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Ac/DC tig welder wanted, not chinese!!
NS Dev - 13/4/11 at 08:54 AM

I am lookng at upgrading my tig welder, so on the off chance thought I'd ask on here:

I'm looking for a 250amp +, water cooled (or at least designed with water cooling in mind), AC/DC machine, with a minimum of upslope, downslope and ac balance controls, and preferably something from Miller, Lincoln or Esab (or Kemppi of course!)

Budget is sub £750 ideally, but could stretch a bit for something really decent!

snakebelly - 13/4/11 at 10:47 AM

i have one of these 200 amp ac/dc machines, its been reliable and reasonabley priced, very helpful people.

http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/

HTH

FASTdan - 13/4/11 at 10:57 AM

What are you welding that requires 250A?

Just out of nosey interest really :-)

NS Dev - 13/4/11 at 11:00 AM

do a few Tigged driveshaft adaptors which need over 200A to get decent penetration, plus it doubles as my stick welder, and I do odd bits of welding for the JCB repair man who is based on the same site as us.

NS Dev - 13/4/11 at 11:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by snakebelly
i have one of these 200 amp ac/dc machines, its been reliable and reasonabley priced, very helpful people.

http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/

HTH


yea been thinking about one of those. Only issue is cost by the time you have a water cooler, foot pedal, VAT etc etc, you're looking at £1600 really

907 - 13/4/11 at 12:27 PM

Your local welding rep is usually in the know.
My Miller came that way.

Also the industrial auction companies are worth a look every week or so.
Try Apex Auctions. (google)

Cheers
Paul G

NS Dev - 13/4/11 at 01:58 PM

Hi Paul, cheers will take a look on there.

Our local reps welding wise are pretty poor to be honest, which is a shame. The place I get all my consumables from only seem to be interested in the two BIG fabricators almost next door to them, they are fine for consumables, but the only tig stuff they ever see is BIG DC only stuff (the two places nearby are steel only sheetmetal places)

tegwin - 13/4/11 at 03:33 PM

Worth considering that you dont need to buy a proper water cooling system..

A small pump from a hot drinks vending machine, a tank and a small heater matrix type radiator would do the job.... Just need to buy the torch and connectors

907 - 13/4/11 at 03:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by NS Dev
Hi Paul, cheers will take a look on there.

Our local reps welding wise are pretty poor to be honest, which is a shame. The place I get all my consumables from only seem to be interested in the two BIG fabricators almost next door to them, they are fine for consumables, but the only tig stuff they ever see is BIG DC only stuff (the two places nearby are steel only sheetmetal places)



I'm lucky then.

I use a company called Elmdale. Roger, the East Anglia rep is a hero. What he doesn't know isn't worth knowing.

My Dynasty was a machine that Miller UK loaned to Ipswich Tech for a year. They bought eight in the end.
Roger told Miller he had a customer for it so I had it instead of it going back.
Trev D had a go with it and liked it. A few weeks later Roger found another s/h and a deal was done.

Roger has a lovely phrase when it comes to comparing cheapo tat with industrial quality heavy machines.

Quote:- "There's no substitute for copper."

Good luck with your search.
Cheers,
Paul G

NS Dev - 14/4/11 at 08:43 AM

I concur! Not very scientific I know, but the "thrum" you get off a transformer machine is surely something that must be pushing a bank of transistors pretty hard. I'm sure the chinese machines will weld 1.2mm steel all day, but I fear they might throw in the towel on 10mm. Makes you laugh the number of "200amp" machines with gas cooled torches........it will melt before you've finished a weld surely!!

NS Dev - 14/4/11 at 08:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Worth considering that you dont need to buy a proper water cooling system..

A small pump from a hot drinks vending machine, a tank and a small heater matrix type radiator would do the job.... Just need to buy the torch and connectors


Yea, though not an issue, I have all the water cooled gear, stainless tank, pump etc but a lot of the imported from the east machines use odd connectors etc.