import band wagon.

When I wanted to add a TIG machine I decided I wasn't going to spend $3-5K on something I use for a hobby.

My TIG is an Everlast PowerTig 210EXT and it's pretty impressive. It compares very favorably with a Miller Dynasty 210DX...both are better than the other in a couple of areas by a slight amount. I noticed that the Miller says it goes down to 1amp and the Everlast website says the 210EXT goes down to 5amps, but it actually goes down to 3amps on my machine.

I haven't used the Everlast as a stick welder...no need with a dedicated stick welder.

A coworker bought an Everlast after using high end Lincoln TIG machines at the tech shop he's a member of, and he says he likes the Everlast better.

I can't argue the support you'd get from Lincoln or Miller, but for the features I have, they simply couldn't compete on price.

 

[Stooge]

I've been more seriously looking at the Lincoln SW 200 especially after seeing Dr Clydes thread last week on it. Where a new tig machine is more of a Want than a Need, the price and suggested capabilities and what I'll be mostly using it for make for a really compelling sell.

I just need to warm up to the idea of adding a red box among my blue boxes, feels dirty where I work for another ITW (miller) company! I had been looking at the diversion 180, but its another $500'ish excluding rebates which is too much to ignore

 

[pi_guy]

If you look hard enough and wheel and deal you could pick up a Miller Dynasty 200DX for the $2k your looking to spend. That's where I'd put my cash.

I purchased a Dynasty about 7 years ago. It is excellent for everything I have done. It has been run off numerous generators with no equipment issues or work issues. It has many travel miles on it, things that sit in trucks and vibrate as you travel down the highway frequently just fall apart. Have had several HF examples.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Im wondering myself, I hardly ever push the limits of my Power Mig 256. So that leads me to wonder if a 200 class would be worth it over a 175. I personally feel the 175 would never even come close to running max amperage. Are all those who want a 200 machine running them in the upper reaches of the range?

Or do you want the added duty cycle? Which I can absolutely understand.

Just trying to get some insight into my own eventual purchase.

 

[dr_clyde]

I routinely max out my 200DX. Especially on aluminum. Fortunatley I have it on 3phase power and the duty cycle is good enought that I don't have issues with it hitting the thermal shutdown, I just need more oomph on the heavier aluminum. I am considering bumping up to a Dynasty 350 when the finances allow.

I used a lincoln square wave 175 transformer machine, and I could get maybe 5 minutes of weld out of it at max on DC before it hit the thermal shutoff for 10 minutes. Annoying as hell.