Bucks/Bangs

It looks like I may be in the market for a TIG machine in the near future . Main materials I'll be welding will be SS up to maybe 1/4" and aluminum up to probably about the same . According to Ernie's Formula I'm thinking I'll need 250-300 amps , I'd like to have pulse and of course HF start . Presets for pre/post flow , and so on . I'd like to stay under $3k if I can , since this is probably going to have to come out of my IRA ... but then if things go well I expect the machine to pay for itself in under 6 months . Everybody I talk to about welding asks the same question "You do aluminum?" . A small shop near my "new" place is farming some work out to me , and I'm pretty sure he's going to want me to take over some of his SS and Al work . So , who's got the most features at the lowest cost , factoring in reliability , etc ? I mean let's face it , a bargain is no bargain if it doesn't do the job or it's broke and awaiting parts all the time ...

Reply to
Snag
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My vote would be a Synchrowave 250. If you can find a used one, you should be able to get the machine, torch, regulator, foot pedal and maybe a bottle or a torch cooler in the 3K area. They are good solid machines and have all the features you mention.

BobH

Reply to
BobH

Consider a good used machine. Lots and lots of them out there for under $1800. Inverters are all the rage..but when they start blowing Stuff inside...they are largely a write off.

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Remember..you are going to have to add a chiller, torches, leads, lead covers, consumables, and flow meter, to many machines..new or used. And dont think you can use air cooled torches...not for that kind of amperage.

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Good price

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Research if this one is the one that blows up often....

Nice deal on this one

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Another good deal...if it works

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I think Id be browsing Craigslist in a 200 mile radius. One can find some good deals there and you can go weld with it and check it out.

Unless you need a portable machine....the big old transformer machines work prettty nice.

Gunner with (2) Airco Squarewave 300s (400 amps mag) and an Airco Squarewave 250 (which is for sale btw..and is ready to rock and roll)

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Snag, just my opinion, worth $0.00. But to me, I would get nervous if my friend told me that he concocted a plan to

1) Raid his retirement money 2) To buy a brand new machine 3) To get into a business he has not done before 4) Which often has considerable liabilities and difficulties involved 5) In a field that is quite competitive already and stuffed with people with tremendous experience and all machines paid off.

I am not saying that it cannot be a successful plan, it could be, but you need to be aware of the risks involved.

Also, it is a kind of business that needs further investments, to buy metal stock, welding doodads, do repairs, get storage done properly, then you need material handling etc. And if you need to raid your pension money to start with the first purchase, then it may go downhill from there. A lot of businesses suffocate due to cash problems.

Which again, all this is solvable, but not a good place to be excessively optimistic.

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Reply to
Ignoramus14767

Oh I'll not raid my retirement for anything less than a sure thing . This guy has an established business with an exclusive contract with the retailer . He supplies the material , all I supply is the labor . This is a niche market for his products , and he's doing very well . It may very well be that I'll make enough to purchase a machine without raiding my retirement ... and that is my objective . The point here is that the capabilities added to my repertoire can only enhance the potential profits for this venture . I have other irons in this fire too , the handyman side of my business is getting some exposure in the area - one little old lady that likes your work and prices can catapult you into more work than you can handle . And Ms. Debra LOVES her new clothesline ...

Reply to
Snag

If you dont mind paying freight (900 lbs) from California..or coming and getting it...I think I can get you a Syncrowave 300, ready to rock and roll for $2500 or less.

I sold it to a company that just weeks later.... bought out another company and moved their operation to their facility..and had 5 welders of their own. So its still sitting in storage and has been for about a year.

If you are interested...I think I can get it for you and probably less than $2500. I think I sold it to them for $2k along with a 300 amp Miller mig for $1800.

I put a new 250 amp tig torch on it before delivering it and I dont think its ever been used. It sits high..as the coolant tank "Tig Runner" is underneith it..a Miller high dollar tank and pump. And it has dials not digital readouts (which failed regularly) so its a very good machine. Gonna require a minumum 100 amp breaker at 230 volts . It also runs on 440 of course.

Located in Cerritos, California, not far from the 10 freeway which goes east out of California.

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If you want to make em an offer on your own...shrug

Stewart Dunham General Manager/ Sales (562) 403-3559 snipped-for-privacy@sinclairwp.com

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Second vote for a used Syncrowave 250. Top notch machine, has everything but the pulser built in, and if you really need it you can add it. Used is fine as they are very solid and reliable, Iggy gets them for $50 or so, the rest of us can probably find under $1k. I got mine new many years ago (18?).

Reply to
Pete C.

For reference, 250 is the 40% duty cycle rating and name, but the Syncrowave 250 goes up to 310A.

Reply to
Pete C.

I will add my vote for a Syncrowave 250DX. I have had mine for 10 years and I had the analog Syncrowave 250 before that. The digital "DX" version adds the option for the pulser and sequencer.

Great machines.

Another machine that shows up sometimes is a Lincoln Squarewave 255. It was an early digital machine from Lincoln that didn't sell very well because it had no dials or knobs. All buttons and LCD readouts. Kind of scared welders at the time, but was a good solid machine.

I know Gunner is trying to find a home for that Syncrowave 300, but they are pretty old now and if a board goes it gets pretty costly to repair. If it has a pulser, it can be a real problem because the pulsers on the 300's can die and take out the whole main board. We had 3 of them at South Seattle Comm Coll when I was teaching there.

