Technical MILLER TIG welder vs EASTWOOD TIG 220

Time and money along with the quality if the finish weld, that is what question. Lets say a new MILLER will run around $3,000, and the Eastwood $1,000. All I want to do is weld in patch panels on two Model A Ford bodies and chop the Fordor. Would the Eastwood 220 last long enough to do that, or should I continue saving for the MILLER? At 75 I don't plan on a second career as a welder so the MILLER just isn't as high on the list as it once was. Your opinions are welcomed.

Bob

 

The Eastwood machines get good reviews other than complaints about the accessory quality. I would also look at Primeweld. They are very well review and more ecomically priced than Miller. My MIG, TIG and plasma cutter are all Miller but thier pricing has gotten insane.

 

I bought a Lincoln last year, their Square Wave 205. It currently lists for $1,600.00 and it comes with just about everything you need, except the gas bottle. I like it enough that I gave my nephew my old Square Wave 175 machine after having it since 1999. The new machine works great, and the consumables are industry standards. So half the price of a Miller, 50% more expensive than the Eastwood and consumables available at your local welding store. Plus made in USA.

 

I’ll hope to have my Dynasty 300 till I die. It was expensive 15 years ago (used), and replacement cost is off the rails today.

The Chinese are delivering spectacularly capable products these days, the fit and finish is often lacking, but the hardware typically performs as advertised. Buy direct and save, or buy from a domestic importer and get support, your choice

 

When my miller died I bought an everlast. I absolutely love it. Welds way better than the miller for less than half the price.

 

While I still have my Miller Econo-Tig, I love my Primeweld machine. A lot of features and uses much less gas.

 

Always go with a Lincoln or a Miller!

These cheaper welders are full of off shore junk and even though the tin looks the same and it says Eastwood or what even other company’s name on the side they change manufacturers at the drop of a hat depending on who can produce it, cheaper faster etc…

So the Eastwood welder you buy today may be completely different inside than one produced in 6 months!

Meaning if a component in your welder fails you may not be able to get another and will after to replace the whole machine!

 

Do you tig or do any welding now? Is there a reason you are settled on a 220 tig machine? The learning curve and cost of entry is lower on a mig machine (my opinion) and you can accomplish your goals with something like a used Hobart 140 (or pick your favorite color) .
There is always a tendency to think you need to spend lots of money in order to be successful but honestly I know far more people with expensive welders that sit collecting dust than people who bought cheap or used welders, use them, and end up being disappointed if there are issues.

 

I have an Everlast 185, and it’s done great on thin stuff, and I’ve welded up to 3/8” stuff too. The thick stuff will heat it up quite a bit though. It uses industry standard consumables. Price is nice, but no local repair if needed. I’ve had mine probably 6 or 7 years now, with no problems.

 

Can’t go wrong with a Lincoln.

 

This question has come up numerous times. Primeweld is mentioned many times. I had one of the 1st Eastwood units and it did ok. I ordered a part years ago and the salesman commented that I must have got a good one. The Primeweld is a better machine as compared to the 1st Eastwood. Usually, the thread ends up with how much money a person is willing to spend.

 

My brother and I purchased a Everlast about 14 years ago and loved it great machine for the money then the board went bad about 3 years ago to much money to replace was going to purchase a HTP a fellow club member has one and I love it but went with the PrimeWeld good tig but touch seamed to get hot fast so installed the water cooler from the Everlast the pedal was junk replaced it with a better one it welds great now.

 

Millermatic here. Love it! Buy once, cry once.

 

I want high end features in my TIG, like adjustable pre and post flow, adjustable pulse settings, liquid cooled torch, etc. When I was looking to buy about 10 years ago, the Miller Dynasty was the machine that had all the bells and whistles I wanted, but the ~$9K price tag was more than I wanted to spend. I found HTP and after checking with a few friends who happened to have one, bought a Invertig 221, which came out to just under $4000. It has been an absolute workhorse and has never skipped a beat. It welds beautifully and I have been completely satisfied with my purchase. FWIW, while it's not a USA-made machine, it's made in Italy.

I liked the TIG so much I bought a HTP MIG240, a big transformer based MIG welder. TBH I don't love it, and now most of the offerings are inverter based MIGs. It works fine, I just don't love the means of adjusting it and find it difficult to dial in the right amperage.

