[trackbird]

http://store.cyberweld.com/tharcfa18miw.ht...CFQ-raQod4_cC3w

Victor Technologies bought Thermal Arc, Thermal Dynamics, Tweco (and I'm not sure what else). They rebranded the Thermal Arc Fabricator series welders as "Tweco" machines. Cyberweld is clearing out the Fabricator 181i. It's an inverter powered Mig/Tig/Stick welder (36 lbs). The tig is DC only and the parts are optional. It comes set up for Mig/Stick. I haven't had a chance to weld with mine yet, but I purchased one (as a portable stick machine if nothing else). I may get to it tonight. I figured I'd mention it in case anybody else was looking for a 180 amp Mig. It's 220v only, that's the only thing it's missing (no dual voltage). The Tweco torch looks to be a good quality piece and the unit looks decent.

$599 until they are gone. Figured I'd share in case anybody else might want one.

[trackbird]

It's a little finicky as a stick welder, but we got it sorted out once we played with it a bit. There's an "Arc Force" control and you can't leave it at "0" or the rods just don't stay lit. We played with it in welding class last night and my instructor is going to order one for his garage. It's a nice MIG welder and it runs 7018 rods very well (once you turn the arc force knob up to 5-7). We were running 3/16 plate steel "vertical up" with it and had excellent penetration (MIG). I'm pretty impressed.

Edit:

There's a note about stick welding when running the machine on 208v. It indicates that it may be a little low voltage for stick welding. In class it was acting like it didn't have enough voltage when we were stick welding in class (the school is wired using 208v), turning up the "Arc Force" knob got it running. I'll have to try it at home (I have about 243 volts at the outlet at home). I'm guessing my issues were related to the input voltage.