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I've had really good results with these two products for the weldment protection

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Fun Fact - Victor has a 10 year warranty on its gages and gage sets.

So of course one of my o2 regs crapped out at 11 years, and local dealer wont sell a rebuild kit unless you are "certified" ...


Whatever dude
:dizave

But instead they have a trade-in Program for a NEW EDGE 2.0 O2 reg, not Rebuilt, for $69.45 (Praxair account holders only) ,
which I thought to be more than fair - considering the parts (parts can be bought online if you look hard enough) and my time to do a rebuild.

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Then I had look at another set of our Regs and thought, why does this have a different dial size?

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Took me a quick minute for it to register it in this photo.

  • The top reg is MEDIUM Duty / Performer Series
  • The lower reg set on the tanks with larger dials is HEAVY DUTY / Journeyman Series


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We have Oxy Acetylene 1 set . Arc (AC) 2 Air cooled and 1 oil cooled, a 130 amp mig set up on gassless wire and a 170 amp mig gas c02 .
I have never owned a Tig welder , and as far as i am aware i need a Arc welder (DC) and tig torch kit etc.
Now I am cheap, and know cheap might not be ideal. But its the way i want to go.
I have done no research as such , as much as i have done is search ebay and amazon , and the small arc welders (DC) are linked to various tig torches and i know i need gas reg etc. i have co2 for the mig but can get argon( have argonshield cylinder) .So What is the cheapest way i can get a TIG setup working, and any advice links to what exactly i need. thanks. Matty.
 
matty said:
.....So What is the cheapest way i can get a TIG setup working, and any advice links to what exactly i need. thanks. Matty.
Click to expand...

I'd look closely at the top of the line (yes, I just said that :-) Harbor Freight TIG. I think it's a Vulcan. Actually not a bad machine for the price. Probably a good entry point to TIG.
 
matty said:
We have Oxy Acetylene 1 set . Arc (AC) 2 Air cooled and 1 oil cooled, a 130 amp mig set up on gassless wire and a 170 amp mig gas c02 .
I have never owned a Tig welder , and as far as i am aware i need a Arc welder (DC) and tig torch kit etc.
Now I am cheap, and know cheap might not be ideal. But its the way i want to go.
I have done no research as such , as much as i have done is search ebay and amazon , and the small arc welders (DC) are linked to various tig torches and i know i need gas reg etc. i have co2 for the mig but can get argon( have argonshield cylinder) .So What is the cheapest way i can get a TIG setup working, and any advice links to what exactly i need. thanks. Matty.
Click to expand...
a buddy highly recommends this for your TIG solution

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I don't want to sound like an elitist because I'm just a hobby welder, I don't do it for a living. I bought a Chinese ( northern tool, harbor freight, whatever you want to call it) plasma cutter years ago because it was half the price of a "real" one. It broke, nobody supports them... I've got a $700 piece of junk sitting in my loft waiting for a miracle, I guess.

My 20 year old Lincoln and Hobart machines haven't skipped a beat and get way more use than the Chinese machine ever did. Just my opinion and something to think about, but Chinese welders ( and 120v welders in general) are false economy.
- They're not gonna perform
-They're not gonna last
- You're gonna the up replacing them for one reason or another.

One or all of the above will happen, then you're off shopping and spending money again.


I'm not tool brand shaming. Some of my favorite tools aren't branded at all, but between watching buddies and my own experience, I won't be buying anymore Chinese welders, plasma cutters, etc.


$0.02
 
We use MILLER welders and HYPERHERM Plasma Cutters for that exact reason. They are not cheap, ie low cost.

I know that if I ever needs support or parts, they are as close as my local Dealer.
 
Me and the neighbor on a sunday morning welded this on his amazon cheaper than harbor crap flux core machine. Stupid trike has fallen 10 vertical ft and been flipped end over end way to many times. Beat to hell and back. Heavy go kart cradle attached to thin china metal bmx frame. Changed with 3 different engines including a hot mod but the welds still hold.
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Shinyribs said:
I don't want to sound like an elitist because I'm just a hobby welder, I don't do it for a living. I bought a Chinese ( northern tool, harbor freight, whatever you want to call it) plasma cutter years ago because it was half the price of a "real" one. It broke, nobody supports them... I've got a $700 piece of junk sitting in my loft waiting for a miracle, I guess.

My 20 year old Lincoln and Hobart machines haven't skipped a beat and get way more use than the Chinese machine ever did. Just my opinion and something to think about, but Chinese welders ( and 120v welders in general) are false economy.
- They're not gonna perform
-They're not gonna last
- You're gonna the up replacing them for one reason or another.

One or all of the above will happen, then you're off shopping and spending money again.


I'm not tool brand shaming. Some of my favorite tools aren't branded at all, but between watching buddies and my own experience, I won't be buying anymore Chinese welders, plasma cutters, etc.


$0.02
Click to expand...
You're not wrong. Lots of garbage out there. However I have used the Vulcan machines and they are actually pretty good. Get the cheap 2 year extended warranty and you've got a great starter machine.

That said, if you have the coin, sure, buy the big brands. Always gonna be better, but it's a cost/use balance.

MVI said:
We use MILLER welders and HYPERHERM Plasma Cutters for that exact reason. They are not cheap, ie low cost.

I know that if I ever needs support or parts, they are as close as my local Dealer.
Click to expand...

Yep. I use a Hobart GMAW transformer unit in the field. Heavy as Fu$k but never complains. Hypertherm plasma. I drive the crap out of it and it just keeps on going. But I make part of my living with them so they gotta work. For a home hobby setup I might chose different. But hey, if I was rich even my hobby stuff would be top shelf.
 
I also make part of my living welding, so for us it was no brainer to buy the top shelf mig,tig and plasma units.

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Time and again I've had conversations with friends about the starter machine idea. Not trying to act superior, I did the same thing. Little 120v welder that wasn't worth carrying out of the store. I was buying another machine within a month. I tell them my experience so they can learn from my mistakes. Doesn't work. They buy whatever and keep bringing stuff to me to have it welded in the meantime because their stuff either broke or doesn't have the oomph. "I just can't find the right settings". Ok buddy. I don't complain or give em a hard time about it, but in the back of my head..." I tried to warn you..."

As I get older and recover from my many mistakes I've come to realize that all those grumpy old guys that you couldn't drag information out of weren't really grumpy or gatekeeping info at all. They tried to tell me once, I didn't listen, they ain't got the patience to keep repeating themselves 😂

Dropping big money on tools is hard. Dropping semi big money on tools, watching that tool fail then dropping big money again is even harder. My Tig is super basic and I often find myself blaming the machine. It doesn't have 17 buttons and 6 knobs like the hero machines I see on YouTube. Then I sit my ass on the stool and tell myself to try harder. Suddenly, there's nothing wrong with my old square wave machine.

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