If you get the "Power Factor Correction Capacitors" option on the Syncrowave 250DX you can drop your power feed from 90 amps of 220 V Single phase down to 60 amps.

If you dig around you might be able to find a used Dynasty 300DX. They don't show up often, but are phenomenal inverter machines.

They were replaced by the newer Dynasty 350DX.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

I have zero experience with TIG, but think about this. I am an amateur with a plane old Miller 212 MIG and I can do fair work with on aluminum from .08 to .19, passable to .250, and crappy, but sticks at .375. My best welds are with .125 to .190. A buddy of mine does a lot of the same type stuff, and he uses a Miller Pulse Mig and the welds I can do fair on my machine look as good as or better than robot welds with his machine when I have borrowed it.

I am not down talking TIG in any way having absolutely no experience with it, but MIG is just so darned fast. MIG welding aluminum isn't even that hard. Its all about setup, cleaning and planning. If you do those right the weld just falls in place. Then you can weld really really fast. With my regular MIG on thinner stuff I have to stitch and fill, but with my buddy's pulsar you can make some amazingly long welds by just putting a heavy backer against the sheet, and burning until you run out of wire. His welder is not under $3k though. It was right at $4k a few years ago when he bought it.

Caveat: I have only welded 5052 and 6061 so far. Most of what I learned to do it came from this group.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

The lowest I got one was 150 per, if I recall correctly, and that was late 2008

Reply to
Ignoramus4976

Opinions on the synchrowave 200 ? A bit less amps than the 300 or 350 , but it's available new within the price range I have set . I'm not sure I want to buy a used machine as I don't know enough about TIG and the machines that do it to be sure I can spot any expensive problems ...and from what I'm learning there can be a lot of very expensive repairs needed on the newer inverter machines .

Reply to
Snag

I'm not sure anyone has ever had a problem with a Syncrowave 250, it's a great 310A machine and I wouldn't discount the couple $k savings vs. new. The Syncrowave 250DX is a relatively new machine so I wouldn't expect issues there either and that one gets you your pulser and sequencer included. Whatever you get you are going to want a water cooled torch and a coolant unit.

Reply to
Pete C.

I can sell here a Miller Dialarc HF, with a water cooled torch, water cooler, ground electrode, regulator, and possibly gas line if I have one, for $1000. 220v 1 phase. I also have a Lincoln AC/DC TIG Welder symilar to Syncrowave 250.

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Reply to
Ignoramus16904

Differences between that machine and the synchrowave ? A price like that might make it worth my time to drive to Chicago ... depending on shipping cost etc .

Reply to
Snag

I do not remember well, I do not think that there is a lot of difference. Both are AC/DC, single phase, same amps, high frequency.

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Reply to
Ignoramus16904

Any idea on shipping cost to north central Arkansas ? Zip is 72560 . I'm pretty sure I can find a place with a forklift to unload it .

Reply to
Snag

Shipping $180 to a business with forklift.

Dialarc HF with cooler is $1000, as I said, and Idealarc is $1,200.

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Reply to
Ignoramus8704

I had a Dialarc 250HF before I got the Synchrowave. The Dialarc 250HF is a simpler machine than the Synchrowave. It's a decent machine, it does AC/DC with HF. It supports a foot pedal for current control. It has no "advanced" electronics, so no square wave AC and the current control is not as good as the Synchrowave. I have seen people build add on pulsers for them. The lack of the square wave AC is something you will notice with aluminum welding. The sine wave AC certainly works for aluminum welding, but the arc cleaning is better with the square wave.

Try to get Iggy to include a foot pedal for the Dialarc if you can, they are expensive ($300+ )to buy from Miller.

I think Don Nichols (another regular in this newsgroup) has a Dialarc that he is happy with.

BobH

Reply to
BobH

I have a Dialarc 250HF which I bought new in 1980 when my regular access to a Miller Gold Star ended. I use it for SMAW, low current GTAW with a "120 amp" air cooled torch (which I won't use over about 60 amps) and a

300 amp water cooled torch. While it has been entirely reliable (Inverter machines have many more failure modes than transformer based machines and will probably never be as reliable), the single phase transformer machines rely on a current smoothing inductor to keep the arc going during the zero crossings of the single phase input power when there is no power available from the line. This makes little difference with GTAW since it is started and stopped gradually with the foot pedal anyhow, but is a significant nuisance with SMAW (stick).

After a year of full time SMAW welding with a shipyard rectifier-resistor bank gang welding machine and a few years mixed SMAW and GTAW with the Gold Star, switching to the Dialarc 250HF was quite a shock. Not much difference with GTAW, but with SMAW I had to completely relearn how to strike an arc. The quick U-tap method I had been using would produce a brief spark but not strike, if slowed down it would stick. After much cursing I eventually relearned the scratch start technique last used in high school. With any 3 phase machine I could consistently strike an arc in 1/8" of travel, while with the Dialarc it takes more like 1/2" of travel to a fully developed arc. This is a big PITA when you are depositing a high integrity **18 weld, where backing up is a really bad idea (traps extra inclusions) and you need to completely grind out all starts and stops to avoid leaving inclusions (at the start) or crater cracks (at the end).

Between that and the lack of square wave and pulsing, if I were to start a business doing welding I would get a modern inverter machine, although the 250HF is a fine machine for the occasional welder more concerned with it working every time he turns it on than with speed, ease of use and versatility, so I am not likely to upgrade it anytime soon.

Reply to
Glen Walpert

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