Grant Erwin wrote:
Jon Elson wrote:

Save your nickels up, watch eBay and local sources, and wait for a
good deal on a TIG welder.


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I finally got a good eBay deal on a great Lincoln square wave TIG 300,
a totally fantastic machine.


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Jon, how much would you estimate it cost you to get into TIG welding? - GWE

$2000. I paid $1299 for the Lincoln Square Wave 300 machine, which included
a brand new regulator/flowmeter and hose, a miller cooler, a 300 A
water-cooled torch, stick electrode holder which I've never even
unwrapped, ground lead and finger control. I needed to swap a
breaker in my panel, and get an Argon bottle, some electrodes and
an auto-dark helmet. I got hit for about $300 shipping,
but the seller packed it all up in a GREAT crate, and it came through
in perfect condition. Oh, the machine is on a steel cart, I'm guessing
it was made by Lincoln as it is a perfect fit to the machine.
I had to pay about $100 to rent a lift gate truck to pick it up, as I
don't have a loading dock or forklift.

As soon as I got the Argon and electrodes, I was experimenting with
a steel welding project and it went VERY well, I'd say 10 times neater
than the horror I would have had with stick. After burning my chest
through a dark shirt, I bought a welding jacket on eBay.

I did have one problem with the machine, a bad capacitor in the
post-flow timer ended up wasting a lot of Argon before I was really
aware of the problem. I got a very sketchy wiring diagram from
Lincoln, but that was enough to trace it to the circuit board and find
the bad cap.

It is a really nice machine, but a total hulking beast, physically. I
watched eBay
intermittently for about a year before finding one that looked good
enough, close enough, cheap enough, etc. that I was willing to put money
on it.

As for little options, there's a guy on eBay, aglevtech, who sells
all sort of TIG items, torch parts, collets, gas lenses, tungstens
for REALLY cheap. I have found him to be the first place to go for
these items.

Jon