ESAB Miniarc (161lts and 180i)

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I recently bought a Miniarc Rogue 180i which I'm really liking. It runs every rod I've thrown at it, which includes:1/8" Lincoln 5p+ 60101/8" HYW Brick Red  6010 (Ebay)1/8" Lincoln Fleetweld 180 60111/8" Lincoln Fleetweld 70141/8" Lincoln Excalibur MR 70181/8" Hobart 60113/32" Lincoln Excalibur MR 70183/32" Forney 60111/16" Hobart 60111/16" Hobart 70181/16" Washington Alloy 6013ESAB currently has a promotion if you buy a Miniarc Rogue where they send you 5 lbs. of rod,I submitted to get some Sureweld 1/8" 6010 to try, and would like to try Sureweld 7108, it hassome graphite ends on it that evidently make it easier to start.So far this little 18lb. welder is living up to it's claims.I also bought a CK Worldwide 17 Flexhead w/valve torch to use for the lift-arc Tig, and got anSSC pedal with an ESAB 8-pin plug on it. Although not a lot of features, I don't normally use verymany features on my Tig, although sometimes use pulse on my other machine, I find the Miniarcdoes a dandy job at the Tig also.I know there are more than a few Miniarc 161lts owners on WeldingWeb, and since these weldersare so similar I added the 161lts in the subject of this thread. It also seems that whenever stickwelders are mentioned, a lot of old transformer machines are mentioned, so figure a thread ofour own for the Miniarc is well suited.Here's some 7108 I was padding beads on last night, 1/8" Excalibur at 130 amps, Hot Start at 6,Arc Force at 0 (both got -10 to +10), I've also ran Arc Force at -4 but think 0 runs smoother. Onsome scrap 3/16" plate.

I primarily bought the Miniarc as a Stick machine, but here's some Tig on the sideof some .093" wall tube. I believe about 88 amps.

Would be curious to hear what type of stick and/or Tig you're doing withyour Miniarcs. I'll be doing my first project with mine in a week or two.
Reply:Try some aluminum stick.  The 161 run ally rods well.  I use 3/32 rods mostly.  6010, 6013, 7018.  I often weld on 120v.   I rarely tig with it.  The 160 fits well in the Rigid rolling tool box from home depot with space for rods and toolsI had their esab 150aps. Made in Italy. It was real on 120v.  However wound run aluminum rods.  I don't think it ran 6010 either.  Accepted a foot pedal.  But I found unnecessary for steel field work.  I still have the pedal. The machine died after 12 yrs.
Reply:

Originally Posted by TraditionalToolworks

I recently bought a Miniarc Rogue 180i which I'm really liking.
Reply:

Originally Posted by tapwelder

Try some aluminum stick.  The 161 run ally rods well.
Reply:

Originally Posted by shortfuse

Glad you gave a had good results on the new ESAB inverter.  I've been using my 161 LTS for about 5 years now, and love it.
Reply:

Originally Posted by tapwelder

Try some aluminum stick.  The 161 run ally rods well.
Reply:If you Tig weld without shielding gas/argon, you will melt the tungsten, contaminate the tungsten, contaminate the weld and burn up your Tig torch. Then you want to use a coated stick aluminum electrode for the filler metal to provide the shielding? This has to be one of the most absurd things I've ever read. Did you have a few too many wobbly pops when you wrote this?


Reply:

Originally Posted by Welder Dave

Did you have a few too many wobbly pops when you wrote this?


Reply:I didn't hear him mention no shielding gas. I think would have to do some bend tests or other destructive tests and compare it to Tig welding, stick welding and aluminum brazing with rods designed for it.
Reply:

Originally Posted by Welder Dave

I didn't hear him mention no shielding gas. I think would have to do some bend tests or other destructive tests and compare it to Tig welding, stick welding and aluminum brazing with rods designed for it.
Reply:How could you Tig weld without shielding gas like you were suggesting? What does an Idealarc have to do with anything?
Reply:Go troll somewhere else.
Reply:I guess it's easier to call me a troll than explain how you Tig weld without shielding gas.
Reply:

Originally Posted by Welder Dave

I guess it's easier to call me a troll than explain how you Tig weld without shielding gas.
Reply:Asking how you Tig weld without shielding gas is a reasonable question.
Reply:TTW, lighten up you miserable sod, and take the hit, you said something stupid, now get over yourself

It was a pretty funny comment to be fair.Back on topic, it's a sweet looking machine. Available in the UK as well. I especially like the digital amps display, too many little stick inverters just have a dial and a guess. I wouldn't buy a machine without a digital display nowadays.Last edited by Munkul; 10-28-2020 at 06:26 AM.
Reply:

Originally Posted by Munkul

TTW, lighten up you miserable sod, and take the hit, you said something stupid, now get over yourself


Reply:

Originally Posted by TraditionalToolworks

the way I got it to work was connect my ground clamp in the positive and my stinger in the negative, and then the only way I could get it to work was to connect my electrode in the ground clamp and connect my stinger to the plate I was welding to...kind of strange using the ground clamp as a stinger, but it worked.



Reply:Well it IS an ESAB so in my opinion all bets are off.

Thermal Arc 320SP ( Lorch )Cobra PythonsThermal Arc 300 AC/DC  ( Sanrex )ESAB 301i AC/DC  ( Lorch )Thermal Arc 161STL  ( WTL )Thermal Arc 190S  ( Sanrex )Cut Master 82, 42. Cut45 ( WTL )Victor Gas Apps.Boxes and boxes of welding crap.
Reply:

Originally Posted by TraditionalToolworks

But there's no worry, nobody will need to worry about what I say, I can walk away from BS on my own. Add me to the list of people that don't frequent WeldingWeb anymore, like in the thread where people wonder about members that don't come around
Reply:Do any of you guys know where I can find that emoji that shows a fella eating popcorn?