please school me on tig intverters

are these tig welders? what do you have to have to run one? are they worth buying? how about the everlast 4 in 1 they sell on ebay,plasma,tig,arc,mig are they worth having. I really need some education on this can anybody help? Thanks

 

DD
I've had one for a couple of years. The main reason I went with the inverter type was the lower power requirements. I only have 30 amp service out to my garage. The transformer types called for a 50 amp breaker. The machine, TA185 does everything I need. Works great for thin sheetmetal.

J. Clear

 

do you have to have another power supply like a arc welder

 

I am interested in this too, HF has a cheap one on sale now. It looked real chintzy in the metal but if it is good for thin sheetmetal I could use it.

 

I have a Miller Dynasty 200. It will do tig or stick. Runs on 110V, 208V-220V,460V single phase or three phase. I can do vertical aluminum tig with it. It weighs 45# and is about the size of a small suitcase. I had a esab 161 inverter tig and did not care for it. Could not weld aluminum as well as I wanted so I sold it to my buddy and bought the Miller after trying one at another friends house. If you have 220V 30 amp you should be fine. The book calls for 40 amp breaker but the machine will run on a 30 amp breaker.

 

i have htp inverter tig love it

 

i've actually been considering one of those to get me by. very primitive machine, but considering that, i've hear mostly good things about them. i've never heard they were junk and didn't work, just that people were frustrated with scratch start, lack of arc control, etc.
with a %15 coupon you could get one for $170. figured i'd borrow a buddies argon cylinder and give one a test drive for a week.

 

Everlast? If it's on eBay, could you post an auction number please? I have been looking as well. My only concern is some of these are so stripped down, they don't have a power control at the torch end. I have done very little TIG work, but not having the 'throttle' control while you're welding, defeats the whole purpose for me (might as well gas weld it).

 

Where can you get one for that price???? What brand of machine are we talking about here????

 

Harbour Freight has them on sale now for $199. I don't know where to get the 15% coupon though.

The brand is Chicago Machinery, which is made in China.

 

the coupon comes in some of their fliers, and can also be easily found on the internet, i came across a bunch while researching their welder on other forums.

about all i would use it for is bodywork, i have stick, mig, and gas setups already, so i figured i'd give it a try, if i don't like it i take it back. it's a simple scratch start dc only machine, so it won't easily do aluminum. i'm not going into it expecting much, so i doubt i'll be disappointed. i would consider it nothing more than a cheap toy to play with until i can reasonably justify spending thousands on a real tig.

 

Hmmm. This is interesting. If it will work well for welding patch panels on my car then it might be worth it to lay down 2 bills. That would be all I would need it for anyways...

 

if you already have a dc stick machine, just buy a tig torch and do scratch start with it. i dont recomend buying harbor frieght junk. especially a welder. sell some parts or any other **** you have lying around and buy a name brand machine, i think the htp is the cheapest you will find for an ac/dc inverter tig. the thermal arc used to be cheap but they had to bump the price up and keep up with everyone else. look for thermal arc, htp, lincoln or miller. ac/dc.

 

ne**ussian, the ebay # I was looking at is 220190811031,hope that helps

 

Thanks DD. I see it's DC output. That means no Aluminum without flux. I don't see any kind of throttle control, but I am unfamiliar with this brand (maybe it's there and I'm just not seeing it). If it has throttle control that looks like a decent buy, as long as it's not made in China.

I have a Lincoln 'round top' 250 amp buzz box, it will do DC +, DC - and AC. If it would turn down further than 25 amps or so, I would rig a TIG torch to it (for scratch start). But all the stuff I want to weld with a TIG (currently) that's a bit much (as a minimum) and lacks the finesse TIG is known for as it wouldn't have any control at the torch end (aside from stopping the arc).

 

The Thermal Are 185 is a great machine. I have had one for 3 years or so - no problems, does it all.

 

what are you welding with less than 25 amps? buy a torch off ebay for cheap and try it.

 

Sometimes I have to weld some pretey thin stuff (I use gas for it now, sometimes with better results than others ).

I haven't been looking for a torch specifiaclly, hadn't though about it, till about a week or so ago.

How do you controll the gas flow? A valve at the bottle, solenoid or something?