Gunsmithing New tig welder advice

[6cmShooter]

I've been looking at purchasing a new tig welder and have been looking at the everlast tig welders but don't know how well they are. I've always used Miller or lincolns in school and at work but don't have the budget to get one of those. Main use will be to do some pin and welds on a few barrels and some other small projects. Has anyone used an everlast welder or have a suggestion of one that is in the 6-700 dollar range.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

That is a very good question... I am a retired welder. When the lower cost welding machines came on the market the contractors bought the less expensive ones and sent them out to the job sites. Our welds were all X-Ray quality pipe welds. Cost / man hours to make repairs soon offset any cost savings. I was chosen many times to go and make repairs on someone else's weld... If there was an old Lincoln SA-400 diesel welder on the job, it became mine to do the repair.

For $700 you can pick up an older TIG machine (Lincoln, Miller) that will run on single phase power and have a foot peddle and the rest of the accessories.

Link is for an old Linde... It was a Cadillac in it's day... Never hurts to make some offers.

TIG WELDER AC/DC - tools - by owner - sale

Linde UCC-305 Power Supply. Do it all with this welding machine. AC/DCSP/DCRP. TIG; STICK; and MIG with the proper wire feeder (not included). Output to 380 amps AC. Will run on 120/240 single phase...

phoenix.craigslist.org

 

[gigamortis]

If you are only looking for DC Tig for steel and stainless, used Miller Maxstar inverter units are fairly common on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. I have seen some of them going for sub $1000 frequently. These units can run on 120/240v and can have an output as low as 5 amps for the really delicate stuff.

 

[TRPrecision]

I have used an Everlast AC/DC machine. It worked very well on steel, chromoly, and stainless in DC. In AC for aluminum it was pretty worthless. I got much better performance in all modes from my older Lincoln 175 square wave. These can be found pretty often on Craigslist right around 1k with all the goodies.

 

[LRI]

I've had a Lincoln Tig 200 Square wave machine here at the shop and at home now for almost 5 years. I'm just smart enough to be extremely dangerous with the thing, but thus far they've done me right. The biggest thing I find is not being a cheapskate on things like a helmet, diopters, and a good pair of gloves.

Being able to see and be comfortable while welding is 90% of the battle for me anymore.

 

[gigamortis]

I've had a Lincoln Tig 200 Square wave machine here at the shop and at home now for almost 5 years. I'm just smart enough to be extremely dangerous with the thing, but thus far they've done me right. The biggest thing I find is not being a cheapskate on things like a helmet, diopters, and a good pair of gloves.

Being able to see and be comfortable while welding is 90% of the battle for me anymore.

I'm right there with you on the diopters! I normally wear +2.0 readers as my regular daily glasses, and I run a +1.0 cheater lens in my welding helmet for the fine up close detail welding. If you can't see and are not comfortable with work positioning, your welding quality will suffer.

Once I went to an inverter power source that was capable of pulse TIG, I don't know how I ever got along without the pulse function. Much less heat gets accumulated into small parts since you are only pouring on the high amps when you dab the filler. I pulse at 50% pulse width, background amps at 25%, and pulse every .7 sec. The pulse rate times my dab rate very well.

 

[xdeano]

I've been looking at TIG welders myself and I think the one I'm going to get is the Eastwood 200 digital.

Eastwood Elite 200 Amp LCD Digital AC/DC TIG Welder

Designed with precision in mind, the digital controls and LCD readout of the Eastwood Elite TIG 200 Digital AC/DC welder let you to dial in your exact settings.

www.eastwood.com

They have a lot of things that the more spendy welders have.

Deano

 

[FisherT&C]

I have a miller maxstar 150 I've used for the last 10 years. I've mostly used it for general gunsmithing so not heavy production. It has worked very well for bolt handles, building up worn parts, 1911 work, AK work etc.
Take a look at Hobart, they're stuff seems to be very well made. The biggest difference in higher end welders is the duty cycle, they're simply more rugged with better components that generate a finer arc.

 

[Simonsza1]

Lincoln square wave. I know I know it’s double your budget but dam is it an awesome tig welder. Should cost twice the amount it does. Buy once cry once as we always say on the hide. Good luck.

 

[XP1K]

Friend of mine uses an Everlast machine on a daily basis. He drug up on his day job as a qc and went full time into the welding and fabrication business for himself so the machine see's some action. I believe it's a 255ext. That said, it has had some issues with the cooling fans. Every now and then a fan will bite the dust. Think he's replaced three of them since he's had it and he's probably had it two or three years now. When one let's go he just points a shop fan at it until Everlast sends him a replacement fan. They've been good about shipping him parts pretty quick and at no cost to him.

I've always had a hard time giving money to the chicoms, even before they unleashed their bioweapon on the world, so I bought a miller dynasty 210sd. Not near as many features as the Everlast for half again the money. He rags on me for spending more money for less machine but, mine hasn't layed down on me yet.

I know the dynasty is way out of your price range but if you don't need ac capabilities you could go with the maxstar line. As others have mentioned the duty cycle on the miller's and Lincoln will be much better. My friends Everlast is a 60% duty cycle machine. My miller is 100% to 175 amps. 60% up to max amperage. There's times when I wish I had sprung for the dynasty 280 when welding heavy aluminum, sometimes 210 is just enough to piss you off. But the 280 was out of my price range.