Well I did it!

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I ordered my Thermal Arc 181i last night.....now all I have to do is wait for UPS to get it here
Reply:Congratulations!  Should prove to be a great & versatile machine.  Looking forward to your feedback.Rick V 1 Airco Heliwelder 3A/DDR3 CTC 70/90 amp Stick/Tig Inverters in Parallel1 Lincoln MIG PAK 151 Oxy-Acet
Reply:Well it is here and I had some play time. Nothing to report about performance since I'm starting out.But I can say that I'm impressed with the out of the box quality! The unit, cables and manual are impressive to me.
Reply:Good job on the purchase. I bought mine a few weeks earlier, so I have had a few weeks to play. Very impressive unit for the price and multifuntionality. One thing I have noticed is that the guide on the inside panel for quick reference may not suit your needs. I had to come way down on my wire feed speed to keep from blowing holes constantly with FCAW. Let us know how it goes for you.
Reply:RAD_Designs,How funny you mention that the guide seems a bit off for FCAW......I just thought it was me. I also found that the wire feed rate seemed high, plus I was getting a lot of splatter. The guide suggest for 3/16" plate a feed rate of 650, and voltage of 25. I decreased mine to ~400 and 21V.Did you also have to decrease then voltage a bit?
Reply:I did actually adjust the voltage too. I was using 1/8" which suggested 430 in/min and 20.8V. I came down to 320 in/min and 19V. Stick funtion on the unit works like a dream too. I haven't taken the time to get my tanks for MIG and TIG yet, but looking forward to some tig action.