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Cheap tig welders?

Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Red Skull Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2020
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2117
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478
Anyone have any experience with more value based tig welders, I'm looking mainly at primeweld and ahp units but am open to suggestions, trying to keep it below 1k. I have some personal stuff tig would be better for turbo pipes, stainless exhaust ect. I also have a project where I need to fab up some brackets for barn doors in a office and all that will be stainless and or aluminum.

I haven't done any tig welding before but am a decent stick and mig welder, figure it will save me some money on personal projects and I should be able to write off the cost of the machine, a win win. I looked at running these processes on my Hobart 210 but by the time you get a spool gun special gas and wire you are quickly coming up on the cost of a cheaper tig unit.
 
I bought an AHP alpha Tig 200. It’s been a great machine. Would do it again without hesitation.

i think there is another popular cheap brand now too. I want to say it’s a prime weld?
lots of people saying they like them more then their red and blue machines
 
How cheapp] do you wana get?
Any ac/dc stick welder is a basic tig. Add a regulator lead and youre gtg minus the fancy pant tuning and pedal.
 
Tig welding is nothing like MIG or stick....completely different skill set as in the only one you need to understand what you're doing.
 
[/QUOTE=Talon2006;n84037]I bought an AHP alpha Tig 200. It’s been a great machine. Would do it again without hesitation.

i think there is another popular cheap brand now too. I want to say it’s a prime weld?
lots of people saying they like them more then their red and blue machines [/QUOTE]

Ya from browsing around looks like everyone is happy with both the ahp and primeweld. Figured a few people on here would have one or the other. Looks like biggest difference between the two is torches and pedals

total newb said:
How cheapp] do you wana get?
Any ac/dc stick welder is a basic tig. Add a regulator lead and youre gtg minus the fancy pant tuning and pedal.
Click to expand...

My stick only does ac when factor in a new ac/DC stick and then all the other accessories to get a redneck tig your at half of the cost of a cheaper unit Then you won't have any of the control you get with that unit(pre/postflow, hi freq start, pulse, ect.).


Gator1 said:
Tig welding is nothing like MIG or stick....completely different skill set as in the only one you need to understand what you're doing.
Click to expand...

I'm relatively familiar with the process, I know its completely different than stick or mig but the cost I got quoted to do the work that I would need it for will pay for the machine and my time. Then I have another welder that will add to capability of the things I can do myself.
 
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I have an AHP at home. The pedal sucks but it's useable once you get creative/used to it, other than that no real complaints. If you're new to tig it'll definitely be more welder than you are for a long time if you're only using it occasionally for hobby level stuff.

I don't think it's a replacement for a spool gun on your 210 though. I have a 212 and it's got way more ass on thicker aluminum.
 
AK_F250 said:
I have an AHP at home. The pedal sucks but it's useable once you get creative/used to it, other than that no real complaints. If you're new to tig it'll definitely be more welder than you are for a long time if you're only using it occasionally for hobby level stuff.

I don't think it's a replacement for a spool gun on your 210 though. I have a 212 and it's got way more ass on thicker aluminum.
Click to expand...

That's what I was figuring, I don't usually need thicker aluminum welded usually its intercooler/ turbo pipes or other hobby type stuff. The local guy is just killing me, hes $100 just to look at something and quoted $2,500 for some brackets that should take less than a day to weld up and could be made with scraps(new should be less than 500 in material 1/8 box or aluminum channel just to hold up bar doors in a dentist office).

If I get to the point where I need to weld thick stuff I can get a spool gun. Just wanted to make sure people actually used them and liked them vs taking the reviews as gospel.

Looks like I'll have to dig a bit deeper on ahp v primeweld and see what is a better value. I know prime weld is no tax/free shipping and offer a $25 first purchase credit.
 
you get what you pay for. i've bought allot of cheap crap welders, ahp included. i would suggest finding an old machine.


most people, my self included, dont/ didn't realize what a good machine is. its hard to imagine that most good reviews of cheap crap are from people that dont know, what the y dont know
 
I was in the same position a few years ago. Luckily I live about an hour south of where they come from. Everlast and AHP both come from here.
weld store.jpg
weld store.jpg


weld store.jpg


weld store.jpg
 
I didn't care about aluminum and was set on the Everlast 201. All analog, seemed like an easy start. They talked me out of that and into the 200, which is programmable with 10 presets. This is really nice for when you get into pulse welding. all of your parameters are spot on and repeatable, something that would be very hard with dials. I have a few memory settings straight tig, but the beauty is having different pulse settings programmed. One for tacks, one at 70 amps with a little background and 1 pulse per second, maybe another at 125 amps and 33 pps.

https://www.everlastgenerators.com/c...BoCQCIQAvD_BwE

tig setup.jpg
 
When I showed up there, they upgraded me to the better welder, swapped out the huge torch for a tasty 9, nice superflex hose, and the far superior pedal.

Give them a call and they will set you up. I believe I worked with Alex.

pedal1.jpg
 
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120 amps
25% on
10%background
1.5 pulse per second

Got a little hot at the end but I'm still learning.

IMG_6569.jpg
 
Find and old syncrowave if you can. I run alum all day on them clunky bastards and they'll take it.
 
tracyb said:
Carbon knows where it comes from! thats as close to the source as it gets.
Click to expand...

