Thinking about a new TIG welder ...

Welderd · Dec 7, 2015

got it back and it works even better now - The shop didn't have a ground bar installed at the panel!!!! That's what fried the machine

seems to weld hotter and more consistent now??

CarolinaCrawler1 · Dec 10, 2015

We've got a Dynasty for work and I flat out love that machine. It makes me look like alot better welder than I am.

With that said, one of the guys at work bought an Everlast 6 months ago. Ive welded with it a few time and was super impressed. I like that machine and would put in up against the Dynasty or an invertec any day. He bought the one that's a step up from what your looking at. The only thing I like better on the miller is the torch, but its water cooled. I think if you got the everlast and a good torch that would be a set up that is hard to beat. One thing I like about the torch on the everlast is the finger tip switch. It works wonders for tacking! I'll set that thing to around 200 amps and just pop it to make a tack.

This is the one he got.....
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/product/tig-stick/power-i-tig-200t

He bought it from home depot and got it for 18 months interest free.

DreadNeck · Dec 15, 2015

I'll also vote for the alphatig 200x. The only gripe I have is the funky foot pedal. But you get used to it.

croes · Jan 20, 2016

Got my Alphatig a little over a week or so ago.

I really like the flex head, that's a new must have for me.

It welds super smooth, I've only done steel so far but I have a good bit of aluminum work coming up. So I plan on practicing within the next few weeks on some scraps.

The foot pedal isn't that bad, I've been running it with my heel and put the front of my foot on the stationary part.

dmtfabrication · Jan 20, 2016

blacksheep10 said:
I've had excellent luck with my spool gun on my miller 211, it was only $260. Worth the gamble. I had to cuss, scream, threaten to break it into a million pieces, change ****, **** with it, etc before I got there, but I like it not for stuff heavier than 1/8" . Any thinner stuff, get out the tig.

I use a spoolgun everyday on 6061 tubing, typically square and rectangle in .0625 - .080 wall thickness. We will TIG some visible joints, but 80% is done with the spool guns. I don't have any push/pull gun experience, but once you get familiar with a spool gun its not that bad. I have found that what works best for what we do is .035 4043 or 4047 wire (I like the 4047 because the weld crater has less tendency to crack). The key to not dealing with burn back zapping the tip is use a .052 tip with .035 wire. I go through at least a spool a day and maybe a tip once a week to two weeks. I used to use .035 tips with .035 wire and it was a nightmare. The knurled drive wheels leave a small impression on the wire, which would cause a slight drag through the tip. The wire also tended to spiral as it exited the tip and the spiral was not consistent, causing difficult puddle control. The spiral went away when the tip size changed. Also don't short circuit weld, get it to spray transfer (24-26v); this is what makes sheet metal tougher because you have to FLY. Lap joints weld better than butt joints, inside corner butts weld great, outside corners are junk. We TIG all outside corners. I like to turn all the setting to the lowest possible spray transfer, almost a short circuit, for the thin material, which allows for a much slower travel speed.

Sorry to derail the thread. Aluminum was foreign and intimidating to me and the few welding classes I have taken, aluminum is not covered. I had to learn on the job and found the AlcoTec website very helpful. http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/education/knowledge/index.cfm

rajincajingt · Jan 20, 2016

Re:

ranger11 said:
I have the Eastwood 200 tig. It's still working fine after 6 or 8 months.

This is what I have, still welding after 18 months. And I got it second hand.

sledneck · Jan 20, 2016

Im up at Lincoln electric taking some classes and we can use all the machines they have. Let me say that I currently have a PT 225 and a older 300/300 machine for daily use. I beat the hell out of there small 200 square wave machine yesterday welding a bunch of alum for over a hour at 185 amps. that little machine made .250 alum its bitch. Very nice very small machine at a very affordable price. If you haven't tried 1 yet I would suggest going to your local weld shop at see if you can demo one. I weld every day and I will say Im impressed with this unit. I will be bringing 1 home next week to add to the collection.

Rockwells607 · Jan 21, 2016

I just ordered a new Lincoln square wave 200, they just came out with that model and it's 1300$ significantly cheaper then the Miller 180 diversion, it's gonna go up in price after a month or so this is its introductory , I haven't got it yet should be here in a few days. Rated to 1/4" almn I believe, I wanna be able to do fuel cells and dash work, finish work in house

09zkrankin · Jan 21, 2016

Re:

I picked up an alphatig 200 last week and really like it so far, time will tell how it holds up

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

sledneck · Jan 21, 2016

Nate, you will like it. As long as your not doing 10 hours a day production work I bet it will do everything you need it to just fine. Really how many times are we welding 1/4" alum. Its complete overkill for a fuel cell etc. If you need to do a lot that thick you can always add helium.

