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I haven't bought a TIG welder since the 330 Airco/Miller I got used in 1972. It seemed to always do what we needed to do, and the selenium rectifiers in it are still doing fine. (self healing, you know) If we had anything difficult, we sent it out to somebody with a good synchrowave and a steady hand and were always pleased with the results.
Lately, we've been asked to do a lot of difficult stuff, primarily 1/4 aluminum. It's welding we had no hope of doing in house, and we haven't been very pleased with what we've gotten back. Much of the problems are design related, which we don't have too much control over. Prints show things like a 10 inch long strip of .060 alum welded at right angles to the center of a 1/4 alum plate, with a 3/16 fillet welded specified. I don't like having to tell a customer "we can't do that."
So we've been considering investing in equipment and taking some of that work back in house, to get better control over the results. None of our outside welders seem to think that there is any sense going beyond the
synchrowave, given their mix of work.
Anyhow I've been searching around for somebody with a Dynasty 350 who would let me play around with it, and the best I could do was that a friend had purchased an Aerowave in 2000. I spent about a half an hour with it on Saturday, and I was completely blown away. What an incredible difference.
I've probably only welded myself for 10 or 12 hours in the last year, since most of the time nowdays I sit in front of a computer, but within 2 minutes I was running 3/16 - 1/4 beads on 90 degree intersections between 1/8 and 1/4 aluminum. (3/32 2% cerium, 220 amps fwd 120 amps reverse 300 hz) (at max pedal, which I didn't need) These weren't outside corner welds, but T intesections. (easier to manipulate, but harder to get the heat) I found the difference nearly unbelievable. Since I'm out of practice, to say the least, I found especially nice that when I dipped the tungsten a bit, instead of a huge black cloud, the mistake was barely noticable. I wish I had brought along some .060 alum to try to weld to the 1/4, but I didn't bother, since I assumed it would be not possible.
So my question is: Since the Aerowave isn't available any more, how good of a job did Miller do with the Dynasty 350 to replace it? Is there anybody out there who has had experience with both?
I don't remember the specifications exactly, but I believe the Aerowave has more adjustability than the Dynasty, near as I can figure from the on line manuals. I think the Dynasty hides some things a few menu levels down, that can be done with a button push and a knob twist on the Aerowave. In my experience, anything too hidden won't get adjusted, and the advantage of the control is completely lost.
The other end of the extreme we have been avoiding is the very low end on thin stainless. How does the Dynasty 350 do on welds like 5 to 10 amps DC on 22 ga polished stainless corners? I know friends are routinely using less than 5 amps on some of that work (no rod), and that's below what the Dynasty 350 is rated for, though the Dynasty 200 says it goes to 1 amp.
Anybody out there with experience with both? Comments appreciated.
Airco/Miller 330 (prox 1961)
Airco/Miller TS250 Mig
Trumpf TLC105
Haas HL42P
Soudronics Orbital Tig
Lately, we've been asked to do a lot of difficult stuff, primarily 1/4 aluminum. It's welding we had no hope of doing in house, and we haven't been very pleased with what we've gotten back. Much of the problems are design related, which we don't have too much control over. Prints show things like a 10 inch long strip of .060 alum welded at right angles to the center of a 1/4 alum plate, with a 3/16 fillet welded specified. I don't like having to tell a customer "we can't do that."
So we've been considering investing in equipment and taking some of that work back in house, to get better control over the results. None of our outside welders seem to think that there is any sense going beyond the
synchrowave, given their mix of work.
Anyhow I've been searching around for somebody with a Dynasty 350 who would let me play around with it, and the best I could do was that a friend had purchased an Aerowave in 2000. I spent about a half an hour with it on Saturday, and I was completely blown away. What an incredible difference.
I've probably only welded myself for 10 or 12 hours in the last year, since most of the time nowdays I sit in front of a computer, but within 2 minutes I was running 3/16 - 1/4 beads on 90 degree intersections between 1/8 and 1/4 aluminum. (3/32 2% cerium, 220 amps fwd 120 amps reverse 300 hz) (at max pedal, which I didn't need) These weren't outside corner welds, but T intesections. (easier to manipulate, but harder to get the heat) I found the difference nearly unbelievable. Since I'm out of practice, to say the least, I found especially nice that when I dipped the tungsten a bit, instead of a huge black cloud, the mistake was barely noticable. I wish I had brought along some .060 alum to try to weld to the 1/4, but I didn't bother, since I assumed it would be not possible.
So my question is: Since the Aerowave isn't available any more, how good of a job did Miller do with the Dynasty 350 to replace it? Is there anybody out there who has had experience with both?
I don't remember the specifications exactly, but I believe the Aerowave has more adjustability than the Dynasty, near as I can figure from the on line manuals. I think the Dynasty hides some things a few menu levels down, that can be done with a button push and a knob twist on the Aerowave. In my experience, anything too hidden won't get adjusted, and the advantage of the control is completely lost.
The other end of the extreme we have been avoiding is the very low end on thin stainless. How does the Dynasty 350 do on welds like 5 to 10 amps DC on 22 ga polished stainless corners? I know friends are routinely using less than 5 amps on some of that work (no rod), and that's below what the Dynasty 350 is rated for, though the Dynasty 200 says it goes to 1 amp.
Anybody out there with experience with both? Comments appreciated.
Airco/Miller 330 (prox 1961)
Airco/Miller TS250 Mig
Trumpf TLC105
Haas HL42P
Soudronics Orbital Tig
feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.
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