miller tig users..maxstar or syncrowave?

I'm slowly piecing my roadster body back together and have some areas that would be tough to mig, more than likely would just burn through. Ive been wanting to learn tig for some time, mainly for this sort of delicate patching and I have my Miller 175 mig for everthing else. The 1900 bucks for the syncro 200 is tough to swallow though, can the maxstar 150 or the econotig do as good on light gauge sheetmetal as the big heavy (and pricey) syncro200?

If theres a big difference, i'll just have to wait on the syncro, I don't want to end up with something that wont do what I need to do. What is the advantage of the transformer type tigs over the inverter types, anyway?

FWIW, I have a henrob, and never really got any good with it, and the hurricane finished it off for me anyway, its a corroded mess now...

 

I've always wondered if a TIG unit will screw up electronic items in the house, or neighbors house if you have one close by. I know the van radio goes dead when I get near the local welding shop.

 

I have a synchorwave...and love it.

As for screwing up the electronics, I was told the smaller Tig machines dont hamper anything, but when you go up in size, it can do some damage to the microwaves and other appliances.

Whether its not a myth or not...I think others can clear that up.

 

I own an econotig and it's fine for most uses I allso have accsess to a syncrowave. The syncro is sweet and for aluminum you cant beat it, but for body panels I use oxy-acetylene using a varry small torch and tip.
pogo

 

I have an Econ-Tig and it is a very good all around welder for an air-cooled unit. I have welded anything and everything with it but......

The controls wont let you dial the amperage on the metal setting, the only control you have is with the pedal. So it is real hard to start at a very low amperage.

For example on a better machine you set the amps at 30 or so to do sheetmetal and when you floor the pedal all you have is the 30 amps you have it set on. The econo-tig won't let you set the amperage low on the DC side and you are at the mercy of feathering the pedal to get the amperage low enough to weld sheetmetal.

It is a pain in the *** really, I plan to upgrade in the future.

 

heres a easy way to mig thin metal,use a steel tig rod in conjunction with the mig wire,feed it in just like you would do if you were tigging or oxy/acc welding,basicly you will be using 2 filler wires/rods,the mig wire and the tig rod. it works good for me..
randy

 

I own and love my syncrowave 180. for thin stuff use the 1/16th tip...for fat stuff you use the 3/32nd tip. It has performed beautifully. The heat effected zone is very small compared to my victor torch. The only complaint I have is
the duty cycle is a little low. When I started TIG welding it was fine...but now that I'm good at it I want to keep welding but I have to stop and let the machine cool down...well actually the machine makes you ... Which is ok if you like a regular beer break. If I had it to do again I would have bought a more advanced (expensive) machine. If you can swing it...get the watercooled torch and bigger machine.

as for a mig burning through...the tig probably would too...if you tig rusty stuff...it spits and melts in ways you don't want it to. If it is clean and very thin you might get away with it...or be better off cutting out the thin stuff and patching it.

 

We had a 180 syncrowave and liked it until it took a **** a couple of weeks back. I traded it for a 200 and love it so far. The 200 replaced the 180 and has more features. If you are planning to continue to do a lot of work save for the 200 it will be worth it.

D1

 

Sounds like it will be a syncro or nothing then..., wont be trying to weld rusty stuff, but I do have some cracks in thin areas, mostly on the model A fire truck/mail truck cowl piece i'm fitting to the roadster since I removed the stantions (using a Duval windsheild)

I also like the idea of being able to hammer the softer welds.

I was also told that a tig will use a lot more gas than with a mig.

Is that true?

 

There are a lot of Synchro's for sale on the Bay right now.

Or look for used tool liquidators. I'm waiting on delivery of the Syn. 250 I just found with water cooler, for 1900.00. Low use on it too. So keep an eye out, and look around, there's goodies to be found.

 

Ditto to what's been said on the Synchro 180.

Saved $450 by buying it from the Miller folks at one of the NSRA gigs.
They get some marketing deal from Miller. Came complete with the cart.
Also no sales tax (shipped to me) and no freight.

 

Gas isn't all that expensive...get a big bottle...lasts me a long time. I can't see how TIg would use more gas than MIg? I would figure it the other way around.

 

After trying a friends Dynasty 200, I found one for 3 grand on the internet. I can weld 100 amps tig on a 110 volt 20amp house circuit! It weighs 45 lbs. and is very programable I will get the full 200 when I get a 220 circuit in the garage. I also hooked up a water cooled torch and Love it! The syncro 180 is a good machine and worth the money. Try to at least get that, that way you can do aluminum later. Like the others have stated adjustable settings prior to stomping the pedal will help minimize burn through on thin stuff.

 

I have a MAXSTAR 140 and I wish I held out for the 150. Mine doesn't have a high-freq so no aluminum and you have to 'scratch start' the tungsten which is a pain in the ***. As far as transformer vs. inverter I've never noticed a difference save for size and weight. My welding instructor couldn't say enough good things about the new "suitcase welders" when they first came out a few years back so that's why I got it. Works great for me plus doesn't take up a whole corner of the shop.

 

Sonny, so how does it do on the thin say 18-22 ga stuff?

 

I love the synchrowave, really a very nice machine.

 

Works good for me. I pretty much only use it for thin stuff and use the stick for the thick. The only problem I run into is the arc wandering all over hell after a few scratch starts but the 150 shouldn't give you that problem. It's also got the dual input so you can plug it into 110V20A or 220V20A and you can crank it up pretty far...120 amps, I believe. Pretty good for a welder the size of a toaster.

