Opinions On The Lincoln Square Wave TIG 175
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:41 pm
What are your thoughts on this machine?
Have had one since 1997.
Good for light work - stick and tig. including aluminum and SS.
It does not have ac balance, or pulse but has worked flawlessly since new including yesterday.
1 thing that they don't tell you is if the tig arc doesn't start when pushing on the pedal then touch the tungston on the work without touching the pedal.
Then try with tungston gap and pushing on the pedal again - works every time so must have something to do with a coating build up on the tungston or grounding out the system to restart. It does have the high freq. start which works well 49 out of 50 times the first try.
The high freq. start or foot amp pedal is not designed to be used in "stick mode".
The reason its still available is its a proven transformer machine that does well for what it was designed for.
It is not an inverter power source machine.
The tig gun that it came with is rated for less than the machines output. Something like 170 machine vs 125 tig but I have cranked it up full bore AC on 3/16" aluminum for short periods and works well with 3/32 tungston but the tig tourch starts to warm up at that setting if used for long periods of time.
I added the collets for 1/16" to do very light work on alum/ss/steel
The arc on stick rods is way smoother and more controllable than the Lincoln 225 ac/dc buzz box which I had and sold.
Regards