Why all the induction heaters from China?

I see lots of Chinese made induction heaters on eBay and I get ads in my email from China fairly often for induction heaters. They all look like the same product made in the same factory (no surprise) and come in various power levels. They are advertised as being able to melt metals and heat treat parts. Induction heaters are nothing new but all the ones I see are now inverter based solid state devices, so I guess that's fairly new compared to the first one I ever saw 44 years ago that was made from an AM radio transmitter. I know they have been making pretty cheap induction stove tops for a while now too. But why in the last couple of years am I seeing so many being sold by so many different sellers? What am I missing? How many people need to melt small quantities of metals? Or need to heat treat small tools? Eric

Reply to
etpm
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Well, they're finally cheap, which is why I bought one. Not too long ago, an induction heater for maintenence type work was still $500 or more.

It is interesting there doesn't seem to be any real "new" technology in the 1000W ebay ones that come with the coil of copper tube. The caps are designed for induction cooktop use, but don't seem to be too special past that.

It might be interesting to whip up a copy of the chinese one using decades old parts from the junk box.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

I don't know if it applies here, but a lot of Chinese industrial electronics are made from used or obsolete parts. It appears that they look for a cheap-components angle and then use their low labor costs to make an inexpensive product.

Some are good, and some are very bad.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

A good example of the bad. :)

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Reply to
whoyakidding

Here's another beauty. This Chinese TIG welder was bought some years ago, I think, but the innards will make your hair curl:

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Reply to
Ed Huntress

Wow. Two things they can't be criticized for in that thing: trying to save labor, and lowering the parts count. :)

Reply to
whoyakidding

There are a lot of factories in China that can knock off a product and bring it to production quickly when an item starts to sell. Some are better quality than others. I've found that the savings of buying direct from China comes at a price. I've found it costs a little more, but I benefit in most cases from buying products from an importer that specs details to the factory they work with and does actual quality control themselves. It costs a little more, but in these cases you are dealing with a middle man that is actually earning his cut. The problem is if its something new you have to spend some time on-line and on the phone to find out who is the good middle man to deal with.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

The ebay induction heater I got is made with current (name-brand chinese components you can still buy) parts that don't appear to be floor sweepings. The device is suprisingly simple too- too simple to even screw up. There's room for some improvements, but being made in china doesn't make these any worse than if they were made elsewhere.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

Go look on YouTube and you can watch those units blow up or burn....

But the answer is that there are a lot of folks getting into metal related hobbies. Induction heat is great for things like metal sculpture and small castings.

I have a Mini-Ductor that has served very well for heating things where I didn't want to use the torch.

Reply to
Steve W.

So you think that they are just like any other specialty tool that has finally gotten cheap enough for the casual tool buyer? Maybe so. I certainly have been thinking about making or buying an induction heater for some time. Eric

Reply to
etpm

Hey, John, send us a press release with that info above in it, and a photo, and we'll run it in Fab Shop. And I'll pass it over to Abbe at Welding Productivity for their consideration.

You can use the email address on our website:

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Just click on an issue and you'll see me on the masthead.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Better fix the links on the tnduction website before going live, or the moment will be lost.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joe Gwinn

Tell John.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

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