Technical Finally got the dough to buy a TIG Welder. Cant decide!

Well guys I have been saving for a TIG for over a year and finally got 3k put aside. I already own a Miller 211 MIG, I got an old Maxstar Stick and a Hypertherm Plasma. I honestly want to get a TIG to eliminate setting myself on fire with the MIG Sparks and just to get better and do nicer work on exhaust, sheet metal and other stuff. I am tired of asking friends to do side TIG work for me.
I have had my heart set on the Miller Synchrowave 210 and also the HTP Invertig 221. The Miller is def a cool rig but I could care less about the other features such as Stick and MIG because I already have other machines in the garage. I am worried about the Miller 210 because a lot of people have issues with them out of the box. My friend bought one last year and it crapped out and took 60 days to get a new board replacement. A guy at work bought one and it arrived destroyed on the truck and took weeks t get another one Miller does have great support but i hate to have this happen after spending the dough. I just read some many quality issues with the 210 machine and my old Synchro 180 lasted me forever without a hitch at my old job.

HTP Invertig 221 seems to be an incredible machine you can not find any issues with this anywhere online and i hear they are bullet proof and super stable and refined. just worried that there are no local dealer support or repair centers and everything must go through the company selling them direct.

So guys if you have one of these machines post some comments here, i need to make my mind up by Friday because if i go Miller their sale ends before the New Year, HTP does not have stock for 5+ weeks and no discount or promo going on.

 

I have the Miller syncrowave 200
love it
the Dynastys are awesome
I have never used the Invertig but it looks good

 

I've got an old syncrowave 300, it was old when I got it over 20 years ago and have had zero issues with it. And cheaper than new.

 

I have a Miller Syncrowave 250DX, with a water cooled torch. It is an older model, but I have laid down literally miles of rod with is, and, aside from cracking the torch handle (my fault), it has been flawless.

 

X2 what gimpy said.

 

the 250 is a super machine
thats what I was looking for when I got the 200
I think the 200 welds as good as the 250 but the 250 will handle thicker materials

 

Kemppi... Although not sure if they are available in the US

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The 200 is a fine machine. It will weld just as well. It all depends on where you want to max-out. If you have no plans to go that thick, you can get the 200.

Mine was on special when I got it. At the reduced price, I couldn't say no.

 

They are, but here they are a boutique brand. Service, support, and parts will not be present in all areas, like Lincoln, Hobart, Miller, ESAB, etc.

 

I wish i could get an older 180 or 200 for home but i want to go new this time around so only the new 210 is avail in my price range, i loved my old 180 from work back in the days. another thing i need a dual voltage machine to run off 120v at home so this also limits my options. I want to get 230V line put in but my old house is maxed out at the breaker box and the electricians i spoke to said its big bucks to redo it all.

 

Dynasty is the one to get but once you get all the goodies your well over 4-5k so its out of my budget.

 

One word says it all. Miller.

 

If you can’t afford a Dynasty a really good little home machine is the Miller Diversion 180.

I’ve got one and did a torch upgrade to it and I love it.
Used it for every bit of the fabrication work on my RPU.

 

Depends really on what you plan to use it for. I wanted a tig for a while and ended up with the diversion 180. Im really happy with it thus far but I don't plan on welding frames with it. I have done some thicker stuff but I mainly use it for sheet metal and various smaller thick projects. Works great so far.

 

I was looking at the Diversion for years but did not know the torch could be changed easily, what was involved with that and approx cost? I just want to get a good machine to keep long term so im staying away from China junk. I was just afraid of all the bad reviews on the new Miller Synchro 210 regarding the electronics crapping out and all.

 

Lincoln square wave 180. Runs off 230 single phase. Great machine! I like to call it my "Miller Killer"!

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The upgrade was relatively easy and involves buying the torch and an adapter.
I used the old torches handle and kept it wired in and functional with the thumb wheel arc control to use as a remote when I had to do some work without the foot pedal.

It works great.
https://www.arc-zone.com/blog/joewe...diversion-upgrade-for-air-cooled-tig-torches/

 

200 is more than adequate on mild steel but I would want 250 plus for Aluminum

 

It"s MILLER time !

Oldmics

 

I don't know what your current codes are but a panel upgrade shouldn't really be that much. We are considering a panel upgrade to convert from overhead to underground at my son's place in Las Vegas. To shut the power off at the house and disconnect the existing wires from the old breaker panel and install a new larger capacity panel and hook up the wires was less than $500.00 not counting the new panel and breakers. This included a new ground rod. I would then run a 100 amp service to the garage hanging the panel and running the wire to the new panel and having the electrician hook up the wiring if you don't feel qualified.

 

He's paying the NYC premium price.

 

I picked up this syncowave 250 for 1500 and have been really happy with it over the last year. I had a diversion 180 before. The quality of my work has gone up.





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I love my Snap On Muscle Mig MM240. I love the TIG set up too. All I do is change 1 cable and tank and I'm TIG'n in no time. Then if I want to switch back to wirefed I just switch cables. It's a great machine, I've beat the ever loving shit out of it and it has never quit. It's price is comparable to other machines out there.


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I have a Miller 180 SD and wish I had a pulse machine for sheet metal. Anybody that needs circuit board repair I would highly recommend http://industrialelectronics.com I have used them and they charge 25% the cost of a new board and guarantee their work.

 

I think the biggest mistake that people make when they buy welders is not related to which of the major brands they should buy (they are all pretty good). They ask the wrong question, that is, “what is the thickest piece of medal I can weld with this welder?”All the welders can weld thick metal with some requiring multiple passes. But how much really thick metal do you weld? Most of us are unlikely to spend much time welding anything really thick. We spend most of our time welding relatively thin stuff. Even car frames are not all that thick. So a better question to ask is, “ how well will the welder do with really thin metal.”A really good tig will weld .016 steel or aluminum with relative ease. The thick stuff is easy. Being able to control the arc at both ends of the spectrum is what separates the good tig machines from the outstanding machines. An average welder will do a lot better when he uses a really good tig set. Better beads, better penetration, and less blow through. Take some samples of the metal that you actually use a lot and use those to test the machines that you are interested in buying. I doubt if most of us weld anything thicker than 10 gage on a normal day. Just my 2 cents.

 

I HAVE A LINCOLN SQUARE WAVE 175, WORKS GREAT, NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH IT. JUST WISH IT HAD A WATER COOLED TORCH

 

definitely a boutique brand but with some very clever tech. They used to market themselves as the iPod of welders

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I don't think you can go wrong with a either good Miller or a good Lincoln. 12 years ago we bought a Lincoln 225 Precision TIG to weld together a 4130 tube aircraft frame, aluminum tanks and all the welding necessary to build a 4 seat aircraft from scratch. It allowed us to weld the fuselage together so that it was arrow straight and no distortion. It has repaired 321SS exhausts, used for repairs on other aircraft and has done a lot of work over the past 12 years. My aircraft partner is a red seal welder and is extremely pleased with the range of adjustments and controls that lets him execute nice clean welds. In 12 years there was only one minor hiccup with a loose wire in the pedal which is not unusually considering how the pedal gets kicked around.

Spending the little extra to get a quality machine whether it is Miller or Lincoln is money well spent that will let a person do good work in all materials & if the machine is well looked after it will hold reasonable good value.