Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey Gang, I have been a welding hobbyist for years, side jobs and just to be creative in my spare time. I am wanting to make the jump to Tig now after all these years and got some sticker shock on what a decent Square wave machine can cost. A local weld supply company can get me a Lincoln Tig 200 Square wave machine for what I think I can get away with spending without a divorce. Any input on this machine would be great, yes it's within my budget but if the machine is going to be a let down then I might as well just hold off until my budget increases.
Thanks in advance.

From those who have bought/used it, the only 2 complaints I hear are: post flow is not adjustable. It will flow for 1 sec/10 amps. That's 10 seconds of post flow for 100 amps of welding.

And the machine does not have Lift Arc, HF only. (I might be mistaken here, but that's what I recall). Works great if you use a pedal or a torch switch, but there are times Lift Arc is very, very handy. Especially on a side hustle.

I cant understand folks who complain about the post flow wasting gas. Granted, the customer pays for my gas but I find the cost of gas inconsequential. It just blows my mind.

Jakedaawg wrote:I cant understand folks who complain about the post flow wasting gas. Granted, the customer pays for my gas but I find the cost of gas inconsequential. It just blows my mind.

lucky you.
my gas cost double the amount for half as much as yours does.

2020Silverado wrote:Hey Gang, I have been a welding hobbyist for years, side jobs and just to be creative in my spare time. I am wanting to make the jump to Tig now after all these years and got some sticker shock on what a decent Square wave machine can cost. A local weld supply company can get me a Lincoln Tig 200 Square wave machine for what I think I can get away with spending without a divorce. Any input on this machine would be great, yes it's within my budget but if the machine is going to be a let down then I might as well just hold off until my budget increases.
Thanks in advance.

i would look at a different brand.
you don't really need the reliability of the big brands.

cj737 wrote:From those who have bought/used it, the only 2 complaints I hear are: post flow is not adjustable. It will flow for 1 sec/10 amps. That's 10 seconds of post flow for 100 amps of welding.

And the machine does not have Lift Arc, HF only. (I might be mistaken here, but that's what I recall). Works great if you use a pedal or a torch switch, but there are times Lift Arc is very, very handy. Especially on a side hustle.

that would drive me nuts.
post flow i adjust a lot depending on what i'm doing. i don't think i have ever needed 20 sec of post flow.
i've been using lift arc on my new machine because its HF does not play nicely with stainless steel.

My LWS has one sitting right by the checkout counter so I look at it often and have always considered it. But for the price, the features and adjustability are a bit lacking, IMO. My conclusion has been that there are simply better options around that price point.

But obviously I don't own one, so it could be the greatest value ever, and we're all missing out.

Jakedaawg wrote:I cant understand folks who complain about the post flow wasting gas. Granted, the customer pays for my gas but I find the cost of gas inconsequential. It just blows my mind.

I don’t see it as wasting it either, but there are lots of times I want more post flow than the auto set dictates. I merely point out the lack of adjustment is one of the only two features I hear complaints about.

Some run very limited postflow, that’s their choice.

cj737 wrote:Some run very limited postflow, that’s their choice.

I'm usually pretty liberal with my argon, except for when I'm in production mode for parts that are getting paint or powder coat. That's when my post flow is set just long enough to keep the tungsten silver and no more. The Lincoln would drive me nuts in that scenario.

I will state up front that I am in no way any sort of professional welder, in fact I am not even all that great of an amateur welder. So I will leave it to anyone reading this to decide how valuable my opinion is, or is not.

I have had a Lincoln SW200 for a few years now. I very much like it. It has worked just fine. I don't use it commercially, it is just a tool I have in support of my assorted hobbies. I have a good MIG machine as well that I use if I am doing heavy stuff. I would say I probably average using it for something every week or so, though sometimes that may be for 5 minutes of welding, sometimes more.

