[TheForge] Choosing a tig welder

[Ralph Sproul]

Justin, I'm going to add my two cents on a few things here.

1) The inverters are awesome welding units - from experience.

2) Phase converters don't do real well in making enough amps to feed a Tig
welder. The trick to a phase converter is you need to put in enough power to
supply that third leg thru capacitors and with a machine that draws 100-150
amps (as most of those old industrial machines do), they end up starving for
power with a phase converter as you need to feed in 150-225 amps to get the
power at full heat. Granted you won't use the 300-400 amps most of the time,
but it's still a poor way to go by feeding a welder with a converter.

3) Yours and Bill's advice is defintely the way to consider it.  Get the
largest welder for Tig welding you can afford.........AND make sure you have
power in to run it.........as it can cost twice as much to wire it as it did
for the welder.  Consider both ends, as the Tigs can draw some serious power
as the are current driven machines......not voltage like Mig welders.

AND....... if you have a line on phase converters, I'm looking for a good
15-20 HP unit that will power a 10 Hp 240 volt motor on a large self
contained.  Where abouts are you on the east coast?

Ralph Sproul - Bear Hill Blacksmith
Webster, NH
http://www.bearhillblacksmith.com

New England Blacksmiths
 http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org



----- Original Message -----
From: "Justin Fellenz" <sunironworks at yahoo.com>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 8:51 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Choosing a tig welder


> Justin, I'd agree with Bill, get the best you can afford. Miller or
> lincoln, doesn't really matter much...the only question is the model.
> It's kind of a forever purchase, so the difference amortized over the
> long haul divided by the number of times you want to throw a machine
> that doesn't do what you need it to is, like, not much.
>
> I did a lot of research before I bought mine. I started out thinking I
> wanted an econotig, but I discovered they don't go down as low as the
> big ones, either. The econotig four years ago went to 7 amps while the
> squarewave 275 that I eventually bought went to 3. Now, there are
> tricks to getting down way low but I really like the stable arc at low
> amperages, and even with the lower bottom end I still need to play the
> the welding-rod ground trick sometimes.
>
> The one thing you might consider is the inverter machines that came out
> (naturally) the year after I bought mine. My machine is 300 pounds and
> huge, and the equivalent inverter machine is something like 30 pounds
> and the size of a breadbox. Pretty cool for those jobs where there's
> has a rusty or broken picket in an inside railing that needs to be
> fixed without sparks or big flames. And I'm told they work just as
> well. Never used one, just hearsay.
>
> It can be tricky, but you can find used tigs too, and save yourself a
> bundle. Ironically (no pun intended) the ones that hit the market are
> the usually the big industrial ones. Sometimes they're cheap enough
> though that even if theyre three-phase you can toss in a phase
> converter and be money ahead. I have a good connection here on the east
> coast for used welding gear if you (or anyone) wants to go that route.
>
> One word more in this long email--wire your tig with a full airgap in
> the primary line. The disconnect boxes required by code only break the
> power legs, and lightning can travel up through the ground wiring and
> fry your circuitry. So either put a plug in and pull it in lightning
> storms (same as your computers) or rig some other kind of break in the
> line. Word from my lincoln mechanic.
>
> Cheers,
>
> JRF
> >
> >
> > Justin Fisher wrote:
> >
> > > I am about to buy a tig welder, and trying to determine the best
> > > choice.  Advice, warnings, would be appreciated!
> > >
> > > I have 230V available (single phase), but would like a portable
> > unit.
> > > The Miller Maxstar 150 looks a little hard to believe, it so small
> > and
> > > light.  The Econotig has all the bells and whistles, but I haven't
> > > found a good run-down of pros and cons.
> > >
> > > Anyway, I've got a project coming up that I'd like to tig, so I
> > just
> > > have to buy something!
> > >
> > >
> > > --Justin
> > > Celtic art & artifact: www.electriccelt.com
> > > 01532
> > >
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