Looking for a mid priced Tig welder... all i can find is low priced to high?

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ok so I recently felt that i wanted to start doing TIG welding. so... Harbor Frieght sells a 220 V one for 199.99 and then i checked out what something a little more heavy duty might be able to do for me... well... they cant do jack for me when they jump in price to over a thousand dollars Anyone know a midline priced setup that can do a nice clean weld, and probably wont let me down.or is there no such thing as a 500 or 600 dollar tig welder? would the Harbor freight 220v probably be a piece of junk at 199.99? any experience with it :/forgot to say what ill be doing with this unit, heh not really useful unless i tell you that well ill be using it for body work on muscle car era vehicles and hopefull using it on many other things, thanks,AlLast edited by Journier; 02-27-2005 at 08:43 PM.
Reply:junk bye a name brand. there gonna start at about 1,000 dollars for a good brand new miller or linclon. htp makes nice welders two adn they start out at about 700 and go up to about 2500 good luck with the search
Reply:well which ones do you guys have or have had that were very good, but sold to update  could you name a few different versions i could keep an eye out for used? be really helpful, 1 grand or more is just way out of the price range, once i sell a few cars THEN maybe edit***Miller Maxstar 200DX / Tig and Stick i just found this on ebay , am i looking at a decent one? or.....?Last edited by Journier; 02-27-2005 at 09:07 PM.
Reply:I agree, stay away from the harbor freight unit.  You also might want to consider a new unit so that you have a warranty, customer service, and tech help.  Unless the person you buy from can give you all this with purchase.  Depending on how big a unit you want with what bells and whistles you want will determine price.  HTP has some units starting at about $600 and go up depending on what you want.  Lincoln has some that start at about $850 and up.  Cant say about Miller, never was too impressed with their products.  You can check out HTP at www.usaweld.com and another site that is good is www.weldingmart.com.  Good luck.A few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:thats a nice machine but itsonly dc so u can not do alluminum of magensum
Reply:true, forgot about that, you would need ac and dc and those do run quite a bit moreA few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:keep the info going, do you guys all run the big bad 4,000 dollar machines? or... let me know what you guys are running, so i can go hunting pawn shops and ebay, and.... garage sales
Reply:I wish I had 4000 dollars to spend on welding equipment.  I do mostly only mild steel tig, so I usually run a manual tig torch with gas valve off of my engine drive or my dc electric machines.  If I weld aluminum its usually thick and I use a spoolgun off of my engine drive.  You might check some welding shops for good used trade ins.A few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:Do you need to or plan to tig aluminum?A few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:One thing about springing the 2500 for the Dynasty DX200 is that it is a power miser and very portable. Would work well with extension cords if needed and Hawk from the Miller board says it acts more like a 250 in the power dept due to the focussed arc. I like the idea of being able to use sharp tungston for alum. 20A service vs 70 or 100 for some others has some appeal.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:well.... i possible would end up doing some kind of aluminum work.there was a tranny i was looking at recently that had some broken brackets on it but this is going to be... 90% steel work, dont think i would be working on much anything else.
Reply:OK, I pieced my TIG together for about $600 total. Old Miller transformer 300 amp with HF and AC, water cooler, torch, remote pedal, argon bottle and regulator, and some consumables. Doesn't have some of the fancy new wave control features of the latest and greatest but it is the smoothest DC welder I've ever used.It can be done on the cheap if you are willing to work at it.
Reply:thats a possibility, but i have no idea how a TIG works... hmmm plans on the internet possibly?, going to check now,How did you go about setting yours up?
Reply:i have the invertec ac/dc 205 very nice mahcine i got it a couple of years ago no probs at all very nice. im going to get the water cooler for i tho. torch gets a little hot at 200 amps!!
Reply:You have to look at what you are buying, what you need to do, and what you can spend.  The Harbor Freight unit at $199 is probably a DC scratch start machine that is around 100 to 120 amps.  You will have a 9V or 17V torch, which means you will have to manually start and stop the argon gas.  Also, the unit probably does not have remote amperage control.  And it has a 90 day warranty.As you go up in price, you go from scratch start (good possibility of tungsten contamination) to a touch start, where the machine senses tungsten contact with the work piece and when it breaks,  applies the welding power.  Less chance of contamination.  You will still have a valve on the torch, it will still be DC (no aluminum) and no remote amperage.  These machines will be in the $500 to $800 range.  Guys that do stainless steel kitchen fab work use these alot.Going up a notch from there, you can get a DC inverter with HF starting and remote amperage control for about $1300 or so.  This would be something like HTP's Invertig 160DC.  Remote amperage control is really nice.For about the same money you can get a low end AC/DC transformer Hobart TIGmate 150 or the Econotig 150 - the problem is the machine has a high and a low, so you can't run the full amperage range.  Also, the machine does not have a very good low end and I don't believe these are square wave units.  Does offer remote, and will let you do aluminum.  Also gas a gas valve and HF starting.  I don't think you have the ability to change the balance on the machine.If you go up to $1700 you can get a Lincoln 185 or a Miller 180 AC/DC transformer based unit.  Have good low ends.  Will let you do aluminum, has remote and HF starting.  180 amp machines.  200 lbs and 70 amp 220 required.If you go up to $2300, you can get something state of the art - HTP Invertig 201 - 200 amp AC/DC inverter - Adjustable AC frequency from 20 to 200Hz, Adjustable AC balance from 10% to 90%, complete with foot pedal, gas valve and pulse.  70 lbs and only a 30 amp 220 line required.  The wave is so square on an inverter, that once the AC arc starts, the HF shuts off.  You don't need the HF on to restart the arc when it goes through the zero point.  You can even touch start AC if you want.  The machine also has pulse and lots of other features that you probably won't need.  25ft torch and foot pedal is standard.If you want an AC/DC inverter machine that will run on 110 and 220, then you have to drop about $2300 for a Miller Dynasty 200 or a Lincoln V205T - and that is just for the power source only.  Figure about $2800 with a pedal and torch.  Or for that money, you can get an HTP 201 with a water cooler.If what you want to do, and what you need to spend don't match up, sometimes you are better off keeping your money in your pocket.  Tig machines are pretty complex and relatively expensive to have repaired, so be a smart buyer when looking for a used machine.  But you can find some good deals if you can spend the time searching.
Reply:Definitely stay away from the Econotig.  The low end is terrible and the machine does not really deliver what it was supposed to do.  I know that the welding shop I deal with who is a Miller dealer who will not order or sell the unit because of its short commings.  They do not want a dissatified customer.  It all comes down to how hard you want to play and how much green $$$ you can afford to spend to play with.A few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:I have used the Harbor Freight unit and I like it for the price.  It does not look as if it was made with cheap parts.  The gas shuts off after a few seconds after you have removed the arc.  I have to get use to the scratch start.  I'm planning on adding the amp control to the torch so I can control the weld as I go.