Just found out about a new low cost TIG machine from Miller.
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It's not even on the miller web site yet (but looks like it might show up on Oct 1 - tomorrow?). The manual is on the site however.
It's a small 220V inverter based machine with AC and DC which only does TIG (no support for stick), but it's $1275 in price at cyberweld and comes complete with with torch and regulator so there's nothing else to buy except the gas.
It's about the same power range as the Ecnotig machines but since it's an inverter, it's a 50 lb box instead of a 140 pound transformer machine. And it costs a few hundred less than an Ecnotig - unless the Ecnotig is going to drop in process when this new one comes out??
I'd like to get an AC Tig box for doing small aluminum projects but was looking at more of the $2K transformer based Syncrowave 200 or the $3500 Dynasty 200 DX type machine as the real options. A low cost inverter based machine with DC and AC is a very interesting addition to the mix of options to pick from for my home shop.
Just looking at the listing I notice the following there is a solenoid for the gas and a gas cooled torch so I doubt there is a solenoid for water if you like the water cooled torches better. It has remote amperage control on the torch so if you want a foot pedal that will cost more the weight is heavy compared to other inverter welders in my estimation I don't see any claim of adjustability of the frequency of the ac cycle. Some folks love welding thin on 300 cycles I don't see claim of a clean/penetrate adjustment the low end of the amp spec is high at 10 not five or one amp as in other more expensive more powerful models. more expensive models in the low amperage range of the offerings can be used on 115v, while they come with a 20 amp plug from what I understand it seems that would be an advantage to getting a small machine as chances you can put on a 15 amp plug and not turn it up real far.
"fran...123" wrote in news:ix3Fk.7191$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe10.iad:
Well you just said it, most all of these options are available if you want to spend $2500 or more, but if you want a basic inverter welder with AC capabilities then the $1200 seems resonable to me, compared to a Syncrowave 200 that doesn't have any of those options and weighs 150 pounds more seems like a really good price.
Very few water cooled torches are set up to use a water solenoid. Those water solenoids are used when cooling is done with city water which runs through the torch and then is piped to a drain. Very old school. My 1981 DialArc HF has a water solenoid. The lack of one shouldn't cause a moment's concern to a buyer.
This bundle is weak, however, without a pedal. Definitely find out how much the pedal would add to the cost!
If I were spending in that price range, I'd go for a tig/stick machine with removable leads, adjustable HF, etc. I bought a Thermal Arc 185 several years ago that was about $1600. It was well worth the price to have the extra capabilities of Stick, AC/DC, TIG, HF start, adjustable HF welding, etc.
Yeah, it's very striped down and offers only the basic of what is needed. It's aimed at the home shop/personal market and I think they have created a winner for that market. That's why they can justify the price compared to the other Miller products. Miller produces are not known for being low cost. :)
The other point you didn't mention is that the cables are hard-wired to the box and don't have connectors to swap them. There might not be any other torch options easily connected to the box.
The foot controller is $135 from cyberweld so even that is fairly reasonable. When you plug it in, it disables the power and amp control on the torch handle.
If you want all the advanced features buy the Dynasty 200 DX. But it, plus the contractor kit for the cords and regulator will run you a total of about $3500. That's a huge difference from the $1200 for the Diversion.
It weighs the same as the diversion (about 50 lbs).
Miller didn't have a low end AC inverter TIG until this came out. The low end inverters were DC only. So the only AC TIG options for doing aluminum work were the very large transformer based products like the Ecnotig and the Syncrowave 200 with both cost more than this new box and can't be easily moved.
The syncrowave 200 for example weights 238 lbs so the only way to move it is in cart. With the running gear, it sells for around $2,100. And because it's not power factor corrected, you need something like a 60 amp
220V circuit to run it correctly as well.
I'd like to add a TIG machine to my collection just for the fun of having it, but also, for small aluminum projects. So I can't justify one of the DC only TIG machines which left me looking at options like the Syncrowave
200, which is a nice machine, big and heavy (takes up a lot of room in small shop), or spending a lot more to get the 200 DX, which is small and even nicer and you can run it off of 110 so you can carry it to a job and stick or TIG work without needing a 220 outlet. That's a very nice feature, but you have to pay a lot more to get it.
This new box, solves my desires to have Tig (TIG is my favorite process), and gives me the A/C option for aluminum. And it's cost is low enough I can almost justify it on a whim. But then I have to decide if I can really live without all those other features (not running on 110 is the biggest one I would miss and not doing Stick would be the second most important for me).
It is priced like the Miller products, and as such, it's not cheap. Go to HF if you want dirt cheap. But within the Miller products, it's an interesting new low end option for AC Tig.
Oh yes I guess I am old school, I suppose the common water cooler things aren't using the solenoid. Never occurred to me either I use both attached to my dinosaur machine solenoids or use a device which shuts the stuff off when the torch is hung on it, helps to have an assistant if you want to vary the amps. also need a pail to control the mud from used water. The small water cooled torches with three small flexible tubes are quite flexible and can't (by me at least) be over heated to leak or balloon with 1/16 tungsten. No matter which torch you use it might be advisable to protect some of the length of it should you touch the hot tungsten to the chord or cables.
to reply to a few of the others not exactly Grant's above message Isn't Lincoln priced higher than Miller? There may be another model coming in the future without the pulsing features of the dynasty 200 in the ac/dc inverter somewhere between these which uses the more standard plug in accessories. I do wonder how much I use less than 10 amps or when things become too thin for this machine.
Being a hobby welder who sometimes doesn't weld for a year it is very appealing.
Don't yell at me but I even looked at the low cost Chinese machines. Apparently doing some research, there seems to be one or two authentic manufactured machines from China that have a reliability record. The other 32 or more are clones of the originals and have lots of failure history but look the same. They have no enforcement of copyright over there so anyone can make, copy, try to reverse-engineer another product without pain of legal action. So you can can go to any supplier, including supplier of the original, and 'roll your own' and put another label on it with mad-abandon and sell it to some schlep in the US with little hope of after-sale service or parts.
These clone machines with there high failure rate actually has just about ruined any confidence with the Chinese Tig machines to about '0' confidence, imho. There own lack of control in that country has just about ruined any export or confidence by the shit-clones with
**maybe** the originally engineered (one or two) in a commercial-quality assembly line market-capability being destroyed. The consumer is confused and buys back-yard or one-room-factory crap. Shame, they may have had a competitive viable machine at low cost. Good news for the competition that it is so crazy with welding machines or they might be able to take a chunk of the market for the hobbyist with the original, commercially-accepted manufacturer, imho.
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