Miller TIG welder decision

[farmtruc]

Hey guys I'm looking to buy now and I was hoping you guys could answer some of these questions.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...ductguide.html

I've been reading the miller site and I was wondering how important is the Auto Arc feature is, I see the less expensive welders don't have it, the Econotig and Syncrowave 180. Sounds like a nice feature, but I've never TIG welded before so...

I'm looking at the Dynasty 200 SD. Seems like this will tackle most of my tasks. Any input? Seems to be nice and compact and I can add features to it later.

If the AutoArc isn't needed, the Syncrowave SD Runner is my next choice.
Any thoughts on that?

Also, does the Dynasty come with everything needed, hoses, torch, pedal, etc?

thanks for any input,

allen

[Tim Z]

farmtruc, i use miller stick machines at work a lot and my company has had the same ones for years with absolutey no problems, great reliability. i also am in a TIG class at my union hall (IM a pipefitter) and our hall only uses miller, i think they are worth the money. no work today, but tommorrow ill try and find out about the features you are talkin bout, good luck.

[NITROUS]

Allen, I use a Miller Thunderbolt to heli arc with and you have to touch the metal to start the arc. As far as the auto arc goes, it makes for a little better weld start. Either one works well. I crank the amps up as far as I can and weld fast and get a perfect weld everytime. The only disadvantage with heli arc is you have to have the metal very clean where as with a wire feed or stick you don't. When I notched my frame, I used heli arc'ed it and it was a bitch because of the under coating inside the frame. I like the tungsten because it lasts along time. JMHO.........

[farmtruc]

Thanks for the input guys!

Based on the link to the Miller site above, what welder would you get and why?

I want to use it for exhaust, tubing, light metal welding, flanges, etc.

I do have my MIG welder I've used for a long time, so that will be for non cosmetic stuff, I guess. I just want to be able to weld two pieces of tubing together, be it mild steel or aluminum and have it look very nice with a thin weld.

thanks again,

allen

[GMCwantsLS1]

Allen did you ever use the gas on your MIG? I think it might do much better than the flux core stuff. Might be worth the $100 just to try it. I'm sure you will want TIG sometime, but I thought TIG was more for structural welding like frames and stuff. I need to buy the gas for my MIG machine too.

[NITROUS]

Allen, the machine you're looking at is a very nice. With the foot pedal you'll have full control of the amps you need to weld anything. The TIG welder is awsome with aluminum and thin metals if you use the correct tungsten. You can weld without filler metal and Argon is cheap.

[farmtruc]

Originally posted by GMCwantsLS1@Dec 26 2005, 08:36 PM
Allen did you ever use the gas on your MIG? I think it might do much better than the flux core stuff. Might be worth the $100 just to try it. I'm sure you will want TIG sometime, but I thought TIG was more for structural welding like frames and stuff. I need to buy the gas for my MIG machine too.

I wanted a tig for appearance and the ability to weld aluminum.
The mig I have is a decent, small Lincoln mig. I do use the flux core and belive it or not, most of the welds look better than others with gas. I used gas before and it was better, but not that much.

I like the mig because it's cheap to use, easy to weld and does a decent job, just not as good as I'd like.

thanks again,

allen

[RedHeartbeat]

I have the little lincoln 110v MIG welder with the argon gas kit. It works great and welds clean. I've tried to aluminum weld with it but wasn't successful. Maybe more practice is needed. I've got stainless, aluminum and all the different liners. I tried the flux core welding and I never had a problem with slag. I don't know anything about TIG other than I WANT ONE!!!!

[NITROUS]

Greg, that's all we use out at BP in our weld shop. They run off of 460V so you can imagine the welds that get done. Mine is only a 220V without a pedal but it gets the job done.

[farmtruc]

Hey guys thanks for the info, I think I've decided on two welders,

This one: http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...rowave_180_sd/
The Runner welder comes with everthing I need, at least it seems to.
Torch, regulators, pedal, cables, etc. Anything else I need to get welding besides the tank? This one is about $1700 on the net.

OR

Here's the other one:

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/dynasty_200/
I'm looking at the SD
This one has the Lift Arc and other features that seem attractive.
This one is about $2300 or so.

Does anyone know if the Dynasty 200 SD comes with the pedal, torch, cables, regulator, etc?

How thick of a metal will these things weld?

thanks again,

allen