I have been mig welding for years. I am a general contractor and am able to use my hobby to add income to my business. I have no specific need for a TIG welder, but could find many uses if I had one. In the beginning, it will be a toy, but it could be used for much more latter. I anticipate welding stainless and aluminum. I like the price of the 175 Pro, but my experiance tells me that I should spend the extra money and step up to a little more machine. The 175 Pro has a couple of settings on the front of the machine compared to a large number of dials on the other two. I wonder what I am giving up by going with the 175 Pro. One the other hand, I have a Snap on Mig (ya240 made by century) that has spot and stitch capabilites that I have never used. My dealer felt that the 175 Pro was better than the equal Miller, but that the Lincoln 275 and the Miller Syncrowave 250 were basically equal machines. I recently purchased a Miller 250 Mig and love it. I am leaning towads the Miller if I go with the bigger machine. BTW this is a great site. What do you guys think? I hate to spend more money than I have to, but I can afford to go either way. I do not anticipate that I would be TIG welding thick material, but you never know. Thank you in advance for your input.
Jim
Truth be told its not a "little more machine for the money" Its a lot more machine!
If you can afford the bigger machines it might be wise to go for it. Linclon and Miller both make great stuff. If you already have a relationship with the Miller dealer this may be a way for you to leverage a better deal.
Our shop has several dozen Synchrowave 250s some of them over 13 years old. We don't worry about circut boards because we have never cooked one, (Hobarts are notorious for this). We GTA weld Aluminum, many varietys of stainless and titanium in thickness ranging between 0.015 to over an inch. Our 250s are both stationary and portable, in and out of bad weather. HF arc starting is good and the ability to adjust balence control manually is worth the difference in price alone.
We also have a couple of new Lincoln Tig machines that are smooth as butter.
My long term experience favors Miller cause thats what we use most, but I don't think you can go wrong with either.
Lawrence
personally, i don't know about the newer machines. i've tried a Lincoln Squarewave TIG and didn't have much fun w/ that. tried an Idealarc Inverter TIG w/ all sorts of bells n whistles on the same settings my boss uses. but ya know what machine i like best in our shop? the 30 yr old one that stands 5 ft tall and has the big old amperage pedal. for some reason i can't get the other machines to do what i want. but me and that old Miller are best friends and i can make it do whatever i want. as for controls, all it has is high frequency and a variable amp control foot pedal.
most welder dealers have a little shop area in the back of their store where you can try out different welders...ask for a demo of whatever machine you wanna try. tell the dealer you're serious about getting a TIG machine but you wanna try them out before you decide. if they're good about sales they'll bend over backwards for you.
Looks like there are only 2 known brands : Miller and Lincoln.
Have a look at http://www.esabna.com ; look at the inverter TIG welding machines. Low weight, heavy duty and good price !
A couple of things to consider:
1) The bigger machines will give you more versatility, consider also that you can use them as a SMAW machine.
2) Choosing between Miller and Lincoln can be difficult, they are both good machines. I always suggest you go with the one that you can get service and support locally. It is very important that whatever you buy you can get parts and service quickly and easily.
3) Look at your available power supply and what each machine requires. The Lincoln 275 that I have is a single phase machine that wide open can draw over 100 amps. If you don't have this type of power, what's the point in buying it?? Just a thought.
I hope this helps.
Respectfully,
Mike Sherman
Shermans Welding
I totaly agree with Lawrence. For the price you can hardly beat the 250s. We have 8 old 250s 3 new DX models and one inverter machine. I do like the inverter machine, but to get one that equals the 250 it will cost at least $1000 more.
Thanks for all the great input. I am leading towards the Syncro 250. Besides portability and cost, what are the major advantanges/disadvantages to an inverter machine?
The inverters offer the capability of using single or three phase primary power. On three phase power for example the Dynasty AC/DC by Miller draws only 27 amps welding full out with 230 vac input. That means if you have 100 amps 230 vac to use the Syncro 250. You could have 3 machines on that same 100 amps.
Welding arc, on AC you can use sharpened Ceriated Tungsten and maintain the point to focus the arc. Picture if you will, take a magnifying glass and "focus" the sun's rays on a small spot of combustible material. What happens when this focus is taken away? Same temperature but little penetration.
Lots of "bells and whistles" but set the machine, adjust one parameter and identify what happened. Return to original settings and adjust another parameter and identify what happens. Go through all the parameters but adjust only one at a time!! Very easy to see where to set after you are familiar with the parameters. Most PQRs only state amperage, voltage and travel speed. Lots of room to tweak the arc.
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