thermal arc mig-stick-tig.

I swear by miller, but I was at welding supplie and this machine spiked my interest. thermal arc is owned by victor. I work in a powerplant and the boilermakers have thermo arc welders and they beat the shit out of em and they weld nice,. Has any one checked these out. the one I looked at is a 180 amp mig -stick and tig machine (tig torch not incuded, dosnt weld aluminium) its about 1200$. they are assembled in the U.S.

 

I was wondering the same thing you can get a spool gun for them to do aluminum too I believe

 

yes will weld aluminium with spool gun

 

Hey Vinny,

Same here, big Miller fan but Thermal Arc and the parent company are great companies and their products are generally produced to the same quality standards or higher than their competition. I was an ASME & AWS certified welder but no longer maintain my certification. I have been on many industrial jobs and have used several Thermal Arc machines with zero complaints. Therefore, when I learned about the Thermal Arc Fabricator 211I I did a cost comparison review to Miller's Multimatic and after reading some reviews went to my local Thermal Arc dealer and placed my order. BTW the machine was $700 cheaper than the Miller and if I am correct the duty cycle for the Thermal Arc was 5% higher. Not that duty cycle matters that much for home and hobby use anyways. Welding for hours on end is not going to happen around my house and if it does I bet the machine is more than capable of meeting my needs.

Best of luck to you in that quest of a perfect welding machine!!!

 

Interesting as I am fearing the day that my Miller 330ABP dies. It's a big ole puppy dog and will do almost anything but the high freq does not work. I simply use a penny to scratch an arc as the copper does not seem to contaminate the tungsten.

 

I'm no expert but the 181i is a pretty awesome machine for the money. Saw the thermal arc guys demo one at the college where I work and it does all 3 processes very well. The welding instructor who is a veteran welder and a miller guy said after he retires he's just going to get one of these and sell off his older machines. I've seen them new on ebay for around $800 and saw a used one without the tig torch or pedal sell for a little over $400 a couple days ago.

I tried out the little little 95s and it's cool for the money. It's lift start tig and good for thin stuff. I think it would be very good for body work. It's a tiny machine.

 

Josh Shaw, a HAMBer from the Cincinnati area and who does some fabulous racecar fab & restoration uses one of these.