Help me choose a welder
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Well we need a new welder on the farm, and i want something i can do some fab work for myself and friends with. Right now we have a mig and a really old stick, but i want a tig for aluminum and stainless. We already have a generator so no need for a engine driven welder. So all of you welders out there, please, give me you expertise on selecting a new welder. Also i have never used a tig before, but am pretty well versed in mig, stick, and gas, but i do plan on learning the whole tig process, which i am assuming is alot like gas. We have 3-phase power at the farm so thats not a problem, but i would like something that i can bring into town and use if i needed, so being able to use 1 or 3 phase is a plus.
my dad really likes miller, and that is about all i have used, besides a aluminum spool gun that was mounted on a lincoln.
so i was thinking, why not get a multiprocess welder so i can do all of the above?
i guess this is the welder i am looking at.
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/multiprocess/xmt_304_cc_cv/ -
Depends on if you want an inverter machine like the Dynasty or a standard transformer machine like the Syncrowave
The inverter machines are nice for being small, having a ton of features, and less power consumption.....
But that being said in my couple years at school we always seemed to have atleast one inverter machine at a time giving issues.... the transformer machines just run and run
The new transformer machines like the Miller Syncrowave and the Lincoln Precision Tig are no slouch though, they also have some nice features ..... I have a Precision Tig 225 and love it
Dont think you can go wrong with either the Miller or Lincoln, both are top notch machines....
Inverter machines are more money; you need to weigh the pros and cons of each and look at your budget to make a decision
IMO for a hobby welder on a farm where you are not going to be moving the machine from location to location (stay in one shop) and will not be welding 24-7 i would suggest a machine like the Syncrowave or the Precison Tig
For aluminum you are going to want atleast a 200 amp machine
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zbrown;292870 wrote:
Depends on if you want an inverter machine like the Dynasty or a standard transformer machine like the SyncrowaveThe inverter machines are nice for being small, having a ton of features, and less power consumption.....
But that being said in my couple years at school we always seemed to have atleast one inverter machine at a time giving issues.... the transformer machines just run and run
The new transformer machines like the Miller Syncrowave and the Lincoln Precision Tig are no slouch though, they also have some nice features ..... I have a Precision Tig 225 and love it
Dont think you can go wrong with either the Miller or Lincoln, both are top notch machines....
Inverter machines are more money; you need to weigh the pros and cons of each and look at your budget to make a decision
IMO for a hobby welder on a farm where you are not going to be moving the machine from location to location (stay in one shop) and will not be welding 24-7 i would suggest a machine like the Syncrowave or the Precison Tig
For aluminum you are going to want atleast a 200 amp machine
but you cant mig with the syncrowave and dynasty. we will probably stick with miller brand just because we have always had good luck with them and are pretty use to them as far as dialing in the settings and stuff. the xmt 304 is a 300A machine, so that should be enough for aluminum
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Oh and about the CV/CC power sources (multi function machine)
I looked into these aswell....
and by the time you get a feeder setup for GMAW and all the accessories you could just about have a dedicated CC (gtaw/smaw) machine and a dedicated CV (gmaw) machine
also CC/CV power sources like you posted are inverters
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zbrown;292875 wrote:
LOL, you don't already have a GMAW machine on the farm??why would you want two?
ha its getting old and feeble lol
being as i am in phoenix till the 13th, i dont know exactly what went wrong with it, but my dad said it in these exact words, "just took a crap on us", so who knows what actually went wrong, but it was a smaller one anyways and you couldnt really penetrate much with it. when we needed to do some thicker steel we just used my uncles. but being as we are basically starting another farm and putting up a new shop 50miles away from our main farm and 60 miles from my uncles farm, it would be nice just to have a all in 1 unit.
its not like we will be welding 24 hours a day, and im sure miller as decent warranties on their stuff
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