TIG 350 too big

I have a Lincoln TIG 350 at my shop but I think it is just to big of a machine for what I am doing. I will NEVER max this thing out. I am thinking of selling it off and going with a simple Lincoln 175 unit that they have out now. Am I crazy or will it be a good move?

Pros: smaller unit, lighter, more portable, less power needed to run

Cons: the 350 is a full on industrial unit, no duty cycle issues, weld anything I need to with it, what if I do need to weld that big chunk of whatever in the future.

Any Ideas?[S

You wanna trade? Lol I have a miller econotig that I wanna replace with a larger machine.

i think you'll regret losing the 350. I have a Lincoln 175 and I find it's a little underpowered for some projects. For example, I built a boat trailer from .120 wall aluminum rect. tube. The little 175 was hanging wide open to make the T fillets, and was painfully slow.

Now I have both the 175 and a 250 Miller. I won't part with either one. I like the 175 for delicate work (and the smaller torch). I rarely use the 250, but I'm glad it's there when I need the horsepower.

I understand the portability issue. What I've done, is placed the 250 in the center of my shop with extra long leads. Although I can't reach every corner of my space, the work can usually be moved close enough that I don't have to move the machine. (I believe my torch reaches 25 ft).

I've got a Miller Matic 200 mig I love and a Miller SD180 tig, arc, etc. that is a good machine. The only thing is I want to add a water cooled, thumb controlled, torch [dr
Small machines are good for small projects. In most cases you can turn a big machine down but, you can't turn a small machine up

Jim

You can never have too much welder. What would be your motivation to move down in size? All you have to do is crank down the power if you don't need to weld thick stuff and it will do anything a smaller one will do and more.

Keep the old one.

Don

It sits in the center of the shop and the leads do reach most every where. Sometimes I have to swing a larger project around on the frame table to get the back corner. I just always seem to spend more time fiddling with all the knobs then I do actually getting good welds down. Now that being said it may just be that I need more practice and maybe learn a little more about the machine!

jfg455 said:

It sits in the center of the shop and the leads do reach most every where. Sometimes I have to swing a larger project around on the frame table to get the back corner. I just always seem to spend more time fiddling with all the knobs then I do actually getting good welds down. Now that being said it may just be that I need more practice and maybe learn a little more about the machine!

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I have a Hobart 250 that i hardly use, but I would not want to go down in size. Fiddling with all the knobs comes with Tig welding. Just takes a lot of practice. I find myself trying put too much heat in too fast.

cornfield customs said:

You wanna trade? Lol I have a miller econotig that I wanna replace with a larger machine.

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How do you like the econotig?
I haven't used mine yet. I got the welder, cart. pedal, remote, argon, and about 50# of rod for $1,000
I have a lincoln idealarc 240 ac dc+ dc- stick welder for doing heavy stuff. I was thinking i could get a tig setup for it to use as a power supply maybe an add on mig pack too. I wonder if the piggy back mig pack for a 3 phase power supply runs on single phase...it is after all just a drive motor cable and gun...

I know the 3 phase welders can be converted to single phase if they have a delta coil by rewiring and adding a filter coil or shunt to the output to smooth out the pulses