I too am in the market. I was originally thinking of getting an AHP200/201 cause they are cheap and got decent reviews. I think it was Sceep who recommended i look at a different cheap welder instead https://www.ckworldwide.com/tig-machine.html

Now i feel like it might be a better machine, bet it has better torch, regulator, pedal etc....but it does cost a little more. It is all dials and i figured that digital would have been nicer for repetability, but i bet i suck and it wont matter anyway. :flipoff2: I wanted to order the fucking thing two weeks ago but cant decide what to get. I cant seem to find any deals locally. Somehow no one has been selling toys for the last 2 months.

So thoughts on that as my cheap welder tracyb ?
 
Carbon said:
I didn't care about aluminum and was set on the Everlast 201. All analog, seemed like an easy start. They talked me out of that and into the 200, which is programmable with 10 presets. This is really nice for when you get into pulse welding. all of your parameters are spot on and repeatable, something that would be very hard with dials. I have a few memory settings straight tig, but the beauty is having different pulse settings programmed. One for tacks, one at 70 amps with a little background and 1 pulse per second, maybe another at 125 amps and 33 pps.

https://www.everlastgenerators.com/c...BoCQCIQAvD_BwE
Click to expand...

Which everlast do you have? I finally found a weldingweb thread on the CK one and they were not the kindest.....I think i agree with them that i would rater have a digital input vs dials. Now i am thinking of going with the everlast 255 EXT. It has a few more features than i need (probaly all of them :lmao:) but if everlast machines are decent it seems like it would hit the spot at $2k.

https://www.everlastgenerators.com/p...owertig-255ext

I would like to get the HTP 221..... but those are out of stock and the air cooled dual voltage version is like $3.1K. I dont think that classifies as a cheap tig anymore

One thing i am concerned about on the everlast is the peripherals. Do they suck, are they actually name brand? I know the HTP comes with good CK parts.

Before i know it I will talk my ass right back up to a miller Diversion ...... then drop right down to an AHP.:flipoff2::flipoff2:
 
I've got the ahp 201xd it replaced a 800lb Miller 300 abp. Got about 2-3 hours of actual weld time on it (3 decent projects), so far my review:

Pros:
Unit seems well made, no issues so far with arc starting, hasnt done anything strange
Pulse is really handy
Accessories are a 7/10. No the torch isnt as nice as my CK stuff, but its much better than the chinese torches I've used before. Pedal is pretty solid
I use the 4t mode with the finger switch far more than I ever thought I would. Wish the switch was a little smaller
Dual voltage saved me when I had an emergency repair before I had proper power run. Also its my go to if I need to go to someone elses place
Its portableish. I wouldnt want to use it as a field rig but have no problems moving it around.

Cons:
Fan is annoying. Wish it was quieter or temp controlled
Gas through dinse would be nice
I wish all the settings were digital, knobs are harder to remeber what worked last time

Wont Rate:
Stick - I'm not practiced on it and only used it once for playing around
AC balance - the machine I came from didnt have the adjustment, so while it does something I can't comment how well it does it

For me it was buy this for $800 bones or sell my mig and pony up around 1500 to get a miller multimatic 220. While the miller has some additonal niceities I'm very happy with the AHP. Out of my cons only one is really a thing, the others are me bitching about it not having features nothing else in its price range has. Once the warranty is up I will probably pop it open and see what can be done about the fan. My shop has AC so a less effiecient solution would still work.
 
I've had an AHP 200 for a couple of years. It's been a decent welder, came with a c-k flex torch which is my favorite torch. The pedal does kinda suck, but I turned it around and
mounted it to a 10 degree wood wedge, it made a big difference, it's actually usable now.:beer:
 
Ive just went with a few everlast models the last month now. I have a big ole syncrowave 300 that is the size of a refrigerator that is from the 1980s that has paid for its self 50x over but was tired of trying to move that bastard and hated how loud it was. I figured the everlast 250 would be enough to keep me happy but it wasn't after being use to the 375 amp output on my syncrowave so i sold it to a friend and got a everlast 315 with a water cooler. Both the everlasts out of the box seamed to work great with their inverter technology base. The 315 had a issue with the solenoid sticking open once cycled but they overnighted me another one.
 
I got the AHP 201 or whatever off Amazon last fall and watched a shit load of youtube videos. I have utterly 0 complaints. Mine came with the nice pedal and a decent torch. Nothing has broken or had issues, and its welded everything from .030 stainless to 1/4" aluminum without skipping a beat. I've had friends with fancy machines try it and they were blown away it was a $700 machine. If it fell over and broke tonight I would order a new one tonight without thinking twice.

neXgH1vh.jpg
 
I am another that has an AHP 200. It worked great when I first got it, but started having some issues. I ended up working with AHP and sent it back to them. They said nothing was wrong with it but it sure doesn't act the same as when I sent it in. Much better now. I only paid shipping one way. I was cool with that. For those that have not upgraded the pedal from the POS they used to send. Do it. The control is far better. It isn't just the shape/configuration of the pedal but I believe the pot meter they use in the POS is junk as well. It has been the best upgrade so far. I also upgraded to a 25 foot torch (still flex head) and a 25 foot ground as my machine is not on a cart. Now I can reach all the way around my welding table without moving the machine.
 
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