Rockwells607 · Jan 21, 2016

I think it'll be fine, pre heating almn with a torch works well too, I run a synchro wave 350 water cooled at work everyday but it's complete over kill and huge for the shop at home and what I actually need

zayne2427 · Jul 18, 2016

patooyee.... which machine did you end up getting. i need a solid Patoyee review. looking for a decent reasonably priced tig

patooyee · Jul 18, 2016

I hadn't updated this thread because I didn't want to get a new machine and just be enamoured with it and post an overly-exuberant review. But since you asked I got an Everlast 255EXT. I really was only after the 250EX but they were out of stock at the time and gave me a great deal on the 255EXT so I went with it. I'm still an ameteur TIG welder and still learning the machine, but so far I love it. Under relatively ideal positions and settings I can lay very nice stacks of dimes and I trust my welds with it. The settings layout is a bit complex and the polarity percentage readout is opposite most other welders but it has 9 or 12 programmable memory settings that, once you get something dialed in, you can program and come back to any time. It's also got a generic dummy setting for both AC and DC which is just a set-it-and-go that works well 80% of the time.

I wasn't able to find many negative reviews about it online. Most of the negative comments were about the stock foot pedal and the stock torch being POS. I can attest that the torches are absolutely terrible. I ordered mine with Everlast's brand 9-series flex-head water cooled torch. Within the first few hours of low-amperage welding the internal liner had broke and it was spraying water out of the tip. I called them about it and they waranteed it without question. The next one did the same within about 1 hour of welding at 120 amps. They waranteed it as well but I don't use the replacement. I got a CK that I use instead. (Ironically, the CK arrived with a leak in it to start and also had to be replaced under warranty!)

The more I use it the more I can see the complaints about the pedal, too. It seems kind of clunky in its control of the arc. Sometimes it is very smooth in its modulation then other times it wants to jump randomly in increments wherever I am going. It also doesn't seem to be very fine control of the heat. Instead of infinite control it seems to have 20-30 plateaus that it wanders between as I push the pedal. I don't even know if that is why people hate the foot pedals but I do plan to someday get a better foot pedal because of this.

Mostly Asian people work at the company. Dealing with ESL-people for sales is somewhat annoying and I never knew if I could trust them. They said they could have the welder to me in 5 business days and it was on my doorstep on the fifth business day. They said the water coolers were on a 4-week backorder and exactly 4 weeks later to the day I received a tracking number for the cooler. They gave me a free 17-series air-cooled torch to use in the mean time in case I wanted to do high-amperage welding above the capacities of the stock air-cooled torch. Their tech support guy is a good ole American guy though and his posts on the welding forums go back a long time. So he has been with the company for a long, long time and he knows his stuff. It is a relief to know that, fi I do have to trouble-shoot something someday, I won't have to do it with the ESL-folks.

All the electrical cables are fairly cheap Harbor-Freight-ish winch cable-like cables. If you've ever owned a HF winch you know what I am talking about. I'm not exactly sure what makes them feel cheap but they do. I've never had issues with HF electrical cables though and haven't had any with the welder either.

So yeah, that's where I'm at right now. I can't give a long-term review since I haven't owned it even a year yet. But I'm happy with my purchase so far. I have a buddy who welded with it and owns a Dynasty and he says it feels just like his Dynasty. Weldingtipsandtricks.com says the same thing in one of his reviews.

ranger11 · Jul 18, 2016

Re:

Glad you bumped this. My Eastwood fried somehow. I just sent it back waiting to hear back from them.

zayne2427 · Jul 19, 2016

I was looking at Everlast, Eastwood, and Alpha tig welders. Did a search and they were all in this thread. Maybe JCCarter will comment on how he is still liking his Alpha tig. Chuckee2009 on youtube has some good video reviews on both the alpha and everlast

Beerj · Jul 19, 2016

zayne2427 said:
I was looking at Everlast, Eastwood, and Alpha tig welders. Did a search and they were all in this thread. Maybe JCCarter will comment on how he is still liking his Alpha tig. Chuckee2009 on youtube has some good video reviews on both the alpha and everlast

I just ordered the alpha tig a few days ago. All of the reviews seem really good and the price can't be beat for what it is. Not sure what the lifespan is on it but mine will just be used for smaller, specialized stuff. I'll be sure to report back my findings.

sledneck · Jul 19, 2016

If you guys are looking at something inexpensive and portable its hard to beat to the Lincoln squarewave 200. Plus you know there not going anywhere so parts and service will be there when/if you need it.

Neal3000 · Jul 19, 2016

Do you regret selling your Miller yet?

jccarter1 · Jul 19, 2016

I still love my alpha tig I have welded probably 100lbs of 4043al, er70 and 309 wire and it has been great so far I did melt the torch the other day but it was my fault I was welding long pass alum at 200 amp

patooyee · Jul 19, 2016

Neal3000 said:
Do you regret selling your Miller yet?

Me?

Not really. Keeping it wasn't an option. I lost my power source and there was no possibility of getting it back any time in the near future. This welder is better suited to what I do anyway. That Miller was a brute meant for constant, heavy-duty use in a production environment.