Miller Diversion tig Welder

[Bsquared]

I was at Air gas today picking up some more Haris 56 silver brazing rods. And got looking at the tig welders. They had the Diversion 165 out for 1350, and I know I don't need it, but talking to the guy there it sounds like its a fairly easy machine to start tig welding with.

To preface, I did take a year long welding corse in community college, and it had a 12 hr a week lab section so I've done a bit of welding...that said it was almost 20 years ago.

Any one have experience with these units, so far from doing some googling I've read on a few automotive forums that they are fairly limited, but good quality. I could imagine though for brewing stuff where you are mostly working with new stainless, and not with grease, dirt, and road grime. This simple unit might work great.

 

[bad67z]

It appears to be a solid machine, from what I see. I have been in the welding/gas business for 20 year spent 10 of them working for ESAB a competitor of Miller and they make good equipment. As long and you understand it's maxes out @ around 3/16" material and it operates at a 20% duty cycle @ max output. I have a very similar 160A unit that works well.

I was looking in your area:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/for/2852731080.html

 

[Bsquared]

Thanks for the input.

Yes I saw that CL add, did not want to break it to the guy but they have it at Air gas for 1350. I was thinking of offering him 1k...

 

[bad67z]

Thanks for the input.

Yes I saw that CL add, did not want to break it to the guy but they have it at Air gas for 1350. I was thinking of offering him 1k...

Find out when he purchased it, 3 year warranty is the standard.

Find out the tank size, also if it is a purchased or leased cylinder (if purchased, make sure he has a bill of sale or some type of ownership documentation).

If it is the Miller factory cart it's $175 .

 

[Rbeckett]

It is a very very small machine power wise. You will be hard pressed to go much over 1/8th thick aluminum. The units also do not stick weld either. They are very limited in possible adjustments such as frequency ballance, pulse and background current. If some one gave me one I would definately take it but would not spend my hard earned coin for one for myself. There are too many good older units that will be around for another 50 years after I am gone for less money. I moderate on a welding and machine forum and can tell you that you will outgrow this unit in very short order. Save your coin for a bit longer and look at the dynastys or other manufacturers like Thermal Arc, Hobart, and Lincoln. I would also caution you to avoid any thing that is imported from china due to quality control and durability issues. They have improved a bunch, but still have too many issues for me to spend my money on. Hope this helps, if you need more info or help please PM me and I will be more than happy to help guide you in your purchase decision and search.
Bob

 

[Bsquared]

Yes, I have been eyeing the Harbor freight Tig welder, but i keep coming back to ,"Buy cheep buy twice" when I think about getting one of them. If I pull the trigger on a Tig welder its going to be from a reputable manufacture.

Thanks for the input.

 

[sv_1]

It is a very very small machine power wise. You will be hard pressed to go much over 1/8th thick aluminum. The units also do not stick weld either. They are very limited in possible adjustments such as frequency ballance, pulse and background current. If some one gave me one I would definately take it but would not spend my hard earned coin for one for myself. There are too many good older units that will be around for another 50 years after I am gone for less money. I moderate on a welding and machine forum and can tell you that you will outgrow this unit in very short order. Save your coin for a bit longer and look at the dynastys or other manufacturers like Thermal Arc, Hobart, and Lincoln. I would also caution you to avoid any thing that is imported from china due to quality control and durability issues. They have improved a bunch, but still have too many issues for me to spend my money on. Hope this helps, if you need more info or help please PM me and I will be more than happy to help guide you in your purchase decision and search.
Bob

I have the Diversion 165. I debated purchasing a more advanced machine for a while, but it won out because of its simplicity. I have used the larger more advanced stuff but found it overwhelming if I needed to change setups for a different material. I'll never be a professional welder.

I have welded several kegs, a stand and many other projects and have not been limited by it's duty cycle, but I don't find a need for 3/16"+ steel material. I've only done a few aluminum things, but I could see the need for more power.

For comparison I bought mine used with a cart, the bottle, a hood, the pedal, and several pounds of rod and lotsa tungsten for $1000. I decided to go to a 120cf bottle in short order as the small one didn't last long.

 

[Bsquared]

sv_1, what was your welding experience level before you started with the 165? Where you able to start welding with it right away?

As well I will never be a professional welder, and also I don't plan on building a race buggy. Mostly what I plan on doing is Beer stuf that I have been doing by brazing, but at $9 a stick its kinda expensive to do any thing more than add a couple fittings to a kettle. All that will be Stainless and less than 4mm in thickness.

I see where bob is coming from though, it is a really limited system for the money, but I really am looking for some thing that is easy to setup and get started with. I figure thats what I would be paying extra for, and getting less power from this unit. As for stick welding, I would not need this, my neighbor has a miller MIG welder that I can use any time.

Im not too close to pulling the trigger. I still have this unit high up on my list, but I'll be lurking around to see what else is out there.

 

[mtbcoach]

I own the Diversion 180 and appreciate how well the unit works. I do some garage fabrication work, not a professional welder by any means. I'm self-taught (with a Miller MIG 180 w/autoset) and started TIG welding last year. I've been welding for 5 years, building/fabricating off-road "stuff".

Yes, it does limit your ability to "fine-tune" the settings but that was something that kept me away from TIG welding. As I'm sure you know, having taken a welding course, TIG welding takes some higher skill levels than using a MIG welder and it will take a few bottles of gas practicing in order to get good welds.

As I'm also sure you know, welding SS can be very challenging, has specific techniques necessary to get welds good enough to be used in a "food-grade" environment. Mild steel is easiest to learn on, then aluminum and SS as more challenging.

If you are getting a welder to build keggles and such, TIG is certainly the way to go. If you are getting a welder to build stands, no reason to go with a TIG, get a MIG since the learning curve is much less severe.

TIG welding is much slower that MIG (at least for me) and uses more gas for the same linear length of a bead, therefore, more costly for the same job. I've also learned the importance of having a proper welding bench for TIG welding since its a two hand and one foot operation. I've found proper position, both myself and the material are very important to get good welds. And, it is very important to properly prepare the surfaces for TIG where MIG welding its important but not so much so.

One of the great things about TIG welding is the lack of splatter, how "clean" it is as compared to the fireworks display of MIG welding.

Here are a couple examples of beads I've run, this is when I was on my second bottle after getting my Diversion 180, I don't have any recent examples but I'm still learning and getting better...

 

[sv_1]

I had spent less than an hour on a friends tig machine (he set the dials for me) and done a fair but of mig and wire feed stuff.
I've learned a lot about tig welding SS without having to deal with dialing in several different knobs. I'm sure that if I had the time to go to school or earned a living welding I would understand the advanced features, but I'm really happy with my purchase.