'Relatively' inexpensive TIG welder suggestions?

My brother has the primeweld. It came with a CK torch. It is not bad. Only used it for aluminum and it was pretty darn smooth. Can’t speak to dc, but if it can weld aluminum...... as to the durability, he doesn’t use it hard enough for me to offer an opinion
 
NickBoyle said:
Once we know what you’re gonna use it for,
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Like I said in the initial post, all I really want to do with it is to tack up damascus billets and mosaic patterns without using any filler metal. I pretty much only use 1080 and 15N20 if that matters.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I haven't bough one yet ( it is on my equipment list), but I have heard that the Harbor Freight OmniPro 220 (Chinese copy of the Miller Multimatic 220) is a good MIG, TIG, Stick welder for 1/3 the cost of the Miller. They also have some good dedicated TIG welders.
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Those Vulcans are a lot of machine for the money. They really are. The inverter machines have made leaps and bounds the last decade. You can get 300 amp arc welders now that weigh 30 pounds and costs $550.. The first TIG I used on the job was water cooled, the size of a fridgerator and cost over $8,000
 
Lots of folks buy the Everlast green machines, but their track record and warranty service is awful.

paying return shipping on your dime-over and over again, going through multiple replacement DOA machines, having to diagnose and repair them yourself by installing faulty parts over and over again, email only communication, stalling to get past the credit card return window, wiping out forums with info that shows all this...

If you go cheap, do it where you can get good return service.
That's the HF welders. You can take it back in person and get your exchange or refund.
 
Kentucky said:
Another option if you already have a DC arc welder you can so a scratch start TIG run off the arx welder. You cant weld aluminum without high frequency but still can do stainless and carbon steel. Its not as nice as a dedicated TIG machine but works well. A lot of open root welding and sanitary pipe is still done with lift arc TIG
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And just to piggyback on that you can scratch start off of a small copper plate if you are worried about dragging an arc strike around.
 
WC53 said:
My brother has the primeweld. It came with a CK torch. It is not bad. Only used it for aluminum and it was pretty darn smooth. Can’t speak to dc, but if it can weld aluminum...... as to the durability, he doesn’t use it hard enough for me to offer an opinion
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If you need to weld thin aluminum, things get a lot more expensive fast. If you are doing just carbon steel, any dc inverter will get the job done.
 
weo said:
Like I said in the initial post, all I really want to do with it is to tack up damascus billets and mosaic patterns without using any filler metal. I pretty much only use 1080 and 15N20 if that matters.
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If that’s all you plan on doing with it the cheaper DC machines will be perfect. I actually have a 110v Lincoln “buzz box” with a tig rig, scratch start, that I bought 15 years ago. It’ll stick weld too. As long as you don’t use a super long extension cord, and have an outlet with enough amps not to trip the breaker, it’d weld up billets till your hand cramps! It’s definitely no 220/480v welder but it would probably be your best bet for something like fusing billets.
 
12345678910 said:
Tellm e more, model and price and stuff
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This is the one I have:

https://www.canaweld.com/product/tig-ac-dc-201-pulse-d/

It was about $1750 with foot pedal control.



This is the non-AC version:

https://www.canaweld.com/product/tig-p-201-dc/


They're sold to the USA through the big river site. There is a lift-arc TIG + stick version for only $550, free shipping.

I talked to their head designer/engineer for a while, and all of the components of the power source and nearly all of the accessories are made in Canada, accept for a few things made in places like Denmark, Holland, and Austria. One of the things that sold me was that the machine is capable of 100% duty cycle at 150 amps, which is amazing. It also works with any generator. When I'm welding aluminum, I often exceed the duty cycle on normal welders. A reviewer on the big river site said the fan is super loud but he's wrong. It's in fact MUCH quieter than my Miller was.
 
Just a comment on which machine you select. Some machines can be repaired and some, well you know. Miller, Lincoln, and other big names have people in most large cities that can repair most anything that goes wrong with them. Many of the Chinese units, not so much. So if you want to take the chance and buy a disposable machine, get the cheap ones, they can work and may last.
My take is that your machine will go down when you need it most, if you can get it repaired your back up and running. Otherwise you are out shopping for another cheap machine.
 
Good point, golfer1. Definitely something to think about.
One of the reasons why I'm starting to lean towards a unit from Home Despot and spending a little $ on their extended warranty.
 
Harbor freight has extended warranties too... Just saying.
 
Between HF and Home Despot warranties, the HF warranties have been way better (easier) than the Hime Depot. HF, walk in with it, walk out with a new whatever. Home Depot warranty, they send it off to be fixed and you wait without until it gets back to you.
 
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I agree on the HF warranties. Very easy to use. No questions asked, either. Instant exchange unless they don't have one in stock.
 
I have purchased home depot warranties and they tend to suck to use and they want you to send out the unit. If you are going for a in store warranty get one that can be used in store. Just my thoughts.
 
This week finally made up my mind and purchased the welder, not sure if the same model its available in the states, it can be used with a pedal with arc and current control and the Esab torch has the same controls embedded in the handle.
This monday I'm going to pickup the argon tank and regulator. Then TIG learning begins...

