Thread: Tig Welder Advice

I've done much research on buying a better tig than the entry level one I've been using, but have not seen any specific opinion to assist with a decision one way or the other; other than the you get what you pay for rule.

In the end I moved up form a $1000 chinese tig and lashed out on the BOC Smootharc Elite 230 after looking at all the top shelf machines. I am quite happy with the chinese tig, but I want more consistency in my welding jobs and between welding tasks. being able to change between known workable settings for fillet to butt joins takes the variation out.

The following is my experience with it and it may help some punter in the future in making a decision. I have no affiliation with or benefit in recommending the 230; I'm posting this because this is the kind of info I was looking for to help in my decision making. So here goes...

The main differences are stability, quality, and price.

Stability
An entry point $1000 machine is an analogue controlled unit and the 230 is digital. What I have found it that means the machine is much easier to dial in settings and they stay there. The tungsten on the 230 when working on aluminium is maintained much better. I have done complete jobs without having to repair the tip or decontaminate and that is a big benefit. The analogue was pretty variable and the tungsten suffered a lot. The higher frequency ac for aluminium is mainly what I'm using it for and it results in tighter fillet beads, but your technique will over ride any machine benefit.

Quality
The 230 is german designed and built like the proverbial s house - particularly the torch. I didn't like it when I tried it in the shop. The go button is a pull down action rather than a push down, but after a day I forgot the difference. The touch is heavy and stiffer than others, but I found it no problem. In fact I found it more stable. The tungsten collet is a different arrangement to the most common type and I find it holds the tungsten very precisely and in the center of the cup and the tungsten lasts a lot longer - maybe it acts as a better heat sink. Torch parts are different to the norm and so you cant go to ebay to pick up spares. That caught me a little unaware (I'm not a full time welder).

The machine itself is logical to use, has every thing you expect. Jobs, fan on demand etc. Up to 230 amps out of a 15 amp wall socket, 200Hz ac. The gas hose is non standard (screw on type which has saved me a heap of gas leakage), but if you dont intend to break it, not a problem and much easier to use than push up fittings. It didn't come with extra cups of short end cap, so you got to fork out extra for that.

Price
Elite 230, $3100 new on ebay, other top shelf machines, >$4k, so I thought the 230 hit the spot. Hasn't blow up yet and I am giving it a work out. If it does, there is a 3 year warranty.

My analogue tig did almost as much as the Elite 230, but if you need it to do just that little bit better because your work will be noticed, that's why I bought it I'm happy with it so far. The Miller looked great and the local dealer put together a nice touch combination, but duty cycle was less and a lot more $ so the Elite won the day.

Hope this is of use.

Originally Posted by Sparkler

I've done much research on buying a better tig than the entry level one I've been using, but have not seen any specific opinion to assist with a decision one way or the other; other than the you get what you pay for rule.

In the end I moved up form a $1000 chinese tig and lashed out on the BOC Smootharc Elite 230 after looking at all the top shelf machines. I am quite happy with the chinese tig, but I want more consistency in my welding jobs and between welding tasks. being able to change between known workable settings for fillet to butt joins takes the variation out.

The following is my experience with it and it may help some punter in the future in making a decision. I have no affiliation with or benefit in recommending the 230; I'm posting this because this is the kind of info I was looking for to help in my decision making. So here goes...

The main differences are stability, quality, and price.

Stability
An entry point $1000 machine is an analogue controlled unit and the 230 is digital. What I have found it that means the machine is much easier to dial in settings and they stay there. The tungsten on the 230 when working on aluminium is maintained much better. I have done complete jobs without having to repair the tip or decontaminate and that is a big benefit. The analogue was pretty variable and the tungsten suffered a lot. The higher frequency ac for aluminium is mainly what I'm using it for and it results in tighter fillet beads, but your technique will over ride any machine benefit.

Quality
The 230 is german designed and built like the proverbial s house - particularly the torch. I didn't like it when I tried it in the shop. The go button is a pull down action rather than a push down, but after a day I forgot the difference. The touch is heavy and stiffer than others, but I found it no problem. In fact I found it more stable. The tungsten collet is a different arrangement to the most common type and I find it holds the tungsten very precisely and in the center of the cup and the tungsten lasts a lot longer - maybe it acts as a better heat sink. Torch parts are different to the norm and so you cant go to ebay to pick up spares. That caught me a little unaware (I'm not a full time welder).

The machine itself is logical to use, has every thing you expect. Jobs, fan on demand etc. Up to 230 amps out of a 15 amp wall socket, 200Hz ac. The gas hose is non standard (screw on type which has saved me a heap of gas leakage), but if you dont intend to break it, not a problem and much easier to use than push up fittings. It didn't come with extra cups of short end cap, so you got to fork out extra for that.

Price
Elite 230, $3100 new on ebay, other top shelf machines, >$4k, so I thought the 230 hit the spot. Hasn't blow up yet and I am giving it a work out. If it does, there is a 3 year warranty.

My analogue tig did almost as much as the Elite 230, but if you need it to do just that little bit better because your work will be noticed, that's why I bought it I'm happy with it so far. The Miller looked great and the local dealer put together a nice touch combination, but duty cycle was less and a lot more $ so the Elite won the day.

Hope this is of use.

Thanks for the review, I've just bought one from BOC's ebay shop. What floored me was that the BOC retail outlets are asking around $4,700 for the same unit. I visited or rang all the BOC sites in SA and none could come close to the online price, the best I could get was $4,500.

As a matter of principle I'd like to support the local dealers to keep them in business but it's impossible to argue with the maths - $3,100 versus $4,700 is just ridiculous.

Rgds - Gavin