which would you buy??

Date 04-16-2006 18:01

Any budget? What material thicknesses? Portability and power needs? You're asking for a machine recommendation and then not giving us much info.

By dffay

Date 04-17-2006 23:46

One deciding factor might be the amperage budget your shop can put toward the machine. Some welders are pigs for power.

By aevald

Date 04-18-2006 06:00

Hello deepwater, one thing to consider having to do with the power comment, most of the inverter type tig machines have the advantage of being both 1 phase and 3 phase compatible and are also auto-link capable for a variety of voltages. If portability is any kind of an issue the inverters are also much easier to deal with when talking about weight and size. My personal opinion is that the ac output of the inverters is also superior to many of the conventional transformer/rectifier machines, especially when it comes to the variable hertz adjustment feature. Well I guess I put in my $.02, Regards, aevald

By 357max

Date 04-18-2006 13:33

Well said aevald, Miller's '06 catalogue shows that the Syncr 250 draws 77 amps from a 240 single phase volt input. The Dynasty 200 on the 240 volt single phase draws only 15.8 at 150 amps. That means 5 Dynastys can be used on the same power one Sync would need.
With the variable ac hertz frequency control the arc can be shaped to be almost columnar. Instead of spreading and wasting arc energy needed for penetration it is focused and very concentrated. Deeper penetration and travel speeds.
Best to prove it by stopping at your full service distributor and request a test weld time with the inverters.

By Dr. D

Date 04-19-2006 11:14

I've used synchrowaves and aerowaves.
Synchrowaves are O.K.
The Aerowave is the most tuneable machine being able to adjust the threshold current of both the negative and positive cycles of the wave as well as A.C. balance and adjustable frequency. Alum. welds are so controllable. They are pricey though even used and I think miller discontinued them. You could get a Dynasty 300 for the price of a used Aerowave.
If you want portability though I would suggest the dynasty. They pretty much do everything an aerowave does but like others said with less initial power consumption. Adjustable frequency in the AC mode is a major plus.
HTP also makes one similar to the dynasty 200 that I heard is a good machine.