Welding Q: Eastwood Arc 80 w/ tig torch

[K.O.M.]

I know that there are much, much better machines out there, but I think I'm at a point where I actually need a small welder for general non-structural work at home.

My welding experience is in stick/SMAW and limited TIG/GTAW, semi-apprenticed back in the day working for an old German guy in an official Schwinn shop repairing Airdynes. Used MIG/GMAW during college for FSAE and building a desalination machine.

I haven't touched a welder in 15 years, until I helped a friend use a Klutch stick welder for an art project. Was impressed with the results despite the fact that it was a $200 machine.

My question is, with the Eastwood Arc 80, what are the limitations to the TIG process? It's an inverter, DC output, 20-80 amps, with 20% duty cycle at 80 amps? What is the material limitation? Is it possible to TIG 14-16 ga aluminum with this machine (yes, I know DC output aluminum TIG is a pain).

 

[Highmark]

I too would like to know - for that kind of money it's worth a shot :lol:

 

[edwardpacola]

I would be careful with that machine. Also the duty cycle is pretty low. I'm sure it would weld up what your trying to do. In my opinion spend the extra cash if you can and get a quality machine.
Your limits would be thickness of material type of material and duty cycle. Hope this helps


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[K.O.M.]

I would be careful with that machine. Also the duty cycle is pretty low. I'm sure it would weld up what your trying to do. In my opinion spend the extra cash if you can and get a quality machine.
Your limits would be thickness of material type of material and duty cycle. Hope this helps


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I understand that, the more important question, is this:

Theoretically, this machine should be able to weld 1/16" inch steel at 80 amps: roughly using the 0.001" = 1 amp rule, would this apply across all materials?

Any thoughts on reliable penetration using just arc/stick vs. using the tig process? I have access to a more powerful machine at work, but I am limited to 120v at home--the most this would do is join sections of a decorative metal fence around the perimeter of the backyard, after that, it's for hobby related or decorative fabrication.

Even welding a plate or tube in the past, I don't ever recall actually working for more than 30-45 seconds at a time before checking my work for a few minutes, so the duty cycle doesn't bother me.

For $250, I'm tempted to just buy it, borrow a 40 cu. ft. cylinder and regulator/flow gauge from work, and see what it can do. Worst case scenario is it gets used for tack welding r/c tube frames and bumpers before brazing.

 

[edwardpacola]

It all depends on what type of material. Carbon steal, stainless or aluminium all have different ways they hold heat and how fast it dissipates and flows. If you are going to buy it to do a iron fence I would invest in a stick welder. You would be surprised what you can weld. Get some 7018 or even 6010 rod around 3/32 and I think it would be perfect. Easy to clean and better control if you've never tig welded before.... Also on a plus side you can always set up your stuck welder to do scratch start tig. For pretty cheap since you have access to gas.

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[edwardpacola]

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[Crawling Calvin]

Ok I am NOT a professional welder I am just a hack learning welding in college :mrgreen:

Disclaimer aside... this was done at 150 amps on a TIG and while this is for sure pushing what TIG can do... the weld seems to be holding so far :ror:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEpGUl3EFJ8/?taken-by=crazywhitemachinist

One thing to keep in mind with the duty cycle (according to Wikipedia) is: "In a welding power supply, the maximum duty cycle is defined as the percentage of time in a 10-minute period that it can be operated continuously before overheating" SO the absolute limit the machine can do (please correct me if I am wrong) is about 2 minutes of welding with 8 minutes of cool down. Depending on what your doing this may or maybe not an issue but... just something to seriously consider! Especially if you plan on doing more substantial stuff in the future.

Last thing is does this have HF start (high frequency) so it lights the arc itself OR is it a scratch start. I haven't used a scratch start machine but I hear they can be somewhat frustrating strictly because the tungsten may want to "weld" itself to the work piece... HF start is nice since you can just line the tungsten up, strike the arc and go 8)

 

[BarHarborBasher]

I use to spritz it with acetone ... But I'm a dangerous guy lol It just worked for me when I was starting out...

 

[K.O.M.]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have learned from previous welding experience, that at the price-point I am looking at (under $300), a MIG welder can be of questionable quality--typically the wire feed system is the culprit--that's why I wanted to stick to a "stick":lmao: welder with the option to go to TIG later on.

The Eastwood and a lot of the other DC output stick/TIG Chinese made specials are all scratch start for TIG.

I did find some fairly decent MIG welders between $300-$400 after a bit more research regarding the wire feed systems of these various machines.

I went ahead and signed up for a semester's worth of welding classes at the local community college, so I'll be doing TIG/MIG or Stick/Flux Core twice a week 3 hours at a time. I have until the 9th of this month to finalize what I want to focus on. Excited about the whole deal. Better stock up on some metal and upgrade my garage breaker.:ror:

 

[allanon1965]

I have the eastwood Mig135 mig welder, it also has just a 20%duty cycle, but so do the Miller mig welders that are comparable in specs and they cost more. I have used miller, lincoln, hobart, and a few other cheapo brands. The eastwood I have is on par with the miller mig welders of similar specs.

The eastwood is easy to use, setup and the maintenance is one of the easiest I have seen. The locations of the items you need to get to, such as screws and bolts holding things together for assembly and maintenance, are not hard to get to or need a third hand to work with. Mine uses flux core wire or regular mig wire with a tank. It welds so well with the flux core wire that I have not yet purchased a tank for it. I would not hesitate to buy another eastwood welder if I need to and I do plan on buying a tig welder soon.

Having a duty cycle higher for hobby welding is not justifiable in my opinion. I dont need to spend that much money when I can do what I want for far less. If I made a living at this, that would be different.

 

[spookyseven]

Ahp is another brand that is worth looking into although it has a higher price point than what you mentioned. The big advantage is having the power and ac capability to work on non rc projects.

 

[K.O.M.]

The Winner: Klutch MIG 140SI

After doing even more research and bugging people about letting me use various welders, here is what I have on order:

It satisfies the criteria of being compact, run off 115/120V AC, can immediately weld all the materials I want, and is spoolgun ready for aluminum.

Thinking about the majority of what I want to do would make an inexpensive Stick/TIG machine a possible exercise in frustration. By the time I would need to TIG weld something, it will be likely thin material and would require more control than a scratch-start, DC output machine would be able to provide.

The Klutch 140SI won out over the similar Eastwood 135 due to, at least on paper, what appears to be a more robust, user-friendly drive/wire feed system.

In addition, I'm signed up for a stick/flux-core welding class through December, followed by an advanced stick, MIG, TIG class through May.