Ranger 225 for tig?

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Hey all,I am considering my first tig machine.  I have taken training at lincoln electric in the GTAW process.  I was wondering how the ranger 225 is as a tig machine.  At 2500.00 it seems like a lot of value for stick, mig, and tig with engine and generator in one.  Also considering the Precision Tig 225 for a bit less but wondering how they are so close in price?Thanks,Andrew
Reply:The ranger 225 is an engine driven stick welder/generator capable of tig and mig welding.To tig weld on this machine you would need a high frequency adaptor and to mig weld a wire feeder.It does not come with either hence the price..hope this helps.felonCaution lurker lives here" hmmm That is serious,pass the ganja and pick up a  24 of MGD"
Reply:Originally Posted by Felonyass MonkThe ranger 225 is an engine driven stick welder/generator capable of tig and mig welding.To tig weld on this machine you would need a high frequency adaptor and to mig weld a wire feeder.It does not come with either hence the price..hope this helps.felon
Reply:I'll second Hammack!The Ranger GXT will be my choice of machines if and when I upgrade!#1. If you don't like what I wrote, or if it offends you, then don't read it!#2. I am living life the way I see fit, if you don't like the way I'M living, tough sh**!
Reply:As far as price, after the $2500 dollar machine you would next need to purchase the high freq, tig torch, foot pedal/hand amp, etc. If you are doing work inside a shop or around a 220 outlet, for $2000 you can get a complete tig package with the precision tig 225 on a cart with the tig torch foot pedal built in high freq AND a tig pulser. The precision tig 225 is one of the best tig rigs out there right now as far as air cooled machines go and i would recomend it over running a tig off an enginge drive machine.
Reply:YOU don't need HI-FREQUENCY to TIG with any of the Lincoln RANGERS.The old Ranger 8 is a 225 amp machine and welds better and hotter than the GXT because the RANGER 8 has copper windings and the GXT has aluminum windings.
Reply:"YOU don't need HI-FREQUENCY to TIG with any of the Lincoln RANGERS"    If youre not planning to tig aluminum that is.felonCaution lurker lives here" hmmm That is serious,pass the ganja and pick up a  24 of MGD"
Reply:YOU don't need hi-freq. to weld alum. at all.
Reply:When I worked at a paper mill I saw them tig weld carbon steel, carpenter 20, Hastelloy, Titanium, and stainless steel with a stick welder and tig rig - no foot pedal and no HF and the welds looked as good as any I have seen.  I think it is nice to have the pedal and HF but I have seen if you are really skilled you can do without them. These guys had to weld under sometimes very adverse conditions. But they always got us up and running. I never really appreciated their skill to the degree I should have until I started trying to weld a little on my own and learning about welding.
Reply:"YOU don't need hi-freq. to weld alum. at all. "Well inform me ,what to use to weld aluminum?Caution lurker lives here" hmmm That is serious,pass the ganja and pick up a  24 of MGD"
Reply:DC electrode negative, argon, scratch start. It is more difficult with the DC I guess because you don't get the cleaning action you get with the reversal of polarity using AC. But I never saw a weld fail and they looked mighty good to me. I have never tried it because I have a Syncrowave 200. Some of the pro welders on here can give you some good info on how it is done. You will need to get a tig torch for this that allows you to use DC.
Reply:"DC electrode negative, argon, scratch start."Well now i never would have thought.However i was taught that as soon as your tungsten touches the aluminum your contaminated and you may as well kiss your weld goodbye,so has this changed?Is there a new system that works like a  hf machine ?FelonCaution lurker lives here" hmmm That is serious,pass the ganja and pick up a  24 of MGD"
Reply:Sorry Monk, I didn't mean to sound like I was talking down to you, but thought maybe you were a newbie like me. There are a lot of guys with experience on here that can give you the skinny much better than me, so I will let them tell ya.
Reply:"I didn't mean to sound like I was talking down to you,"I didnt think that atall,The little bit of aluminum that i do weld these days i use the spoolgun so i am not "up to date" on any new techniquesFelonCaution lurker lives here" hmmm That is serious,pass the ganja and pick up a  24 of MGD"
Reply:6010 indeed you are correct.scratch start don't mean to scratch your tungsten on base metal, hold tungsten off base metal  1/8 to1/4'' and scratch with filler rod
Reply:Originally Posted by RUSSELL6010 indeed you are correct.scratch start don't mean to scratch your tungsten on base metal, hold tungsten off base metal  1/8 to1/4'' and scratch with filler rod
Reply:Hammack,  strike the tungstun with filler rod kinda like a match, keeping contact with the work.
