Ready to buy Miller Syncrowave 180 SD

I got a complete Lincoln Square Wave TIG 300 (which can go up to 400 A), with a new regulator/flowmeter, all the hoses and cables, 350 A water cooled torch and a Miller cooler for $1299 plus shipping. If you are thinking of welding thicker aluminum pieces, you might look for a higher current machine. 180 A is a bit marginal, but would do fine for sheet aluminum and fairly thin wall tube.

The 60 A breaker should be fine for the 180, I think.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson
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I'm just about to take the plunge to buy a Miller Syncrowave 180 SD TIG Welder. This particular welder appeals to me as I'd like to be able to weld just about any kind of metal, and I'm not concerned about speed as it would be only for hobby type work. Am I on the right track? Also, the best price I can find is about $1460 dollars on Ebay, that's doable but almost out of my reach. Is that really the best price or can I do better? Seems too that for about $100 you can get a TigRunner kit, but that really only seems to be a cart for it. I figure my first project should be a cart. So, I'm thinking I'll build my own. Last question, I have 200 AMP main service in my home. Am planning to install a 60 AMP 220V breaker to my garage, will this do the trick?

Thanks in advance, I'm sure that these are all "run of the mill" questions that have been answered before!

Reply to
Tom

That is a fair price and it is a good machine. The 60 amp breaker should be fine.

If you plan on doing a lot of aluminum you should consider adding a water cooled torch later.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Ernie, you made remember something the other day. My wife tried tig welding the other day (and did a pretty good job) but she was wearing a pair of sheepskin gloves and quietly asked "is your hand supposed to get hot?" as she held her 3" long piece of filler rod. I had to laugh. Good point getting the water cooled torch... it's on my list.

walt

Reply to
wallster

This brings up another question. On American Chopper/Hotrod, the guys are almost always tig welding barehanded. Is this a common practice? How about the long term UV exposure and the short term high frequency "tickle".

Reply to
Jim Stewart

perfectly safe... just like closing your eyes when tacking with the mig. they should have a warning disclaimer for all the viewers "not to do all the stupid things you're about to see."

walt

Reply to
wallster

CK Worldwide and Lincoln both sell adapters for puting water cooled torches on the smaller transformer TIGs

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

snip

That is because they are macho studs who are obviously super-humanly impervious to the affects of UV.

I am sure they will enjoy their melanomas in their later years.

TIG is the least hazardous arc welding method with very little UV emitted. There is still enough to give you a nasty sunburn.

You don't need a heavy leather jacket, just a long sleeved shirt to block the light.

Every time you get a sunburn you increase your risk of skin cancer. Arc welding emits much more hazardous wavelengths of UV than you get from sunlight.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Man, Ernie, you aren't kidding! Before I got my welding jacket, I got a nasty sunburn through TWO layers of clothes! I couldn't believe it! I've never had that happen when stick welding. Uncovered skin could get a burn, but not THROUGH the clothes. With the TIG, it actually seemed that the skin behind the 2 layers of clothes got a much more severe burn than that behind one layer. This may have been due to the part covered by two layers never seeing the sun, while the part not covered by my regular shirt gets sun when I'm outside, and was less sensitive. I was kind of freaked out by this burn, which went from armpit to armpit, and collarbone to navel.

I don't believe this, and wear a stifling welding jacket and cover anything else with heavy overalls or something similar. I don't want to repeat that sunburn! At least, you need a heavy cloth material, not just a lightweight permanent press summer shirt type material. My welding jacket is not leather (good to prevent thermal burns) but has a bunch of layers of different fabrics in in, maybe 4 or 5 layers total.

No kidding. There isn't much Ozone layer in the 18" from arc to skin!

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

When I was in college, I had a part time job that had TIG welders around. I would spend my supper break learning to TIG. One night I was wearing a particularly threadbare shirt, and when I took it off, I had a white stripe down the middle of my chest where the button reinforement was, and darker sunburn everywhere else. You CAN get burned through clothes, no matter what the OCC guys do.

-- Gary Brady Austin, TX

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Reply to
Gary Brady

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