Plasma needle arc welding

[home05]

I was wondering how I could weld very thin sheet steel. I have heard about plasma needle arc welding and I was wondering how or where I could find one of these units. I was wondering if I could build one but, I would much rather buy one. I would appreciate any information on these machines. Does Miller make plasma needle arc welders?

Thanks, Patrick

[BugEyedValiant]

I have seen a few old needle arc units on ebay. They were all old Linde units and they went for less than $500 but I cant remember totally. I have some old Linde product books that they were in and was curious of the workings of them. How thin of metal do you want to weld? Wont a good inverter tig unit work that will go down to 1 amp or so? It seems like one of these should go low enough if you use a .020 tungsten.

[home05]

Metal Thickness

I am not sure how thick, but I have a <maxtar 140 str tig stick> machine and turned down all the way with TIG, and it still melts through the metal.
I want to buy a plasma needle arc. What happened to all the units? Why are they not used, what type of machine took it's place?

[BugEyedValiant]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34099&item=3310715231&rd=1

Look at the machine at the above link, it may do what you want. Also, the Maxstar 140 will only go down to 5 amps which you say isnt enough. Try this, use a 3/32 tungsten and try using reverse polarity. You will get a little wider of a bead, but it will concentrate 70% of the heat on the tungsten and only 30% on the material. It may save you some money.

[home05]

Maxtar 200, or Dynasty 200 series

Thanks for the ebay link! I am also looking at the Maxtar 200 series. I saw that the amp range was from 1-200, I am curently looking at the machine on ebay. Another Interest is the Dynasty 200 series, I know that the dynasty series offers more features, but it is more expensive and I dont need all those features. But the nice thing is that the Dynasty offer ac tig which I want to start doing. Before this problem I was looking at the syncrowave 180. Which should I get? But the synwv 180 starts at 10a dc and 7a ac. My pick so far is the Dynasty 200.

[ASKANDY]

The Dynasty 200 is lightyears ahead of the Sync180.
The Sync 180 is a nice hobby or beginner machine but the Dynasty has a much wider range of arc adjustability which by the sound of it is what you prefer.

A-

[home05]

Plasma needle arc machine

Hey Andy, Thanks for the info, what do you know or have heard about plasma needle arc welding? I would still like to pick up one of these machines, Has Miller ever made a Plasma needle arc machine? What took the place of plasma needle arc welding?

Thanks, Patrick

[BugEyedValiant]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2508626629&category=34096

Here is a link for a plasma torch.

[ASKANDY]

MILLER has never made any Plasma weld units. We believe TIG units have more benefits than Plasma with less cost of consumables/ gasses and equipment costs.
Plasma weld units were just another way to do the same type of job with a different process.
If you are bent on getting one, check with some Thermo-Arc or Thermo-Dynamics people or distributors for them. They may have leads on some of that old stuff.

A-

[home05]

Plasma needle arc responses

Thanks' for the link to the tig torch and the precision tig machine. Now that I know that Miller doesn't or ever made plasma machines I am looking at the dynasty 200. And Andy for the info on the Miller tigs and that they never made plasma machines.

Thanks, Patrick