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Does anyone have any experience of using them? If so would you give me a review.
I've used lots of inverter Tig welders over the years. You get what you pay for. The nicest to weld with was a Thermal Arc, I was very attached to that machine and but it became unrelaible and it let me down 3 times it was heatbreaking.
Kemppi was very nice but expensive, Miller the most reliable in my experience.
Used miller and plenty of Kempi. Loved the Kempi, can be expensive if the boards have problems but great machines, intuitive and easy to control.
Would you even consider any of the cheap ones? I won't be using it on a commercial basis ,just small jobs at home
R tech seem to be the go to guys and they are solid with warranty for cheap inverter units
Lots of people start out on them some outgrow them very quickly
Miller now do an entry level inverter now for 800 quid has full miller 3 year warranty
In my shop I have an ewm and miller but they are both pretty high end units and honestly for what we do here a cheap unit starts to show it's limitations down at low amps when your 0.3mm thick ferrous stainless titanium etc , aluminium on the other hand the high end units come into their own.
Recently bought a Lincoln invertec 220 for 3mm - 6mm tig mild steel work, HF start, ramp down etc works well for me. 3 year warranty.
I've had boards repaired by different people and it has always been stressful and expensive. If you can find someone you trust to do this its a huge advantage.
As always the answer is, it depends......
What sort of process do you want to use?
Which material(s) and what thicknesses?
Also, do you have any welding experience?
Most likely stick welding steel up to 5mm inside and out. Yes
A basic set should be fine for that, keep it simple and there is less to go wrong. The more programmable it is the more chance of a board getting frazzled. You might want to look at second hand machine of a decent brand if it has a known history and an honest seller. I can't recommend any of the cheap brands though, sorry.
Check for duty cycle in the specs, this is the amount of time a set will run for at a given rating before the machine will cut out to avoid over heating.
Make sure it has a decent airflow and not sending grindings into the machine casing will help avoid breakdowns.
Buy decent quality rods and store them in an airtight container. This will have a significant effect on the quality of weld.
I have a Cebora that is dual MMA/TIG set, and a ESAB Caddy for MIG which can also be set up for brazing. Both good machines but neither were cheap and there would be some risk buying used.