Reply:I know how to scratch start.  My point was that I have never seen aluminum done with scratch start that the tungsten wasn't contaminated.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:I got my info from the ranger 8,gxt,sa 200&300 classic settin in my shop.I repair my own machines.The only time it is more to your advantage to shield with helium is strict code pipe and tube welds.
Reply:Scratch start is done that way in the field everywhere allday evryday.Just trying to save the ol'boy a few bucks.People these days are always getting conned into buying S@#T they don't even need.
Reply:Russel, That must be a one of a kind machine.  The generator in my GXT is copper, and according to my repair man who is an authorized Lincoln tech all the GXT's were copper wound that he has ever seen which has been a ton of them.  Considering Lincoln specifically advertises the GXT as copper wound I think I would take yours to the nearest dealer and have them exchange it.  If they sold an aluminum wound machine advertised as a copper then it opens them up for some serious false advertisement claims.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:The generator in my GXT is copper, and according to my repair man who is an authorized Lincoln tech all the GXT's were copper wound that he has ever seen which has been a ton of them
Reply:I know about three dozen gxt's that are ALL aluminum.I would not say it if it ain't true.Like I said before just trying to help a guy find the right equipment without spending alot of money on equipment he don't need.
Reply:I forgot to tell you hammock I work on mine and a bunch of other guys machines .
Reply:Russel, don't get me wrong, I'm not calling you a liar by any means.  Just saying that I have never seen one myself or even heard of one in my area that was aluminum wound.  That doesn't mean that there isn't.  Perhaps the first one were and they changed over to copper later on.  I will say that I have been extremely pleased with the GXT I purchased.  One other added benefit is that it has the 6 pin remote plug standard so that you can hook a foot pedal to it while tigging and adjust amperage.  It does come in handy.  However this does all depend on just what you will be working on.  If you are primarily around a shop then I would not go with an engine drive.  I personally would reccomend a good shop machine.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......MR.HAMMACK I can install the 6 pin plugs  for your remote,amptrol,or spooll gun.
Reply:I always like a remote in shop or not.I prefer to runto run MY portable machine no matter where I work.
Reply:MR.HAMMACK if you need to contact me my number is 13183323441 thank you RUSSELL.
Reply:What does a GXT with tig module cost roughly? Is that better than running an inverter shop machine on a generator if I had to be mobile?Last edited by hpfiend; 10-09-2009 at 11:17 AM.
Reply:Soooo.....Getting back on topic here:I don't know what the GXT or the Ranger 8 has in it. I have a Ranger 9 and a High Freq. Tig module. I have found the high freq to be extremely reliable. It should be. i took it apart and let me tell you, there is almost nothing in that box. But it also has the hookups for water, foot pedal and gas.So I run a water cooled tig torch. It is a decent running setup, for what it is. I imagine that that ranger 8 is similarHere is my biggest complaint though. It is a basic setup. It does not have any AC balance. Whatever AC you get from the power source is the AC you get. I would like to be able to adjust it. My second complaint is that there is no pulsing if you wanted it. If I had the money back when I bought it, I would have bought a dedicated tig setup. I didn't.I just bought a PowerMig 350MP and it has DC Tig capabilities, but it does not have AC.....so again, I am still without. But it does do pulsed mig, and pulse on pulse for the Push/Pull gun on aluminum. Again, I didn't have the money and I was looking for something other than dedicated TIG at the time. WHEN I get the money, I am going to buy the baddest TIG setup available for 240volts single phase. If it happens to be a Lincoln, AWESOME, if not...oh well, I guess I will paint the blue case red. And after all that rambling, my point is, pay for what you REALLY want the machine for. If you want TIG, get a good tigger, don't compromise. You will wish you hadn't later. If you WANT to be able to do almost everything and do it almost anywhere, go with the ranger 8 or GXT or like me, a Ranger 9 or a ranger 10.Lincoln Power Mig 210MP MIGLincoln Power Mig 350MP - MIG and Push-PullLincoln TIG 300-300Lincoln Hobby-Weld 110v  Thanks JLAMESCK TIG TORCH, gas diffuser, pyrex cupThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 101My brain
Reply:Thank you for your informative reply joker! Exactly what I was looking for... it is very important for me to be able to set the AC wave balance- pulsing I don't think will be as important but most of the dedicated tig machines I am looking at do that as well...So dedicated shop tig now and generator or ranger down the road.