I have welded steel, stainless, and aluminum with it and done a very small amount of TIG brazing with silicon bronze rod. 99% of that welding has been TIG, I have only run a handful of stick welds with it, though I loaned it to a friend who burned maybe 8 or 10 pounds of stick rods with it who pronounced it a "great machine". I have another friend who TIG welded a bunch of box cutter blades together with it for something he was doing. He's a far more skilled welder than I am.

It has been 100% trouble free. I have largely only run it on 220V, I ran it on 110V power only once just to try it out but I like having the option for the occasional odd job away from home. The included torch and pedal are of decent quality. I like the flex head torch. I found the regulator/flowmeter a bit cheesy but 100% serviceable. I later upgraded to a better regulator and flowmeter but only because I had them sort of laying around from another project so it was zero cost to me.

While the lack of a post flow setting seems to bother some people, I have never found it to be a big deal. If I were using this in a commercial setting and doing lots and lots of tack welding, I might find it wasteful, but I just can't see it as a big deal for my useage. Gas is a consumable and is inexpensive in the scheme of things. I did a bit of analysis on that in this thread, maybe 7 or 8 posts down if you care to read that:

http://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/v ... =5&t=10466

Anyhow, I very much like the machine. This and other welders I have used I have not had lift arc, so I never had occasion to need it, so I don't miss it.

For me, the simple setup and limited feature set works just fine. While some of the more advanced features may be important to some and cool to have it's good to remember that a lot of that did not even exist 20 years ago. And we still managed to get to the moon and stuff like that. You pay your money and make your choice.

There are less expensive options with more features out there, and the people who have them seem to like them. I ultimately chose the SW200 because the "big name" brand and support had value to me. Also I could purchase it locally from a supply shop I had done business with before and like dealing with. If I have warranty issues it is a 20 minute drive to the dealer. If they don't give me good service, they have a front window I can throw it through. That all has some value to me.

I don't get into the strong brand loyalty with welders or most anything else. I just buy what makes the most sense for me at the time and I understand that other people make different calculations about such stuff.

I've owned one for 3 years now, I bought it as my first tig welder. It does work fine, I've had absolutely zero issues with it, heck I've never even tripped the duty cycle. But it is extremely basic. The pulse features are pretty much non existent, you can set the pulses per minute. That's it, nothing more. The non adjustable post flow really doesn't bother me much.

Most of my beef with it is on the stick side. It cannot run 6010/6011, and the max amperage on stick mode is around 160 amps, I forget the exact number.

On the plus side tho, it is very portable. Fairly light. And it comes with a very decent flex head torch. Only a 17 style so 150 amps max. But I've used it quite a bit on AC cranked to 200 amps and the torch has survived. And a few times it was so hot I used stick welding gloves to finish the weld, yet its still going.

So basically, its a slightly overpriced, very basic tig welder. That also kinda does stick. But I supposed you do pay for the name and red paint

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Ive owned 1 for awhile now and have no complaints at all. Lays down beautiful stacks. But like the gentlemen here have said it is very basic. You cannot manipulate settings on it. But if you are just learning the art of TIG its a pretty great machine. Ive never hit the duty cycle on it. I primarily use it for 12g and above ss. I have a separate SMAW so ive never used that side of it.

Like anything else theres alot of different flavors of machines. Go with what you want!

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For $1,000 less I'd get a PrimeWeld TIG 225X over the Lincoln any day...more power, way more features, and $1K in your pocket. I had to go check....the Lincoln is rated at 160A 40% duty cycle, where the PrimeWeld is 225A and 40%, so a big difference there.

