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.

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.

Having a welding instructor want one says at least something. I got a 220 drop put in my shop just for such a device. It's cheap enough I might pick one up, not that I know how to use it..... yet.

You haven't had a chance to test the TIG side of it yet?

I own an AC/DC TIG machine so I didn't bother with it. This one only does DC tig and it uses a torch with a gas valve (no solenoid control for TIG for the gas). Honestly, I'm not sure what you would want to DC tig weld that you couldn't just MIG (Chromoly is about the only thing I can think of). The TIG parts are optional (not in the $599 price) so I didn't buy them. It came with MIG and stick equipment.

Yea, I just wrapped up my second (of 4) adult ed welding classes. I've been welding a while, but I figured I could always learn a lot more. The shop has a 175 ton press brake, CNC plasma table (that will cut 1" plate), a power shear that cuts 1/2" steel plate and a lot of very nice equipment.

My instructor is 62, he's been welding since he was 17 and he made a living as a welder until age 43 when he decided to go back to school so he could teach welding. He's amazingly good.

Okay, so for the welding-ignorant, what are the benefits/challenges of DC vs. AC welding?

DC=ferrous, AC=Aluminum

I was such a lousy aluminum welder the few times I've tried that I've just outsourced any aluminum I've had to weld. In other words, this thing would do everything I need it to and have a lot more capacity for thick stuff than my current mig. It would take up a lot less space in the garage too compared to my current TIG.

Ryan,

Thank you for the info. That helps. I do dream of being able to weld aluminum, but heck, I don't even weld at all yet, and will probably never get good enough to do it. I had a friend who did TIG, and the work he did on aluminum bordered on art. I'd love to get that good, but would probably have to spend a LOT of time under a helmet.

I'm seriously-considering one of these, and already have the go-ahead from the CFO. Not that she'd say no, but it's always good to check.

Aluminum TIG welding can be a challenge. And this machine wouldn't do it anyway, but it runs great as a MIG welder. And the manual is a very thorough intro to welding manual. I was pretty impressed with the book (at least the one I downloaded).

I'm about to start my 3rd welding class, this one is DC TIG, then the next one is "Advanced TIG". It's been fun learning new things in class. I'm glad I signed up for the first two.

I haven't welded in over a decade but this welder is tempting. If I decide to get back in the game - Any advice (wire, settings, etc) for basic 16 to 10 gauge mild steel mig projects?

I'm still playing with that. The only issue I'm finding is that the setting chart inside the door seems to be a bit "off". I've been running some test welds and trying to adjust to settings I prefer.

I'd buy .030 diameter wire for the 16-10 gauge stuff. I'm running .035 in mine, but I have a spool of fresh .030 wire out in the garage and I think I'm going to switch it out. Looking at the settings on the door, I wonder if they are "off" on the .035 settings (they look "odd" based on the settings for .030" wire) and maybe that's the issue I'm currently fighting.

There's a handy Mig voltage/wire speed calculator here:

https://www.millerwelds.com/resources/weld-...ding-calculator

Edit:

I swapped to .030 wire and then I noticed that I had the polarity backwards on the machine (I know better....I've been Mig welding for years and I just finished a couple classes...so I'm just dumb). Once I swapped the polarity it is back to running great. The chart for .035 wire still looks a little "off" to me, but I'll have to try it before I say that for certain.

I ordered one this morning so I appreciate the help. I actually have a lot more TIG time than MIG. When I did MIG I just used whatever wire was in there to tack stuff together before final welding.

So, what kind of 0.030" wire should I look for? (I assume not flux core) but material, spec or brand?

Just buy an 11 lb roll of .030 wire (non flux core). Tractor supply sells Hobart wire (it works great). You can buy wire at any local welding supply store or mail order it from Cyberweld or Indiana Oxygen, etc. You'll need a bottle of 75/25 (argon/carbon dioxide mix) or a bottle of straight CO2 in order to use solid core (non flux) wire.

I'll go edit my other post about the wire chart....I figured out that I'm an idiot (when I looked at it yesterday I noticed that I had the polarity backwards on the torch/ground clamp....I have no idea how I did that. It won't run worth a crap wired backwards).

I'm currently building a table (like the attached image) with the Tweco welder. I'm almost done with it, right now it's clamped one of the Miller portable "Arc Station" welding tables. I should have bought that stand years ago, it's been spectacular and it sure beats working on the floor.

That portable table is pretty damn neat. I've been wanting to built a table that will bolt over the top of my syncrowave 180 with fold out leafs. I need to find somebody to shear the material to size first though.

Yea, I was pretty impressed with it. The clamps are really handy too. For this project I was wishing I had a second one. I suspect I'll order one before too long. As you can see, it's a little smaller than my project. lol. Don't mind the garage, it's a mess. The Corvette chassis left last weekend and I have a lot of cleaning to do. I have a few more things to cut, fit and weld. Then I need to "finish weld" the seams on the outside and spend the afternoon with a flap disk grinding down the welds to smooth the angle into the 1x2" tubing so it looks like one piece.

So is there a full dumpster somewhere.....

Thanks for update Trackbird, especially about the welder itself. I dusted off my helmet, the welder is supposed to arrive tomorrow, then it's off to the local welding store for wire and gas.

I picked up about 300 ft of 2" x 2" square tube off craigslist years ago. First project will be a welding table (not as nice as yours) It feels like Christmas Eve!

Ha. I actually got money for it!!!



Yea, this little mig rocks. I've been running the thing all morning and I really like it.

The table I'm building is for the kitchen. Lol. The miller is going to be the welding table for now.

Also, there looks to be a free helmet deal on the Tweco website. I'll try to dig up a link in a bit.

I've run this little welder moderately hard this week. I ran the finish welds on the outside of the table basically at one time. So I laid down 14' of weld with minimal breaks to get into position to keep going. I wasn't trying to "melt" it, but I wondered if it would shut off. It didn't. So far I'm pretty impressed, particularly for the price.

The table now looks like this:

Rebate form (it has no date on it, so I'm going to send one in...though the link says "June 2013 in it):

http://victortechnologies.com/IM_Uploads/d...29_June2013.pdf