Welding Tips and Tricks

Been thinking a while about upgrading my syncrowave to a liquid cooled unit. I typically weld mild steel between 30-85amps mainly but I do get the occasional job that requires more amperage and of course creates more heat. Just curious if anyone else has added a cooler to their air cooled welder before? Would I benefit that much? Thanks!

Hey there.

My understanding is that you can add a cooler to any Tig - they are separate units, so will work with a Tig of any type or vintage.

Tig + cooler + liquid cooled torch and associated lines = liquid cooled Tig.


Kym

Graveyard wrote:Been thinking a while about upgrading my syncrowave to a liquid cooled unit. I typically weld mild steel between 30-85amps mainly but I do get the occasional job that requires more amperage and of course creates more heat. Just curious if anyone else has added a cooler to their air cooled welder before? Would I benefit that much? Thanks!

That's a personal decision. It all depends on what you're welding. The 210 is more of a hobbyist/light industrial welder that has a short duty cycle so I have never bothered with a cooler for mine when doing steel. Theres been a few times welding aluminum that I wished I had a cooler but other than that, I never really saw the need. Some guys have to have all the toys so if you feel the need, by all means, get one. I see them on Craigslist from time to time, reasonably priced.

I have very little experience on a liquid cooled tig unit so I'm not sure it's worth it. I've had my 210 for almost 2 years and I put about 5-10hours on it per week. I know I'll have to also buy the adaptor from Miller as well as a new torch setup to make it work. Probably all said and done $900. I don't do much aluminum but on occasion it comes in. I think I'll research a little more. I have noticed a few units on Craigslist and I'll probably keep an eye out for a good deal. Thanks for the input. Btw I love this machine, I upgraded from an Stl 150 and have no regrets. I did wish it could handle a bit thicker steel but for the price I can't complain.

I will go liquid cooled one day just for fun...I want to build my own cooler.

But meanwhile I weld on steel and aluminium pretty often up in the range nudging 150 amps or so. I run a size 17 torch with a stubby gas lens. I find that on the occasions when I need to be welding aluminium for awhile, the torch heats up reasonably fast on long beads. I just switch to an Ove Glove on my torch hand and keep motoring.

I am yet to fry a torch, but I can see how that might happen welding a big aluminium part like, say, a fuel tank. My solution is to simply keep a spare 17 torch on hand - they're not expensive, after all.

What size jobs are you taking on in aluminium? Unless you are welding big parts and constant long beads, you might get away with air cooled for now.


Kym

I addeda coolmate 1 to mine. It fits very nicely on top.

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TigMonster wrote:I addeda coolmate 1 to mine. It fits very nicely on top.

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Is 'cooler on top of welder' a good idea? Genuine question...would have thought that in case of accidental leaks/failures, cooler above welder might be asking for trouble.


Kym

MosquitoMoto wrote:

TigMonster wrote:I addeda coolmate 1 to mine. It fits very nicely on top.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Is 'cooler on top of welder' a good idea? Genuine question...would have thought that in case of accidental leaks/failures, cooler above welder might be asking for trouble.


Kym

All off the shops i work for keep the coolers on top of the big mig welders and the tigs that don't have them built in.

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Here's what I did: I found this cooler on Craig's List for a song and a dance, and I picked up a CK 20 water cooled torch from HTP America (also for a very reasonable price). I plug the cooler into the front panel of the Syncrowave and leave the cooler on top. I built a pair of "tag leads" with a ring terminal on one end and female DINSE on the other end. Then I can switch between my stick stinger and TIG torch pretty easily.

Awesome thanks for the info!