TOPIC:

I recently picked up a Eastwood TIG 200. It was a bargain at $750 with a 3 year warranty and 60 day return policy. It came with pretty much everything you need to get started except for a hood, argon bottle, and filler rod. I set it up at my buddies welding shop and with a little instruction from him was able to make some pretty fair beads for my first time TIG welding. my only other experience is a little bit of gas welding. The cool part is all of these passes were made using a standard 110volt outlet, even for the aluminum. I could weld in my bedroom if I wanted I'm quite pleased with the purchase considering it is about 1/3 the cost of a miller, lincoln, etc.... Im going to make a welding cart for my first project and get this figured out a bit more before i start welding on bikes.

Looks great! That goes to the top of my wish list.

very nice sir you will have it mastered in no time !


leon

I've been looking to get a TIG machine for my shop at home and that Eastwood welder is very interesting. We ahve a Miller 250 syncrowave at the shop and it's a good welder but it is huge compaired to some of the newer welders. Please keep us updated on your new welder!

80B4 wrote: I've been looking to get a TIG machine for my shop at home and that Eastwood welder is very interesting. We ahve a Miller 250 syncrowave at the shop and it's a good welder but it is huge compaired to some of the newer welders. Please keep us updated on your new welder!

My buddy Eric, who is teaching me, has a Miller 250 Syncrowave. He does some pretty crazy chit with that. I watched him weld up a crack in a magnesium wheel the other day. I didn't even know you could weld magnesium, figured it would catch on fire. Occasionally he does jobs offsite, and he has been thinking about getting an inverter because they are much more portable, and don't require 220v to run.

Eric had me get a gas lens for the torch, along with some ceriated tungsten. I have been using 3/32 but have some 1/16 as well. The torch is a standard air-cooled so welding shops have parts on the shelf for them. no proprietary BS.

The only negative thing I read about this package before I got it was the regulator was chintsy. After a couple hours of use the regulator started whining and the needle would rattle really loud on the flow meter when I was using gas. I found this $250 Gentec flowmeter on craigslist for $50! its like brand new.
www.amazon.com/Gentec-Flowmeters-Regulat...rds=gentec+flowmeter

My only gripe, which is small, is the amp dial for the footpedal is on the footpedal, not the welder. So you have to be careful not to change the dial when moving the pedal with your feet. Other than that the setup seems great.

I have gotten confident enough with my skills that I took a break from working on the welding cart and repaired my luggage rack for my 650. it was cracked through on both sides and barely hanging on. I also added a brace to prevent this from happening in the future. One side got a bit funky because the crack was going through the original braze, I welded it up using silicon bronze filler, which was very tricky to use.

I don't know why I waited so long to get a welder, I'm loving it!

getting the hang of it.

yes you are good job man.

leon

welding cart is finished.

saweeeet!
you'll have that from now on!

leon

Nicely Done!

Are you going to move on to some aluminum?

Bill

KZCSI wrote: Nicely Done!

Are you going to move on to some aluminum?

Bill

Yes. big part of buying this is to make a kayak trailer to haul 10 kayaks. I will be doing that in aluminum.

Very Sexy! Nice welds on that cart!

Cory