The idea that all of the asian-manufactured machines are junk is simply without merit. I hate to break it to everyone, but while the USA has moved to a service sector economy, asian countries have been making enormous strides in manufacturing and are able to produce incredibly high quality items at a fraction of the cost the USA can. The reasons why are a discussion for another day and a different place. Sure there are some low quality, Chinese made tools, but there are also a load of ****py, low quality American tools too. I hate to say, but the only set of pliers I've had to warranty were a set of Channellocks, made right here in Pittsburgh. I've welded with the Eastwood TIG200 before, my father in law had one, and I thought it was fine. Nowhere near as nice as my HTP, but also only a fraction of the cost. I've also welded with some of the TIG offerings from Harbor Freight, and honestly, they were pretty nice. We were racing in the 24 Hours of Lemons, and a team next to us in the pits had a Vulcan multiprocess machine. It was very impressive. Will it last as long as a Miller or Lincoln? Hard to say. I can't say for sure that it wouldn't.

 

Mine a Miller 98 purchase New.
Newer ones great until Circuit board goes .
What ever you buy , I prefer copper windings & make sure not
aluminum tin ( copper coded ) .
I have mig & tig ,
Most time I will grab Tig just because
No Sparks unless crash & burn tungsten or dirt .
I also have multiple torches , One you can make all sort of shape for tight places ,

 

Boy have those Miller mig welders gone up if they're getting $3k for them now! I bought my Millermatic brand new with an 80cu. ft. 75/25 tank, and cart for $708 in 2010 when I retired. I'd been screwing around with a cheap Chinese mig and just bought a project car to build in retirement, so I got the Miller at a 20% off sale.
I love my Millermatic and it's gone through a huge amount of wire and gas the last 15 years with zero problems. I'd buy another in a minute if I needed another.

 

I have a Lincoln mig that I've had for years and it's starting to show it's age as far as welding goes.

Years ago I bought a prime weld tig and love it ! It does more than I need it to do.

So when the Lincoln finally bites the dust I'll replace it with a new primeweld and not think twice about doing so.

Used Lincoln, Miller etc at work and they weld fine but so does my primeweld tig at alot lower cost. I'm 63 so I don't care if it lasts for 30 yrs.

...

 

I know of one guy that had one of the older Eastwood tig. Had a problem and found they don't service it anymore.

 

Miller here. We've welded 100's of ch***is and components together with ours. Originally had a monster Miller I got when Thermo King bought new units. It also welded together an unknown number of ch***is thru the years. Finally had to get my new one when the giant couldn't be repaired any more. It's Miller for me.

 

My two cents, Miller, Hobart And Lincoln and a few other high dollar welders can usually be repaired at a decent welding supply store's repair shop while the China ones and off brands will get you laughed out of the building. That is from years of working in a job that I had to send in a lot of welders to be repaired due to the harsh environment of the fruit juice plant and mechanics that didn't take the best care of them.

 

I have a lincoln as well. Never a problem with it. I spent the money for a cooler and ditched the big air cooled torch for a water cooled 20 series and got the flexible head as well, a very worthwhile investment. One thing about it even the old lincoln and millers are still coming up for sale and holding value. They are proven.

 

The Miller Synchrowave 250 was a pretty good machine; I pushed one to the limit TIG welding some 3/4" aluminum plate together in multiple p***es. Another place I worked at had cheaped out and bought some 180 machines, which were OK but weren't good for much over 1/4" material. One place I worked at had an old scratch start Miller TIG with an air cooled torch. When I went for a job interview, they gave me a weld test on it, and I was looking for the pedal. The guy giving me the weld test gave me a bad time, claiming that TIG welders don't have pedals; turned out he had never even heard of a pedal, a torch ****on, or even a water-cooled torch (???). Best one I ever used was an ancient Lincoln that could weld just about anything.

 

The Synchrowave 250 is an incredible machine but the biggest problem with one for home use is the amount of input power you need. The newer inverter machines require much less input power, and can easily operate on a standard 30A 220v single phase outlet.

 

This isn't an uncommon occurrence with Lincoln and Miller welders, either. Or, the part is available but costs more than what one of those off-shore welders (Everlast, Primeweld, etc) do.

 

My Miller welder is nearly 40 years old and has never been to a repair shop. Its hard to argue with statements like that.

