TIG machine suggestion for 1/8" stainless

I am looking at a fair amount of work in .125 wall stainless square and rectangular tubing, and a little light gage stainless sheet. I can MIG stainless but the appearance of the resulting joint, while strong, is not as nice as I would like. Also, inside corners on 90 degree joints are tough. I have a 240 amp MIG for rough work, the TIG will just be for tubing and bracket work in the material mentioned.

This work will be with small sections (1", 1.5" square) and short lengths (< 5ft) so I would like to be able to work comfortably seated and for good durations so I want a decent duty cycle.

Initially I will have to hire this out but would like to bring this in house as quickly as possible.

So you question is???

I am guessing you want a recommendation for a tig machine. If you dont plan on doing aluminum I would say a Miller Maxstar 150STL or 200SD. We used to sell a lot of the Maxstar 200SDs to JVNW. All they do is stainless tanks and a lot of that was about the thickness you are looking at.

A 150 will do the job easily though. And is less than half of the price of a 200. Plus it only weighs like 12 pounds.

I would go with an inverter over a transformer based machine. The output is much smoother.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/maxstar_150_stl/

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/maxstar_200/

Sorry, yes I am looking for a suggestion as to what unit to purchase for this application. I'll check out those links, thanks.

Note that a local welding shop should be able to give you much better prices than that. I think those prices are 30% margin and we usually sell at 10%.

macona you should really be given an honorary moderator hat on this forum, thank you for all your information
scott

Personally I would still look for something like the TA185, well theres a TA200 now. Probably still cheaper than the miller Maxstar 200, but it will do AC and all kinds of fun stuff that I never even use and plus it comes with all the accessories you need except the argon bottle. Having the capability to weld aluminum is great, you know the time will come when you'll need it.

I first got a TA185 since it was sometimes useful for my machine shop business. Welding has now turned into about 50% of my business and it pays a bit more than the machining.

Dynasty 200DX

I dont know about the TA185's, but those Dynasty's are REALLY loud.
I run two tig welders- an older transformer style Syncrowave 250, which is AC/DC and will do aluminum, and a new DC only inverter- mine is a 304 XMT. For stainless, I much prefer the XMT- it welds nicer, is quieter, lighter, more adjustable, and simpler.

If you dont forsee the need to weld aluminum in the future, I would skip an AC machine. DC inverters are sweet- and, as a bonus, you can run your wire feeder off it as well- and you will get better, smoother wire feed welds than with an old transformer style mig machine.

Thanks fcr the pointers guys.

I tried running a voltage sensing feeder off a Maxstar 200. Didnt work. Now I know that you can turn off the low OCV feature so I will have to try it again some day.

I just plugged my S-22 wire feeder in to my 304 XMT, too dumb to even think it wouldnt work, and it works great, really nice welds. I also plug in my XR push pull wire feeder, and it too gives the nicest welds from the XMT- but the XMT was designed from the get go to be a multiprocess machine, not just a tig welder.

The Maxstar was never designed to be anything but a stick/tig machine. The problem was the Maxstar comes default with a feature called Low OCV turned on. What this is is when the maching is in stick mode the output is always on. Instead of having the electrode sitting at 79v OCV it drops the OCV to about 9v. This isnt enough to run the circuitry in a voltage sensing feeder.

This was when I first got into fixing welder so I didnt know you could go into a setup mode and turn off Low OCV. With it off it ought to run the feeder. I just have not had a Maxstar come in for service in a long long time.

There is actually a cheaper version of the XMT 304/350 called the XMT-304VS (350VS). It has all the extra features like tig/CV/pulse and the remote removed and is made just to hook to voltage sensing feeders and do stick welding. It also has the tweco style plugs which are standard in the construction industry.

I have never used my XMT for tig yet. I have my little Maxstar 150STL, the Dynasty 200DX, and if I still need more current theres the LTec 250HF (Basically a Synchrowave 250).

The XMT does weld beautifully. I did a model barge for a friend out of .080 6061. Used the optima pulser and was Migging it with .035 with no burn through or melting the backside. I would say it was worth the $100 I paid!

When in doubt and you want to spend wisely - Dynasty 200 DX - I love mine!!! Not cheap, but with most everyting, you get what you pay for. Lanthanated pencil tip for everything I weld.