Chinese / eBay Tig's and Plasma cutters

[me3@neuralfibre.com]

I'm thinking of buying one of these eBay Tig's / Plasma cutters if I can convince the minister for war and finance.

There are a few varieties out there with all sorts of claims.
Some variance on the price too. Some models regularly go for $1400, others as low at $850 - all with simialar (ish) specs

Also the option for the tig and plasma to be in one unit and seperate.

If you have one of these unit's I (and I think others) would be interested in your experiences.

Name / Model
Size
Features
Age
Price
Reliability (so far)
Comments
Worst thing


Thanx
Paul



edit:
slight tidy up
deleted the duplicate thread
added "Worst thing" to the list

Kingy

[V8Patrol]

Name / Model
Chinese......
cant be stuffed going to the shed and having a look... mao's electrics rings a bell tho

Size
220amp

Features
plasma/tig/& arc
came with heaps of spare tips /nozzles etc
good storage bags for leads not in use
Complete setup ready to go..... just plug it in and add a cylinder of gas

Age
4 years old
used weekly

Price
$950
(freight free)

Reliability (so far)
excelent


Comments
I have access to a huge name brand unit at work but bought it for tinkering at home on the w/ends.... get used very regularily


Worst thing
fharken "owners manual", I'm lucky I'm a welder cause if I was a handyman with sfa experiance I'd have been stuffed.
Very poor description of what nob does what job & some of the setting marks arent real legiable.
The earth lead...... way too short.... replaced it with a 4metre lead


Kingy

[rowenb]

Have used a few ebay cheapies and they do the job with a half decent weld. Had problems with one not arcing up at first but came good by the end of the day. Was offered one and didn't take it as i learnt to weld on a kemppi and brought on of those as i was familiar with it, even though it was 5 times the price!

[fester2au]

Check how the gas is plumbed/controlled. Some have manual gas control some have gas control running through the unit whihc can eat up a lot of gas when tacking or doing a heap of small welds or dodgy bad practice welds. Our U beat Kemmpi at work has a minimum post gas setting of 3 seconds so each time you pull the trigger you dump 3 seconds of gas regardless of what you are doing. Doesn't sound much but if you are tacking a lot it adds up. My little no name cheapy has a minimum post gas time of 1 second which is much better. Manual gas control is fine but auto is nice and lazy and something you don'tt have to remember as a newby and you probably waste nearly as much manualy turning it on before hitting your weld.

[AFeral]

Have two 200amp chinese at work both started fine went too shit after a few months of site use. Now replaced with a 230 amp kemppi tig welder. I 've got one of these for my workshop too. The welders are light and day different. The kemppi can be controlled for everything. The pre gas can be turned down right down not sure what the problem with fester2au welder is (could just be a different model too the one's i've used)
For a budget and small use the chinese welder will probally be ok.
Next up would be the BOC ac dc tig, think they sell for $2000
With the exchange rate so good you could also get a Miller dynasty for reasonable money from the US, they work on all voltages so will plug in here fine.
If you can afford it buy the kemppi, they have a good resale value to if the need to sell comes about.

[awill4x4]

I'll never sell my Kemppi MLS 2300, it's 230 amps of sheer AC/DC welding brilliance.
I would however like to complement it with my mates Miller Dynasty 350 amp machine, I love my Kemppi but that Dynasty 350 is a step up again. Just a little too big to carry onsite though.
Regards Andrew.

[marin]

I'll never sell my Kemppi MLS 2300, it's 230 amps of sheer AC/DC welding brilliance.
I would however like to complement it with my mates Miller Dynasty 350 amp machine, I love my Kemppi but that Dynasty 350 is a step up again. Just a little too big to carry onsite though.
Regards Andrew.

Lets not go into how much they cost though LOL

[sudso]

Some of them are ok, even a lot of brand name machines are built from parts made in China but, most of the chinese own brand ones are just plain shit.

[fester2au]

Have two 200amp chinese at work both started fine went too shit after a few months of site use. Now replaced with a 230 amp kemppi tig welder. I 've got one of these for my workshop too. The welders are light and day different. The kemppi can be controlled for everything. The pre gas can be turned down right down not sure what the problem with fester2au welder is (could just be a different model too the one's i've used)
For a budget and small use the chinese welder will probally be ok.
Next up would be the BOC ac dc tig, think they sell for $2000
With the exchange rate so good you could also get a Miller dynasty for reasonable money from the US, they work on all voltages so will plug in here fine.
If you can afford it buy the kemppi, they have a good resale value to if the need to sell comes about.

Not sure of the model of our one at work but it's generally to big for an onsite unit. Pregas is fine it's post gas that is the issue. The minimum setting as programmmed by Kemmpi is 3 seconds on this model and it can't be reduced to less than that save for maybe someone being able to hack into the programming. Millions of adjustable perameters of course just that the minimum available on this one is not low enough for those time when we would like it to be. Other than that it is my favourite welder. So adjustable and for me the biggest thing is the comfort of the handpiece compared to other similar sized options. Mind you at somethign like $7k I believe, I would have liked it to weld for me but that is just being lazy I guess.

[jet-6]

There "ok" if you buy the right brand, but 98% of them are copies of good brands, but that dont make them good


A have a "jasic" 200A AC/DC, its the exact welder used by UNITIG/UNIMIG and CIG here in OZ, but i paid well under 1/2 price with every option under the sun

[rowenb]

Pregas is fine it's post gas that is the issue.
I was always under the impression you need the post flow to continue on to cool the electrode and keep contaminants off while cooling. When ally welding i like to use around 8 seconds of post gas to stop the electrode from getting that burnt look. I do have a little less when i'm paying for the gas at home though at about 5. Am i wrong about keeping the contaminants off the electrode?

[awill4x4]

Am i wrong about keeping the contaminants off the electrode?

No, you are doing exactly the right thing. A typical mistake for Tig newbies is insufficient post flow, both for the weldment and for the tungsten.
It's especially important for stainless steel and extremely important for Titanium.
Regards Andrew.

[fester2au]

Pregas is fine it's post gas that is the issue.
I was always under the impression you need the post flow to continue on to cool the electrode and keep contaminants off while cooling. When ally welding i like to use around 8 seconds of post gas to stop the electrode from getting that burnt look. I do have a little less when i'm paying for the gas at home though at about 5. Am i wrong about keeping the contaminants off the electrode?

What I am talking about are those jobs that aren't that critical but that have a lot of tacking or a heap of items that only have a couple of very short welds that again are not critical. In these instances it would be handy to be able to reduce post gas to as little as possible.