Proper TIG machines have High Frequency start, and many nice things and setups a welder with TIG option doesn't have. The welder+mask with a 18mo no interest financing was $1260

Pablo

MwAnUbM.jpg
 
PEU said:
This week finally made up my mind and purchased the welder, not sure if the same model its available in the states, it can be used with a pedal with arc and current control and the Esab torch has the same controls embedded in the handle.
This monday I'm going to pickup the argon tank and regulator. Then TIG learning begins...

Proper TIG machines have High Frequency start, and many nice things and setups a welder with TIG option doesn't have. The welder+mask with a 18mo no interest financing was $1260

Pablo

MwAnUbM.jpg
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Can you post all the details of the welder? Esab is the brand I recommend for most people as it is a "pro" brand and gives a lot of nice features for the money. Unfortunately they aren't super popular in the USA and may be harder to service. All of them I have used will out perform pretty much anything else in the same price range. I used one if their HeliArc branded welders that was probably under 5k and it out performed the 12k Miller that I was using at work. I was able to weld 3/8" aluminum with a 1/16" pointed E3 tungsten and it was super quiet. The Miller Dinasty I was using was the nicest TIG welder I had used to thant point. A number of the people at the school I had taught at had purchased their blue tinted welding helmet and said it was great. Blue tints are the holy grail with some people and that is the only auto shade I have heard that used a blue lens. I don't know what features yours has but if it has any advanced ones like high speed pulse I can break it down and tell you how it works and refer you to some articles that might be helpful. I don't know if you can text me or not from your location but if you want to I can help. Unfortunately most of the brands hide their features under some sort of fancy trade name and don't really tell you what they do. There are a lot of options for tungsten types now and it can pay to use the right one for the task. There is no real reason to use pure (green tipped) any more and thoriated (red) can be improved on. Ceriated often comes with new machines and is only really good with thin metals. If it gets to hot the cerium migrates out and the tip melts. This has been a real problem with plants who try to move away from thoriated tungsten because of fears of radioactivity. A new welder is exiting, I love nerding out and seeing what they can do. I'm happy for you. Let me know if I can help at all. That looks like a sweet package.
 
It seems to be a model for Latin America as I can't find and english version of the manual. It has the common features in the price range, HF, 2T, 4T, programable descent ramp. A nice feature is current control on the torch. Today I bought the Argon tank, so as time allows I will start learning TIG welding.
As you said, its a solid brand and they offer a 2 years warranty, this my be usual in the USA, but here it is not.

Thanks a TON
 
PEU said:
It seems to be a model for Latin America as I can't find and english version of the manual. It has the common features in the price range, HF, 2T, 4T, programable descent ramp. A nice feature is current control on the torch. Today I bought the Argon tank, so as time allows I will start learning TIG welding.
As you said, its a solid brand and they offer a 2 years warranty, this my be usual in the USA, but here it is not.

Thanks a TON
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My phone number is 360.305.6225 if that helps you. Maybe something like Whatsapp could make it easy to get in touch. Welding is one of the few things I'm kinda good at and teaching was the best work I have ever had. Most people just go at it from a pure technique standpoint and I feel like it is backwards. Being a knife maker you already have good hand eye coordination and a much better understanding of metals than most welders ever will. There are a few things like having as many points if contact as possible and as high as possible to give your body a reference point since you loose a lot of steadiness when you drop the shield. You can see this happening when you close your eyes and have someone push you. If you simply touch something with your finger higher up the sway goes away. You don't need something steady even. The other stuff is pretty easy to understand and develop your own techniques.

I was able to find the details of the machine and it looks like a nice straight forward no frills machine. Unless you are welding aluminum or ultra thin materials the other stuff is just extra buttons. I have a ESAB Caddy Tig and it is great but you have to get into all of the hidden menus to even switch between 6010 and 7018 electrodes. You probably know this already but you can stick weld with the machine. Sometimes those small units don't have the voltage to give a good stable arc for welding 6010 so if you have problems with a type of stick electrodes its probably not you. Good pick with the machine though. For the money I don't think you could have got a much better balance of options and performance.

The one frill that I would recommend is to get a gas lens system. They cost a bit more than your regular collet body and ceramic cups but its worth every cent. A very rough rule of thumb for a regular collet body setup is that you can have a max of 3X the tungsten diameter of tungsten stick out. With a gas lens setup you can do 8X the tungsten diameter. Thats all relative but it gives you a idea of how much better gas coverage you get. It works like the the defuser on your sink and the gas comes out in a nice straight line. The problem with collet bodies is that the gas comes out perpendicular to the gas flow and starts to swirl in the cup. That means if you turn up the gas flow is will suck O2 into the gas stream. The only way you can deal with this is to get the cup closer to the work. With the lens you can turn down the gas and move the cup further from the work so you can see what you are doing. There is a second advantage to turning down the gas is that you get a steadier arc and a smoother surface and the gas doesn't cool the weld puddle as much and you can turn down the heat. It also means you can turn up the gas if you are dealing with a slight breeze or if you need a lot of stick out to get into a tight space.

Thats probably more than you ever wanted to know but maybe it would help. There are a lot of other little things you can do to set things up that will make your life easier but there is nothing super technical with most knife making.
 
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