I just bought mine a week ago. I had been using an Eastwood TIG 200 DC for the last five years as my first welder, and I wanted to upgrade so I could weld aluminum, and also to a better welder in general. The Eastwood isn't a bad welder and it did the job reliably, but the Lincoln is a whole other level vs. the Chinese welders, IMO. Of course, the pedal, torch, and regulator that come with it are far nicer. I now think the Eastwood regulator was using far more gas because it was innacurate, and the amperage dial on the pedal (which you need to use if you use the pedal) was completely inaccurate. I find the HF start on the Lincoln to be much more consistent, and the arc seems much better too. Some people claim it's overpriced, but that's not what I found. Versus other name-brand AC/DC TIG machines like Miller or ESAB, it is generally cheaper. The ESAB 220i is $1900 street price, and that is without a torch, regulator, or pedal. The Miller Diversion is $2300 including everything. The Lincoln is $1800 with everything, and I received $100 off a new helmet. Yes, it's more than the Chinese ones, but I think the quality is better. I also looked at the Lincoln and Miller multiprocess welders, but I don't really need MIG now and they generally don't do AC TIG. I also thought a welder that does one process would likely do it better.

Separately, on the helmet, the new one I bought with the credit is a Lincoln/Viking 2450. I had been using a more basic Hobart. Big difference in the ability to see clearly. I really like the 2450.

I picked mine up used about 18 months ago. It is a nice machine for home use. I am pretty happy with it. Some stream of conscious thoughts follow.

On the stick side, I have used it with 6011 for a few times for some TJ frame repair and a brush hog job at my Mom's. I have also played around a little with 7018 and 6013. I haven't tried 6010.

On the TIG side I have mostly used it for light gauge mild steel. I am starting to dabble in aluminum. The torch does get pretty hot. On a few cases playing with 1/8" filets I would use stick glove on my right hand and TIG glove on my left. One of these days I hope to build a cooler and then find a 20 series torch.

I hate paying for junk. Fit and finish seem to be much nicer than the Harbor Freight or Eastwood machines. I have not used either of them. That said, I recognize that every inverter machine probably has a finite life design. I went with name brand because at least some parts support is available, even if the primary board is crazy expensive.

Post flow is long, but does not bug me that much. I did learn the hard way that I should shut off the argon bottle when I quit for the day.

Cheers, Alan

SusKatCas wrote:I picked mine up used about 18 months ago. It is a nice machine for home use. I am pretty happy with it. Some stream of conscious thoughts follow.

On the stick side, I have used it with 6011 for a few times for some TJ frame repair and a brush hog job at my Mom's. I have also played around a little with 7018 and 6013. I haven't tried 6010.

On the TIG side I have mostly used it for light gauge mild steel. I am starting to dabble in aluminum. The torch does get pretty hot. On a few cases playing with 1/8" filets I would use stick glove on my right hand and TIG glove on my left. One of these days I hope to build a cooler and then find a 20 series torch.

I hate paying for junk. Fit and finish seem to be much nicer than the Harbor Freight or Eastwood machines. I have not used either of them. That said, I recognize that every inverter machine probably has a finite life design. I went with name brand because at least some parts support is available, even if the primary board is crazy expensive.

Post flow is long, but does not bug me that much. I did learn the hard way that I should shut off the argon bottle when I quit for the day.

Cheers, Alan

You've used it with 6011?? Mine can't keep an arc lit for more than 5 seconds. That was with 1/8 Lincoln 5p+

Runs 7018, 7014, 6013, some hardfacing rods fine, but no 6011.

You're right about the parts, my LWS told me once past warranty its a throw away machine, there's only 2 part numbers to the internals, the fan assemble and the entire board assembly. And the board is roughly the cost of a new machine.

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The most annoying part of no post flow adjustment in a low amps.

If I'm welding 24ga stainless, I want more than 1 second of post flow even though I'm at less than 25 amps.

bap_ wrote:The most annoying part of no post flow adjustment in a low amps.

If I'm welding 24ga stainless, I want more than 1 second of post flow even though I'm at less than 25 amps.

While it is not adjustable, it varies with the amperage setting. Minimum is 8 seconds at 10 amps or less, 9 seconds between 10 and 30 amps. See the chart here, about 8 or 9 posts from the top. That chart was supposedly supplied by someone at Lincoln.

https://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/ ... 32&start=0

So in your case, you would get 8 seconds or so of post flow.