So, who regrets buying one of the cheapy TIGs I'm seeing advertised in lots of places.
I'm specifically talking about Rehmann and the like - Chinese inverters.

Who has had a positive experience ?

Just thinking about getting one for doing my exhaust.

I like mine

Not done any real tig work but I am very pleased with the Mma and the plasma functions.

which one did you buy?
ive been toying with the idea cause they are ridiculously cheap

I've got the Rehmann 160A DC only TIG set.

Mine seems to forget how to strike an arc.
The HF is OK but it won't strike up properly, not even onto the earth clamp.
Once I've regound the tungsten a couple of times and sworn at it a few more, it strikes up and then works OK for the rest of the session.
I'm sure I'm doing something wrong but haven't sussed out what yet.

Overall I'm quite happy with it for the money.

Neil

quote:

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Originally posted by carlknight1982
which one did you buy?
ive been toying with the idea cause they are ridiculously cheap

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so that Rehmann Inverter Combination welder is actually chineese not german? I had wondered about getting that but I'd really like an AC Tig welder.

I have seen a few AC TIG sets that aren't to expensive and are based on the thyristor technology which i have heard is better than inverter...does anyone know if this is true?

I'll try to find a link or two.

I'd like an AC / DC set, cheapest I've seen is about £1200, so it'll have to wait a while yet unless anyone knows of some more reasonable kit?

Yes, indeed there are cheaper than £1200.

How about these

this is quite a bit pricyer but......LINK

check the MTA AC/DC 182 Tig Welder

I bought a really cheap DC TIG from ebay two and a half years ago and I dearly love it, so much so I sent the gas bottles for my Oxy Acetelene kit back. I would now prefer if it was AC/DC and had HF start rather than scratch start and also wished that I had bought a better automatic mask rather than a real cheapy some time ago. However I can now weld really small things together very neatly and stick big things together very neatly as well!

Caber

quote:

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Originally posted by zilspeed
Yes, indeed there are cheaper than £1200.

How about these

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quote:

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Originally posted by Griffo

I would really like to hear from anyone who has bought one of these...are they anygood or should i spend more and get a 'proper' one? also does anyone know if they have HF start, im used to using expensive powerful 3 phase TIG machines and i really dont want to
pay out a few hundred quid for a peice of cr*p

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its not work, its a collage, im doing a welding night class. Ive been using TIG now for past 10 weeks or so, covered mild steel, ali and stainless. I really love TIG it is so much easier to get a good neat weld than the other forms of welding. I just wish the TIG sets were a bit cheaper.

If its just for 1 exhaust then dont forget you can mig weld or arc weld (with suitable rods - about £20 for enough for a couple of exhausts)

its for the chassis, exhaust and pretty much anything else i may ever have to weld. I'm not a huge fan of MIG, its probably my least favorite welding method (although gas isnt so good either) and i realise I can use MMA for the chassis and such but its not very good for small/thin parts. Tig somehow seems more like art than an industrial process

Although I normally suggest a "known make" when buying a welder, I can see that not everyone would share my view.


As for buying a welder from the low price end of the market (read eBay) then I would look at it like this.


An exhaust system costs, lets say £500.
An eBay welder costs, lets say £400.
Materials for a system cost, lets say £100.

Build yourself an exhaust system and get your welder free.


You could then sell the welder, and make a profit.

Or...

Go on to make other stuff, (wish bones etc) and save loads of dosh.

You will of course be able to say... "I made that," with a smug grin.


atb
Paul G

I took the plunge a couple of months ago, and bought an inverter to carry about, for mobility.

I checked the welding forums before throwing my money away recklessly, and came up with the Chinese Jasic WSE200P. These are well talked about and given good recommendations.

So, off went my £460 with a good deal of prayer, and what came back does not dissappoint. Customs and VAT added £50. Took about ten days to get here, and they are very open about their Paypal accounts, as opposed to the germans who want you to transfer direct.

I cannot recommend these people, (ebay Shop-River), highly enough. The boxes and the welder enclosure had been opened by customs and were in a real mess. Customs doesn't/didn't give a toss, saying that is my problem, Great eh??

When I contacted the seller, they seemed genuinely concerned, and had me sorted in a couple of days. Kept emailing to make sure all was well, and are still!

So, in short, I'd recommend the items from shop-river on ebay, even though they end up a little more expensive than the 'german' items.

You may also note that the germans change ebay name every so often. You have to ask, 'Why???'. The chinese have had the same name for a couple of years. That says enough for me.

Cheers,
Syd.

quote:

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Originally posted by 907
Although I normally suggest a "known make" when buying a welder, I can see that not everyone would share my view.


As for buying a welder from the low price end of the market (read eBay) then I would look at it like this.


An exhaust system costs, lets say £500.
An eBay welder costs, lets say £400.
Materials for a system cost, lets say £100.

Build yourself an exhaust system and get your welder free.


You could then sell the welder, and make a profit.

Or...

Go on to make other stuff, (wish bones etc) and save loads of dosh.

