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you will not be very happy with it unless you are ONLY going to be welding light guage metals.
 
Figured on that. I have an old reliable Miller SP 35 series MIG. And an Old Linde buzz box. I just don't like not having hifreq for Al, and not having a foot controller.

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Tony,

What's he going to use it for -and how often?

I weld a fair amount and went through 2 HF (Chicago Electric) units in 2 years -but not that same model though. I'm not impressed with the HF units at all.

For TIG, a foot pedal is almost a must-have. I TIG mostly AL and most jobs would get killed at the finishing edge w/o a foot pedal to back off. 165A is pretty good for most things and should do 1/4 steel no problem. You can always do two passes or do a 20% helium mix and pick up 20% more heat with no bad effect at all on the electrode if he ever needs to push it. -Common practice and I do all AL TIG that way.

If he buys it, get the extended warranty for sure.

Ray

PS: You gotta love the red tombstones. Do you have the AC/DC unit?
 
BTW: A lot of people are getting good mileage out of these: http://www.eastwood.com/tig200dc-welder.htm

I have Everlast equipment (www.everlastgenerators.com) and used the daylights out of it this year on both TIG and stick -and a little plasma. Most of the stick work was in the 150 A range for a couple days straight and I had a couple days straight of 190A AL TIG (1/2 and 3/4" plate). -Never skipped a beat. I use the machine weekly for one thing or another. It's been rock solid.
 
Ray, nothing specific in mind right now that I know of, and it won't see a lot of use. More if I borrow it. Definitely agree on the foot pedal. I used to run a Syncrowave 250, with foot control. An acquaintance uses a big Miller with water cooled torch, but he does everything standing up, so he's used to the torch wheel control.

That Everlast do high frequency for Al?
 
Yes, I believe all but one of the everlast machines do AC and most have pulsed AC which is great for thin stuff. They use all standard WP-type consumables too. They're a little more expensive though but still half the cost of big blue or red -and they have a 5 year repair warranty. I have the TIG/Stick/Plasma combo unit due to shop space considerations. The unit is pretty heavy though even though they call it portable. IBGT not analog. Real-estate on the front panel is cramped with about 15 dials for all the functions. -Was worried about getting an import job and despite the little gripes, am so far very pleased. Spent a lot of time researching them because I was tired of the HF units breaking.

EDIT: The first link is to the Eastwood welders. Not all do AC and the ones that do AC are fixed frequency at (I believe) 90 Hz. The Everlast have far more usability. Pretty sure the freq on mine goes to like 250 Hz... -Not even sure what needs that kind of cycle... 60xx AL likes 120 with 40% polarity cleaning.


Tony Wells said:
Ray, nothing specific in mind right now that I know of, and it won't see a lot of use. More if I borrow it. Definitely agree on the foot pedal. I used to run a Syncrowave 250, with foot control. An acquaintance uses a big Miller with water cooled torch, but he does everything standing up, so he's used to the torch wheel control.

That Everlast do high frequency for Al?
Click to expand...
 
Well, I may just end up building one. I ran across a set of plans for one a while back, and it was a pretty full featured machine.
 
Good luck there...

LOL: You just brought back memories of my early 70's heathkit days... -When everyone wanted a kick-but stereo amp.



Tony Wells said:
Well, I may just end up building one. I ran across a set of plans for one a while back, and it was a pretty full featured machine.
Click to expand...
 
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