 

I used to set my answering machine off every time I used it, but found I had a bad ground where the phone line entered the house. I don't disturb the radio in the shop, and my wife says I don't disturb anything in the house. I think having a properly grounded unit is important, and run the cables together and connect the ground clamp close to the weld.

 

I have a Synchowave 250 in my shop, and I gotta tell ya, it's INCREDIBLE. Infi***ely adjustable, and i love how it's a self contained unit with the on-board heat exchanger and coolant. Our last POS machine had to be tied into a external water line. The Synchrowave has way more power than will ever be necessary for anything I weld. The one feature I like the most about the machine is the ability to dial in the shape of the arc. When I have a good clean surface, I can set the machine for maximum penetration and dig in with a tight weld. But when I have a dirty surface, or need to clean the surface around the weld (like when I have a peice of machined aluminum and I don't trust my surface prep), I can set the machine on cleaning, to widen the arc, and clean off some surface impurities. And the machine can be set for anything in between. I've welded hundreds of hours on it, and my life would be hopelessly incomplete without it

 

The inverter machines are really neat. Tiny and a fraction of the weight for the same amperage, and they use the available power more eficiently. The only real problem with 'em is the lower cost machines (like the maxstar) don't have AC output (used for aluminum). I bought a Dynasty 200 DX...it wasn't cheap but it's probobly the nicest machine I've ever used. I'd say if you never plan to weld aluminum go with the maxstar. If you want to do aluminum either buy a syncrowave or a Dynasty, I went with the inverter because of the size and can run it on anything from 110 to 440V, plus it has many more features including pulse which I like. As far as the ****ing with TV's and other devices...I think thats using high frequency AC.

 

Get an inverter based TIG. Look at the input power requirements on those big transformer machines. A big 250DX will pull 80A 240v at full power. That is a new dedicated panel/circuit from your meter if you want to do it right.

As for brand, I have a Thermal Arc ProWave 185. This is a great machine. AC/DC, Variable AC Frequency(20-200 Hz)digital amperage control down to 5A DC/15A AC, pulse, slope, pre gas, post gas, etc,etc. Do a google search on the machine.....most of the comparisons prefer it over the Dynasty 200.

 

I'm looking at their site...The Dragstar 85 really looks like all I would need for sheetmetal...I use my mig for everything else...

The scratch starting is the downside I suppose?

 

Yeah, that little guys is really only a stick welder power unit. You could do a little TIG with it, but it would be pretty limited.

Scrath starting on sheetmetal is a downside, yeah...haha.

The thinner material you work with, is when better equipment starts to play a role.

 

Inverter machines save only a miniscule amount of power in a typical residential setting (you can check the Miller message board for a good explanation, which is beyond my technical knowledge), so I would not consider that a buying point, athough the ability to run them on 110 is a big plus. A big negative though is that inverter machines are not as durable as the transformer type, and won't hold up to dirt, contamination or rough abuse nearly as well. Another big negative is that an inverter costs about a thousand bucks more than a comparable transformer setup. I also had a problem with the Dynasty 200 not having any dedicated running gear. As for the Syncrowave 200, that's a very nice machine and the price is reasonable. But if your going to be welding for an extended period, or planning doing aluminum, you'll want a water cooled torch, and that adds a bunch to the price. I spent a lot of time looking at the Miller machines and debating what to by, and I decided on a Syncrowave 250, which I bought about a month ago. As far as electrical interference is concerned, most likely that's from high frequency, which for straight polarity, is only used for arc starting. Problems sometimes arise when you use continuous high frequency AC for welding aluminum.

 

Thanks for the input...

I have no plans to do any alum. welding at all. My mig will do it anyway, and I still plan to use the mig for heavier steel welding. The ONLY thing I want a tig for is sheetmetal. It would be great to have a bigger tig setup for ch***is work, but I think I would head for the Mig 90% of the time.

I just bought a new Thermal dynamics 51 plasma cutter, and a new Miller 220V welder, so i'm not exited about spending 2 grand more for a tig.

But I don't want to spend a 1200.00 on something (maxstar 150) thats not gonna do a good job with sheetmetal either...

 

I also have a Synchrowave 250 and love it ,only had it a few weeks but ,man I can't believe I waited this long to buy it !

 

I use a syncro 250 in my garage. It's awsome. It welds like ****er. I bought it used for 1300, from a guy that bought it new, and only used it in his garage for alluminum repair work on his dirt bikes. 1300 got me the welder, torch, 300cu.bottle, banard water cooler, and guages!! There are deals out there to be had. There are alot of guys that keep really good care of the stuff, and were never beat on in a shop. I strongly recomend a larger unit like the 250 syncro miller. Buy a small welder, then you're out buying another one 3 months later cause it has no balls.

 

tell you what, i'll buy yours for 1300 and you find another one!, no really, ive looked for a deal on a used one for a while with no luck, then shipping is gonna be steep if its not in driving distance if I do find one on ebay or something.

 

I have the Maxstar 150 I like it. I don't really ever work with aluminum so that's why it works for me. I love how small it is and it will do pretty thick metal. Plus it can stick. It's my first Tig and the lift arc system makes it alot easier. I got it with a finger tip control because I thought it would be better for mobility around cars. But now I think I'm gonna buy a foot controller because I move around to much when I turn the thumbwheel. I don't know if your supposed to but I turn it up high and just use the wheel to vary the amps while welding. So all in all for the size and price I like it.
If I could afford a machine that did AC I would probably start making things out of Aluminum though.

 

Well what do you know.....While this thread was going I bid on a Tig on ebay,and I just won it, a Miller syncro 180 Tig runner, with hand control and footpedal. Only used a few times, and free shipping for $1150

Did I do okay?