You will of course be able to say... "I made that," with a smug grin.


atb
Paul G

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I have an (expensive new) esab industrial TIG machine, which is superb...........BUT

I also now have a "rehmann" i.e. cheapo chinese plasma cutter.

Not a tig welder but basically an inverter so much the same box, and I have to say its been great so far.

cost me £150 plus postage (£30) and will cut 1/2" thick steel with a rough finish and up to 6mm cleanly.

The BIG plus is that the chinese consumables are dirt cheap, and seem to last ok.

I use a cebora transformer plasma at work and while its brilliant, it was £1200 new and the tips cost a fortune!!

There is one more worm in this can...

that is, your local welding supplies rep.

A well known industrial make welder, second hand, can often be had for not much more than a new Chinese/German jobbie.

He will have knowledge of part ex's, ex demmo's, and manufactures & distributors lists.
My own machine came from this avenue. A one year old welder with two years warranty remaining on it. Runs out next August.

At least with a well known make spares are available should it ever go wrong, and it's value won't plummet should I ever decide to sell it.

Think of it like buying a tin top. A two year old car with 15k on the clock is a bargain.

Just a thought.

Paul G

well over here in holland a used ESAB or Rehm AC/DC tig or somthing the like costs about 5 times as much as a rehman AC/DC tig so I'd go with a chinese one if costs are concerned and it's just for hobby use.

I do have an 18 y/o Cebora Pocket Mig machine which I've bought for under 100 euro's and has been working very good for a year now.... a Cebora Tig would be very nice but at 3500euro's they are far to expensive, I also haven't seen a european make justify the costs of a machine by looking at the parts that are in it.

what about the Gys ones? they seem to have AC frequenty adjustable up to 200hz which would be the same as a miller dynasty. haven't seen anyone that has one yet despite having very good rep in industrial corner. and costing around 1200 to 1500 euro's which doesn't seem to steep if they are infact good industrial quality welders.

Grtz Thomas

If you're in Europe you could try Stel
These are rebadged as HTP and some Murex welders which cost 3 times as much.

Well I have been though this loop.

I sought guidance and inspiration from 907 who is a professional welder. His work and pictures of his work on this list bear witness to his skills and knowlege.

OK now to the chase...

I ended up with a Rehman DC 200Amp job.

I was totally unsure iof I had done the right thing.
At £197.00 delivered from Germany via Ebay, it has proved a good tool.

As far as I can find out, the inverter (or its design) is by Seimens, a reputable firm.

However, I am 99.9% sure they are manufactured in the far east.

My SIP 150Mig cost me £225 about 10 years ago, and I have never fully mastered it.

The Rehman, just rocks, and my welding has gone from strength to strength.

Its neater, and definately better than my Mig welding.
I'm a Radio ham of 25 years, and a BT Engineer of 39 years, and was taught to Solder as part of my training ay 16 years old, and then getting in many years of practice!

OK OK... This is boring crap about me. However..... I have come to realise that the mig with its automatic wire feed is a nightmare to me, and even when I get it set up. Its crap on the next job. This has to be down to me... the operator!

Now I have a serious amount of soldering experience, and am use to having the iron in one hand and the solder in the other.
I believe if you are a competent solderer, you will get on well with a TIG.
This certainly appears to be the case for me.

The Rehman, is cheap. OK if its crap, breaks or just not for you. The low outlay, means you have not lost a small fortune.

So far, I am well impressed for the money spent.
I can weld 100 times better with my Rehman than I can with the SIP Mig.

It will do everything I need except Alluminium, and I dont expect to be welding that very often, althought it would be nice.
An AC/DC TIG will cost at least double that of a DC only machine. So I opted for the cheaper model.

The BIG downside is having to rent a bottle of Argon. I got mine form Air Liquide. One rental price, for any size of bottle, and I change the size of bottle at any time during the year.

I have yet to find someone who can change me an Argon bottle, and then to find one of the same supplier.

I just cant praise up my little Rehman enough.
A couple of weekends ago, I dug some mates out of the the mire, by welding some brackets onto the chassis if their trailer (6mm chassis, and 2mm box section brackets). They have been to the isle of mull and back and have not fallen off. Even I was even impressed by the quality of the weld I did. I could have dobbed in a little bit more filler, but it was still some of the best welding I have ever done.

Dont knock these cheap sets. They do work.
However, dont expect them to be as good as £3k's worth of Miller Dynasty Machines.
The Rehman is 1/15th the price.
If I could afford a Miller, I would. But I dont have that much spare cash. God... there are people making a complete CAR for that sort of money

Just dug out these links..
Again... I cant impress enough on how much these two other bits of info helped me.

The Video got via Bit Torrent... worth the slow download of the 500Mb file. It IS WORTH IT.
http://www.mybittorrent.com/info/633189/

and the Miller site set up info.
At least it points you in the right direction.
http://www.millerwelds.com/education/calculators/tig_amperage_calculator.php

Also have a read:
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=78059&page=1

Hope this helps.