But...
I'm nearly 70 now. If I had to buy a new welder at this point in my life, it probably would not be a Miller. It also would not be what ever was the cheapest welder I could find either.
the only thing i can say about cheaper welders is the one of the biggest things I would be looking at would be the duty cycle which ever welder I was looking at had.
Cheap welders have very shore duty cycles. The duty cycle is how many minutes out of every block of 10 minutes, can you weld with it at the maximum voltage, before it over heats.

A 20% duty cycle means that you can only weld for 2 minutes out of every 10 minutes. Translation means you weld for 2 minutes, then let the welder run at idle for 8 minutes before you start welding again. Exceeding the duty cycle kills welders in less then a year.
I would not buy a 20% duty cycle welder, ever!

I have seen 30% duty cycle welders before, they are not much better then a 20% duty cycle welder.
I would not buy a 30% duty cycle welder either.

A 60% duty cycle means you can weld for 6 minutes out of every 10 minutes. You can weld with that one for 6 minutes, then you sit around for 4 minutes for it to cool down. I have a friend that burned up 2 brand new 60% duty cycle welders in a year, the guy ran a body shop, and he was not concerned about the duty cycle until the 2nd one burned up.
A 60% duty cycle would be the absolute minimum duty cycle welder I would buy. Then I would be pretty nervous every time I wanted to weld. If your welding a big panel, 6 minutes flies by pretty fast!

The problem with exceeding the duty cycle regularly starts out pretty slow. After a few months, the welder sort of starts sputtering after a long round of welding, but after it cools off, its OK for a while. Then, after a short time frame, the time before it starts sputtering grows shorter every time you use the welder, until one day it won't work anymore. Most warranty's won't cover exceeding the duty cycle.

A 100% duty cycle means you can weld for 10 minutes out of every 10 minutes. That welder will probably serve you very well.

A higher duty cycle costs more money. That is the best money you can spend, outside of how much the consumables for the welder costs.

 

Thank you Gene! Duty cycle is something I never knew about, this relates to the machine not the tip that may or may not be water cooled, correct?

 

Bought my first welder almost 40 years ago, a HTP 120, MiG that was actually a prototype unit for evaluation to see if there was a market for 120 v machines. The founder of HTP, Jeff, was a former coworker/employee of mine.

I later bought a 240v Miller 170, Miller plasma cutter, and a HTP Invertig 201.

My latest purchases are a Miller Multimatic 220 to replace the Millermatic 170, and a Primeweld 225 Tig ( for the Az house), plus a Primeweld Cut 60 plasma to replace the smaller Miller Spectrum.

My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that you can’t go wrong with either Miller, HTP, or Primeweld equipment.

Primeweld is the lowest cost, and arguably has the best warranty of the three.

I still use my old HTP MiG the most.

 

Which reminds me that I have a couple of welders - I need to get out the owner's manuals and mark the duty cycles right on the machines with a paint pen.

 

The duty cycle used to be printed on the label on the specific machine (I would be surprised if it still was on the label), it mostly covers just the machine. An add on, like a water cooled tip, may also have its own duty cycle, but probably isn't included in the determination of what the duty cycle of the machine itself is rated at.

The duty cycle covers the impact everything involved with the specific machine during welding process (or cutting process if you were buying a plasma cutter). It is the rating of the machine for the amount of time the machine is turned on. A 20 % duty cycle means that for how ever long that machine is turned on, you can only weld for 20% of that time, and the machine needs to run at idle with the cooling fan running for the other 80% of the time.
Turning on a 20% duty cycle machine, then weld for 5 minutes, then turn it off, still exceeds the duty cycle and still causes damage to the machine. Turning on that 20% duty cycle machine and welding for 5 straight minutes then shutting it off, is like using that 20% machine like it is a 100% duty cycle machine. You may get away with it if its off for the next couple of hours, for a while.

 

Duty cycles are based on a specific amperage being used not a blanket number for the entire amperage range of the machine. And the duty cycle of a machine is inversley affected by the amperage being used. So a machine might have a 20% duty cycle at 200 amps but a 60% duty cycle at 130 amps. You can't base your judgements on one number you need to understand what amperage the duty cycles are related to and how you will be using the welder.

I have a Miller Syncrowave 180SD. It is technically rated as a 40% duty cycle machine but that's at 150 amps. At 100amps it is a 90% duty cycle. 90% of what I do with it is sheetmetal work where the amperage being used is rated at 100% duty cycle so I have never had an issue. On the odd occasion that I needed to use it at 180 amps and it's 20% duty cycle I took my time and use it to that cycle. We are not talking about production shop use here.