Buy a Tig welder that has a water-cooled torch or water-cooled torch attachment, Don't buy a air-cooled torch...Water-cooled is smaller, more comfortable and never gets too hot to handle no matter how long you"ve been welding...
Especially when working on Aluminum!

 

Water cooled is nice. but is a bit costly. I think the upgrade from miller is another 800-1000.
I'm looking to upgrade to it now but for a beginner its definitely not necessary. You will be regrinding your tungsten so much the torch won't have time to get hot. lol

 

il tell ya . i was a hard core mig welder before i learned to tig. i will say that tig is harder to learn than mig , it takes better hand eye coordination and a steady hand. but once you learn you will never want to go back!!!

tolerances have to be better between work pieces (no gaps!!!!!!!!)

i would get a syncrowave 200 if i were you ive welded with the maxstar 150 , diversion 165 and syncrowave 180 .i like the syncrowave the best.

 

im a combination pipe welder......... use tig and stick...... tig is not extremely hard to learn but it does take some time and lots of patience. the difference between the cheap machines and the high dollar machines is the duty cycle.. a good machine will give you 100% @ the highest rated amp...... while a cheap machine is only going to give you 15-20%...... so let say ur welding at 120 amps and ur machine is rated for 20% @ 150amps... u will probably get about 4-5 minutes of 120amps output, after that ur machine will decrease power....

i never used a water-cooled, and probably never will...... doesnt get too hot.

 

i agree. water cooled is for hard core all day long users. . i say spend the 2300 and get a syncrowave 200 runner! and get a small 125 amp tig torch!!!

 

i agree. water cooled is for hard core all day long users. . i say spend the 2300 and get a syncrowave 200 runner! and get a small 125 amp tig torch!!!

 

Went and looked at some yesterday just gotta figure out which one I want miller 165 was $1300, miller 185 was $1600 and the synchrowave 200 was $2300. Just gotta fugure out which route I want to go and what will be good enough for what I need. I might get a chunk of money pretty soon and may go with the synchrowave.

 

Not at all taking away from your skill or talent, Most "Hobbyists" weld thin material....I have tested multi pass pipe for most of my testing...
Welding Sq. 80 pipe or even sq. 40 is a hell of alot different than welding 22 GA. S/S or .090 Alum for a gas tank. I know multi pass pipe welding is hard and takes skill...But your talking 1/4" to 1/2" thick versus 1/16" to 3/32".
Get the 185...Thats the welder I run and love it!!! And for the record In my 24000 Sq. foot Sheet metal shop out of 25+ welders...ZERO of them are water cooled, Its mainly for industrial....

 

I have an old Syncrowave 351 I bought new about 16 years ago. It's been a good machine.

I don't weld much anymore, but I still wonder if the inverter machines are better than the old machines like my 351?

 

Both the 165 and the 185 are in the diversion series which means they are tig welding for dummies. Also both of them have only half of the duty cycle that the syncrowave has.
Also the syncrowave has pulse adjustments as well as pre-flow and post-flow adjustments. Also it has A/C balance control which can help with aluminum welding.
So of those three get the syncrowave. It costs the most but if you really take to tig welding you will quickly outgrow the diversion welders.