laiky

Thought i would post this for those interested. I took delivery of my new Miller Dynasty 200DX this friday. Picked up an Argon tank and started to experiment. I had never even seen TIG done in person before. My first impression is WOW, i can't believe how cool this is!! Literally an electric torch. I have alot to learn now! I experimented on steel and alluminum. Seems that the rod i bought is a little too big for what i was trying. I'm going to get some assorted sizes this week. I bought one size of alluminum and mild steel filler but i need an assortment.

The welder it self is amazing, it has pretty advanced arc shaping features, i played with the frequency control and the balance control but i didn't have much alluminum to work on. I tried some thin stuff and some thick stuff (steel) and i'm impressed with how well you can control the heat. I tried 200 amps and blasted through some 1/4 " steel, plenty of power! you can also set it as low a 1 amp but i don't think you could solder with that!

Anyhow, i can't claim to be a TIG welder yet but i'm going to work on it. I can't wait to get a good project going.

Anyone here who is experienced and has some suggestions i'm open, let em roll.

Metal Tech

Congrats, it's money well spent. If you go to Hobarts web site they have a message board with plenty of info on your Dynasty. Many good people with years of knowledge. If you'll do a search first you will find answers for any issue you may come up with. If your picking up scrap metal to practice with make sure any Aluminum you get is "weldable alloy". Not all aluminum is weldable, certain alloys crack very easily after being welded. Stay with 3003, 5052, 6061 and you'll be ok. I'm not sure if it's in the manual but the rule of thumb for setting amps is 1 amp per .001 of thickness on steel. Stainless steel add 10% and Aluminum add 25%.

Al

TJS

I am new here. If you want to learn from the best go to miller motorsports site. I just got a dynasty 200dx last week as well. Before that I had a synch 180sd machine. Here is miller's site for questions.

http://www.millermotorsports.com/mboard/index.php?


Good luck and enjoy.

T.J.
www.tjsperformance.com

Ian_F

I can TIG weld fairly well. My suggestion is to practice a lot! It's not something you can read about and know how to do, you just have to get in there and try it. I'm not familiar with the miller machine, I've only used licolns. Is it a 220? What kind of metal are you gonna be welding, sheet metal or structural? Also, you probably know this already, but when you TIG Aluminum, you have to switch to AC negative polarity. You should also get a hold of an auto-dark helmet if you havent already, I LOVE mine! Lastly, and most importantly, have fun!

Xceleratemaro

hey metal tech what part of sc are u in?

yea tig is grate.".try walking the cup"...and buy some stanless rods ..makes your welds shiny..

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

My favorite welding forum:
http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/
(don't worry, they don't discriminate. It seems like 1/2 the people there own "blue")

irocbirdbuilder

Half the people own blue because hobart and miller are one company, Thats a nice machine, as a welder who is through the tig certifications all you gotta say is practice, tons and tons of practice, walking the cups nice on t's and overhead where you can walk the cup, it takes time and patience but if you get it and are good at it theres alot of money there. Plus it looks 100 times better than mig, stick or gas and no smoke or slag flying.

TJS

It is a 220v and 115v machine. It has voltage sensing so you can take it with you (only 45lbs) and plug it into 115v without re-wiring inside the box. When doing this the amperage output is lower however.
T.J.
www.tjsperformance.com

Metal Tech

Xcelerate - just finished moving and got internet back, not ignoring you. I'm here in Sumter, work at Shaw AFB.

Xceleratemaro

ok sweet...you should check out www.scfyb.com


lot of cool stuff there too

Mathius

Has anyone seen the little $200 jobby in the latest harbor freight ad? It's a 220 unit that puts out 130 amps on the TIG. Normally I wouldn't consider such a small unit, but I've never seen a TIG welder under a grand, anyone know anything about it?

Mathius

bnoon

I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. I just ordered one of those little ones from HF. It'll probably end up being a 200 dollar welding cart or something, but at 200 bucks I had to take the chance. To cheap not to...

Souseless

I saw the $200 add too. I have a harbor freight store near me aso I think I am gonna check it out. There is a company called Thermal arc that tig machine for under 1k. It is a DC inverter (like the $200 one) and it gives 85 amps with 110v and 125 amps with 220v. The down side of these machines is that you can not use them for aluminum.

Mathius

Anyone try one of these yet?

Mathius

laiky

Personally, i wouldn't waste my time on an underpowered dc only tig for 1000 dollars when you can get a brand new miller econotig for 1300 bucks delivered with torch and accessories from cyberweld.com

These are not the kind of tools you want to compromise on. I can gaurantee, if your a car guy you will regret not being able to do alluminum. If that happens you need to spend another 1300 (at least!) to be able to do alluminum.

I have purchased my TIG and Plasma cutter from cyberweld.com they are the cheapest i have found. I don't expect good service from them in terms of support since they are mail order but i am a hobbiest and i wanted the most for my money.

Dan W

I bought the Dynasty 200 Dx from cyberweld a couple of months back. I've never welded before but this machine makes it easy. I've worked on a few projects at work and the garage with it... most recently, I helped a buddy finish up his mild steel turbo headers with it. (still practicing up before I attempt to build my stainless set)

Anyway, its a great deal for me in germany Because it weighs less than 70lbs so I could get it sent though the US postal service. This thing is truely portable. Its cool because it will take ANY voltage input including the 3 phase 380 in my shop, single or dual phase 220 or even 110. Important for a military guy who never knows what country he is going to be stationed in.

bnoon

My Harbor Freight one got back ordered until 4-15-05. To many cheap S.O.B.'s like me out there I guess.

BTW, what are the minimums for aluminum welding with a TIG? I thought 120 amps was the least that worked...

Souseless

You need to have AC output in order to weld aluminum. Pretty much everything else uses DC output. The inverter style machines only have DC output.

laiky

Better look again! There are many dc only inverters, but there are GREAT ac/dc inverters, i have one!