How much TIG welder?

[barcelona]

I want to fabricate motorcycle frames from mild steel of various thicknesses ranging from .120 to .250 (1/8 - 1'4 ").

How much Tig welder do I need?

Can I get what I need in a single phase unit?

Can I wire this at my house?

What size (amps) breaker do I need to install into my breaker box?

All info will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Barcelona.

[HAWK]

Barcelona,

Welcome to the forum.

I recommend the Dynasty 300DX as my first choice and the Syncrowave 250DX as my second choice. I believe the Dynasty 200DX will be underpowered for your needs since you mentioned .250 steel. Both of these machines offer AC and DC GTAW as well as SMAW capabilities. If you do not want or need the AC capability for aluminum and magnesium, then consider the Maxstar 300DX.

All the above mentioned machines will operate on single phase power. The Maxstar 300 will not give full ouput on single phase so that may eliminate it from the start. The Dynasty is a 1 or 3 phase machine capable of full output on both. The Syncrowave 250 is a 1 phase only machine.

These machines can be wired into residential structures with the proper wire sizes and breakers as recommended in the owners manuals.

http://millerwelds.com/om/o358ac_mil.pdf Dynasty 300Dx manual


http://millerwelds.com/om/o359q_mil.pdf Syncrowave 250DX manual

[Engloid]

If you want a machine that you can "grow" with, go with one of the ones mentioned by Hawk. They're great machines. The Dynasty 300dx is an absolutely awesome machine. I use one at work daily and it's the best machine I've ever used.

If you're wanting to stay on the cheaper end, and are happy being able to weld the things you mentioned...but no thicker, you can actually get by with a Maxstar model...any bigger than the 140. The 140 will weld 1/4", but it will be slow and will cost you by increasing weld times. You really need more power than the 140 has.

These days, there's many really nice welding machines that you can run off of single phase power like you have in the typical house. Even the Dynasty 300DX will run single phase. You will likely need a breaker that's 125amps or higher though. Your breaker box may be past its limit by doing this. I had to add a sub box to mine. I wired in a 125amp box in the garage. I only run my hot water heater, a big blower fan and welding machine off of it...usually not at the same time.

[fun4now]

1/4" on a bike

not much 1/4" steel on a bike. that that is would be atached to 1/8" or less.i would think in that case the dynasty 200DX would do for thouse few times you hit 1/4" to 1/8" multiple passes if it was 1/4 to 1/4.im planing the same thing 1 day and plan to use the dynasty 200DX (dynasty cuz i want ac) im not shoure but i think the maxstar and dynasty are same power in dc so eather should work.
i am not an expert but befor you get more welder than you need or can run off your curent think about how often you will be welding 1/4" and what you weld it to.you cant use 300 amps to conect 1/4" to 1/16".well i gess you could but wouldnt need to.
i have heard great things about the dynasty 200DX and plan to get 1 soon. you might consider it.
happy welding

[HAWK]

Barcelona,

I tend to purchase the upper end machines that will continue to serve me well in the future as I need to do more and heavier work. Your least expensive route will probably be the Maxstar 200. It is a DC machine only and draws less than 30 amps on the top end. If you are not in the .250" range a lot, then it should serve you needs nicely. However, there is no room to grow.

[barcelona]

Thank You!

Hey you guys!

Thank you for the info I requested. It's nice when a person can get good info from people who actually know what they are talking about!

Thanks again.

P.S. Engloid - nice pics!

Barcelona