Syncro 250 tigrunner

[Scott V]

I don’t want you to feel bad about your purchase but there are a couple of reasons that Thermal Arc is able to shave some $$$ from the price of their machines.

First: in their Limited Warranty Statement dated May 1 2003 there is this nice little revision " ALL OTHER CIRCUITS AND COMPONENTS INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, CONTACTORS, RELAYS,
SOLENOIDS, PUMPS, POWER SWITCHING SEMI-CONDUCTORS 1 YEAR"

I called Thermal Arc and asked them if "POWER SWITCHING SEMI-CONDUCTORS" referred to the IGBT's and was told that it did include them and their warranty was only 1 year.
NOTE: Miller still covers these components for three years parts and labor and since they are some of the most highly stressed components in a machine they are statistically more likely to fail.

For those of you not familiar with Inverter technology the IGBT's 'Isolated Gate Bipolar Transistors' are the key component that gives inverter machines the ability to put out so much weld current with so little input power.

Second: This year Thermal Arc moved machine assembly from the U.S. to Malaysia. When I asked them why I was told that their parent company
‘Thermadyne holdings’ had purchased an Australian company which had just completed a new factory there and that they could ship the parts there assemble the units, ship them back and still save a ton of money.
The reason I found out this second part is I had an order for over 50 grand in equipment that took them 10 weeks to fill a few items at a time.

By the way I still sell Thermal Arc machines to customers who want them but since they are no longer Made in U.S.A by American workers and I have an American made “Blue” choice I will certainly be selling more Miller machines in the future.

As Paul Harvey says “And now you know the rest of the story”

I have had great luck with my Thermal stuff .I think you will find that this model is made in Japan by Sanrex I happen to Know the local Thermal rep and if things happened he would get it handled. So am not worried one bit. By the way the local Military contractor has been buying these over the Dynasty too. It is not a money thing either.

If you look what a 300 gtw street price is, you will find it is very close to a 300 DX

http://www.business.com/bdcframe.asp?ticker=PCP&src=http%3A//rd.business.com/index.asp%3Fbdcz%3Dc.l.cc.ml.e%26bdcr%3D0%26bdcu%3Dhttp%253A//www.precast.com/%26bdcs%3D606C9C1E-E743-4387-AAC5-9D60E957EC3B200482663621.5%26bdcf%3Dffb06666-3862-11d4-8f6c-00d0b7473557%26bdcp%3D%26partner%3Dbdc%26title%3DPrecision%2520Castparts%2520Corporation&back=http%3A//www.business.com/directory/transportation_and_logistics/airlines_and_aviation_services/aircraft_services/parts_and_equipment/precision_castparts_corporation/&path=/directory/transportation_and_logistics/airlines_and_aviation_services/aircraft_services/parts_and_equipment/precision_castparts_corporation

[RHutch]

I don’t want you to feel bad about your purchase but there are a couple of reasons that Thermal Arc is able to shave some $$$ from the price of their machines.

First: in their Limited Warranty Statement dated May 1 2003 there is this nice little revision " ALL OTHER CIRCUITS AND COMPONENTS INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, CONTACTORS, RELAYS,
SOLENOIDS, PUMPS, POWER SWITCHING SEMI-CONDUCTORS 1 YEAR"

I called Thermal Arc and asked them if "POWER SWITCHING SEMI-CONDUCTORS" referred to the IGBT's and was told that it did include them and their warranty was only 1 year.
NOTE: Miller still covers these components for three years parts and labor and since they are some of the most highly stressed components in a machine they are statistically more likely to fail.

For those of you not familiar with Inverter technology the IGBT's 'Isolated Gate Bipolar Transistors' are the key component that gives inverter machines the ability to put out so much weld current with so little input power.

Second: This year Thermal Arc moved machine assembly from the U.S. to Malaysia. When I asked them why I was told that their parent company
‘Thermadyne holdings’ had purchased an Australian company which had just completed a new factory there and that they could ship the parts there assemble the units, ship them back and still save a ton of money.
The reason I found out this second part is I had an order for over 50 grand in equipment that took them 10 weeks to fill a few items at a time.

By the way I still sell Thermal Arc machines to customers who want them but since they are no longer Made in U.S.A by American workers and I have an American made “Blue” choice I will certainly be selling more Miller machines in the future.

As Paul Harvey says “And now you know the rest of the story”

[Scott V]

I was looking at a new 250 tigrunner package today and Miller has did a # with that unit. I was almost tempted to pick one up but just could not get beyond not having adjustable freq for AC. I really think it is one well thought out package. I stuck to my guns though and picked up a new Thermal-arc 300 gtw. I tried it out today and it is a very nice unit. I think it welds better than my 300 gtsw, in the way I seem to be able to weld at a lower wave balance then the gtsw? It could just be cleaner aluminum but I doubt it. It was down to the Dynasty 300 and the Thermal gtw and the Thermal won out with me again. The price was about $500.00 cheaper for the Thermal because of the deal my friend worked out with Thermal on a couple of machines. This is the second time that has happened when I had my mind set on a Dynasty.

http://www.jandrweldingsupply.com/store/Prowave300TSW.html