what tig welder for beginner

Posted By: sparcy

what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 09:33 PM

looking to buy a tig machine !!! i have a miller 210 mig looking at the tig 180 1800 cash !! anyone have one pros or cons on this machine !! I have a miller mig machine already and like it . thats why i was looking at miller !! anyone have a lincoln tig ??

Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 10:06 PM

I lucked out on a Lincoln Precision Tig 225 as I bought a slightly used one local. Then I signed up at a vo-tech school to take some night classes and was trained on the very same welder that I just bought. Very nice machine.

Posted By: Polarapete

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 10:38 PM

Excellent score on the Lincoln Tig and the Vo-Tech training.

Posted By: justinp61

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 10:56 PM

All of my welders are Millers, Lincoln make good machines too. I'd look around at used stuff, there are some deals out there if you're patient.

Posted By: Randy..

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 11:05 PM

Harder to learn on the smaller machines, but if you learn on them the bigger ones are a piece of cake.

Posted By: MattW

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 11:18 PM

Is the HTP tig any good?

Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 11:28 PM

Quote:

All of my welders are Millers, Lincoln make good machines too. I'd look around at used stuff, there are some deals out there if you're patient.

All of my machines are Lincoln but I want to buy a
Miller... just buy a brand name and it'll be fine

Posted By: justinp61

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/20/15 11:58 PM

Quote:

Is the HTP tig any good?

I'd stick with a Miller or Lincoln, consumables are more readily available. At least they are here. Jody at weldingtipsandtricks.com has done several reviews on different machines.

Posted By: TRENDZ

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 12:10 AM

What do you want to do with it? Welding aluminum requires A/C ability.
Things I look for in a tig machine:
H/F start.
A/C D/C- D/C+
Liqiud cooled torch. (gas cooled torches consume way to much gas, and are generally oversized and hard to manage)
At least 175 amps.
The best "add on" to a tig machine is a liquid cooled SPEEDWAY brand torch. Once you use one, you will never want to use anything else.
I prefer foot control amperage pedal. I don't like the torch mounted switches, but it does come in handy when you're climbing like a monkey through roll cages.

Posted By: EchoSixMike

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 12:59 AM

Quote:

Is the HTP tig any good?

HTP is excellent, the customer service is unbeatable. S/F....Ken M

Posted By: Joes66dart

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 02:29 AM

There are some deals out there on tig welders I bought a miller aircrafter that came from a local air force base that looked brand new for $500

Posted By: jcc

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 03:16 AM

Quote:

Harder to learn on the smaller machines, but if you learn on them the bigger ones are a piece of cake.

This

comimg from a guy who uses a 625A Miller.

Attached picture 8435993-Miller625AmpIMG_8905.jpg

Posted By: 451Cuda

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 04:04 AM

Quote:

looking to buy a tig machine !!! i have a miller 210 mig looking at the tig 180 1800 cash !! anyone have one pros or cons on this machine !! I have a miller mig machine already and like it . thats why i was looking at miller !! anyone have a lincoln tig ??

I just bought a Miller 180 Diversion, love it so far.

Posted By: racerx

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 05:57 AM

Quote:

Quote:

looking to buy a tig machine !!! i have a miller 210 mig looking at the tig 180 1800 cash !! anyone have one pros or cons on this machine !! I have a miller mig machine already and like it . thats why i was looking at miller !! anyone have a lincoln tig ??

I just bought a Miller 180 Diversion, love it so far.

x2 I've had mine for bout a few years now and only did a few test passes on some scrap allium.(still learning)

all seems good

Posted By: bdusted440

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 06:11 AM

I bought the miller diversion 180 three weeks ago and love it.

Posted By: 451Mopar

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 07:15 AM

I'd like to get this Miller Dynasty 280, but I will need to save up some $$$$.

http://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.com/mi...CFYNDaQodh7EA9Q

Posted By: DemonDust

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 08:53 AM

All consumables are the same either you have an air cooled 17 or water cooled 20.

Even the cheap chit Chinese tig welders work pretty well.

I don't remember what the model number was, but this was done on an everlast tig welder after drinking.....

Posted By: knyech1

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 12:59 PM

Quote:

There are some deals out there on tig welders I bought a miller aircrafter that came from a local air force base that looked brand new for $500

Same thing happened to me. Found a Lincoln Square Wave Pro TIG with 2-300h on it, with cart, tank, boatload of new tips for $400. It sells new for $2000 and the tips are probably another $250-ish. It's a very nice welder.

Posted By: B G Racing

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/21/15 03:26 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Is the HTP tig any good?

HTP is excellent, the customer service is unbeatable. S/F....Ken M

We have 2 Lincolns and 1 HTP.The HTP is a pulse welder and works great,best customer service

Posted By: moparjimbo

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/22/15 08:36 PM

I think I will be trying one of these soon. I do not own one yet, but have heard nothing but good things on a few other forums and will be pulling the trigger soon. $750 and free Amazon shipping seems like you cannot go wrong for the occasional welding I will be doing...

http://www.amazon.com/AHP-AlphaTIG-200-A...ywords=alphatig

Posted By: Al_Alguire

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/23/15 07:04 PM

We have used our Miller Dynasty 165 for just about everything and IMO it is a great machine to start with. We will be looking to upgrade to something with a liquid cooled torch at some point. But for the money this has been an excellent welder. PS you can find them cheaper searching the net.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/product.php?model=M00325

Posted By: B G Racing

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/25/15 01:29 AM

Both our Lincoln and HPT are liquid cooled.

Posted By: WILD BILL

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/25/15 01:38 AM

I've been teaching myself to tig with an Everlast 225LX. I really like it and find it to be easy set up and understand as well as a very capable machine.

Jody @ Welding Tips and Tricks gave the Everlast machines a good workout comparing them to other better known tigs and he thought them just as capable. Good enough for me to but one.

Posted By: justinp61

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/25/15 02:08 AM

Quote:

We have used our Miller Dynasty 165 for just about everything and IMO it is a great machine to start with. We will be looking to upgrade to something with a liquid cooled torch at some point. But for the money this has been an excellent welder. PS you can find them cheaper searching the net.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/product.php?model=M00325

Miller makes a seperate cooler, Coolmate, I have one on my Syncrowave 250DX.

Posted By: Stanton

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/25/15 03:52 AM

Alphatig - same as an Everlast. If I had to chose between the two, I'd go with the Everlast. They at least have some support in North America. The Canadian rep is the guy who goes to China and specs out the units, the changes and runs the tests. So at least there are some North American "boots on the ground". The others are probably just repaints. Everlast has a good website with forums that are worth checking out.

FWIW I do not own an Everlast - but I came close!

Posted By: Bigbeep

Re: what tig welder for beginner - 02/25/15 05:16 AM

I really like my Lincoln 185 precision tig. I also have an older Esab DTU300 tig unit that I bought cheap. Built my own cooler for it and used it on 2 or 3 customer jobs and it quit working. Go figure! still need to get it repaired. Personally I think the newer smaller machines are easier to use. They seem to be easier to set up and also have the auto balance and pulser that really helps in the AC mode.

Beep