Eastwood 200 amp Tig

[Vanderbush7]

I have been wanting a Tig welder for a while now. I have been doing research and could not make my mind up, I have not too much Tig experience so I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy an expensive unit or not.

After some research and talking to others I bought Eastwood's 200 Amp Tig and also their Plasma cutter.

The Plasma cutter works exceptionally well. I have cut all sorts of metals, from 20 Ga. all the way up to 3/8" and I am very happy with this unit.

I have not had a chance to use Tig all that much. I've welded some steel with it, but have not tried aluminum. I also am extremely happy with this unit.

For what I do around my shop this combination is perfect, I would recommend these to anyone who has wanted an affordable set-up for doing small to medium jobs around their shop.

Ben

[Darrin's55]

Make sure you try aluminum as mine didn't work. They had to replace it.

I had a expert run mine and he said it was great for the price. He has not used the new machine on aluminum yet to give his input there.

[Vanderbush7]

Thanks Darrin I will try out aluminum later tonight.

[Alloy]

This is a great post. I was looking last night for a tig welder. I ran across an econo tig that's was on craig's list and found that they have been discontinued. And from what I found it didn't have very good reviews either.

I'm interested to see how yours works in aluminum.

[mickeywestsr]

It not only takes a good weld machine bit a good welder to stick aluminum together......:sign0020:

bowtie-trifive

[F.I. 57 Belair]

Ben, I hope you enjoy your new toys. I almost bought the Eastwood Tig then I ran onto the Dynasty DX300 that I bought. I have been practicing with mine and I am having a ball. There is a learning curve for sure but it is fun. I used mine this week to weld the mounting bracket for my 605 steering box to my frame and it looks great. I also used it to weld some Aluminum parts for my tilt column I am modifying. Aluminum is tricky but You will catch on with practice. The hardest part for me is coordinating my hands and also using the foot pedal at the same time. I catch my self lifting the TIG torch when the puddle gets to hot like I did with the oxygen acetylene torch, have to get myself trained to use the foot pedal to control heat. :anim_25:
Tom

[Rick_L]

I had a Miller Econotig for about 15 years as my first tig welder. Learned tig welding on it.

It was ok for steel 1/16" and up. But there were problems with it that other machines don't have.

There was no maximum amerage control. And it would only go down to about 30 amps or so. What this means is that with foot pedal on the "floor" you have the full amperage of the machine. If you're welding thin steel, you have only a small window of useable travel on the foot pedal, betwen minimum amps and the max you'd want for sheet metal.

For welding aluminum, it is a sine wave only machine and there are few adjustments. There are 2 maximum amperages available, about 80 amps on "low" and full amps (150 or so) on "high".

Turns out that with little adjustability, 80A is not enough to get a puddle on a lot of 1/16" aluminum joints. So you only have the high setting.

I bought a Thermal Arc 185 about 15 months ago. It is an inverter machine and the adjustments you can make are all the difference in the world, especially with aluminum. With it you have balance control, frequency control, and pulse. Frequency control helps a lot, as does balance control.

The Eastwood welder appears to have balance control, although they call it something dumb. It does not appear to have frequency control.

The Miller Dimension 165 welder, which they sell in place of the Econotig, has most of these same features. I'd have to go look at a spec sheet for the differences.

The Thermal Arc 185 has similar features to a Miller Dynasty 200X. A Miller 300X is pretty much the same as a 200X, just has more power.

Eastwood, about $800 (without the plasma cutter).
Miller Dimension 165, about $1200-1300.
Thermal Arc 185, I paid $2200 but I think they are about $2700 now. They have a Thermal Arc 200, it's about $200-300 more.
Miller Dynasty 200X, prices vary but the best internet price is about $3500-3700.
Miller Dynasty 300X, about $700-1000 more.

[Vanderbush7]

As of right now I have only had a few hours of seat time with tig welder. I've learned quite a bit already and gotten the hang of keeping my puddle flowing. I just have to get used the foot pedal and arc control with the torch.

My cousin was over the other night, he is an experienced welder so he came over to hang out and help me get started. He really liked the machine and thinks it will be perfect for what I do at my shop.

Thanks for input.
Ben

[57-Z06]

I bought a Miller Diversion 180, and am still practicing on steel. I'm happy with its performance, however haven't tried welding aluminum just yet. They said that I should get proficient with steel before moving on.

[MISURACO]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAMSOND-CT520DY-3-IN-1-PLASMA-CUTTER-TIG-ARC-MMA-WELDER-/180317492252?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item29fbc2941c

[Old Buzzard]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAMSOND-CT520DY-3-IN-1-PLASMA-CUTTER-TIG-ARC-MMA-WELDER-/180317492252?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item29fbc2941c

to the mfgr: Where do I get the parts/consumables I may need?

[Finman]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAMSOND-CT520DY-3-IN-1-PLASMA-CUTTER-TIG-ARC-MMA-WELDER-/180317492252?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item29fbc2941c


Just looked at Ramsonds website. None of their products are UL approved.

[Rick_L]

FWIW the photos on Ebay show a CE symbol on the front panel. CE is the European counterpart of UL, and in my experience, more stringent.

Also notice that it's a 2009 model. I wonder what's up with that?

And while it's cheaper than Eastwood's, it's DC only, so it won't weld aluminum.