R-tech

[discodoug]

Hi,
found this forum while researching which new Tig to
buy.
My trusty Chinese wse200 called it a day last week after 4 years of service. After reading lots of reports on similar welders it seems like I've done quite well. It was cheap to buy, performed well and certainly paid it's way.

Any way I've got a couple of jobs I need to get out so needed a new tig in a hurry. Although I'd love a miller etc I simply don't have the funds. I had the option of buying another wse200 type machine from china but I was a bit worried I wouldn't be so lucky this time. It seems like a bit of a lottery.

To cut a long story short I had a chat with r-tech and ended up buying their 250 amp ac/dc tig. Cost was £1.5k but it comes with 50 amps more than my old one and most importantly a 2 year warranty.

It's being delivered tomorrow so I will let you know how I get on.

 

[Wayne.]

i will be very interested in your review of this tig as its the model that i am looking towards ordering

 

[discodoug]

Well woke up to find an email from UPS to say it's been dispatched. That's a good start.

I have a fillet weld to a cast ally sump that I do all the time. My old welder could manage it just but suffered from thermal shutdowns quite alot. A right pain in the middle of a nice weld. Should be a good measure of if the r- tech really has another 50 usable amps.

 

[Wayne.]

i forgot to ask will you be using the rtech at home ?

 

[discodoug]

I have a workshop but unfortunatly it only has a single phase supply.

 

[Wayne.]

yes i am on a 240 supply as well, no workshop just a single car garage at home

 

[Burf86]

Any news on how good it is yet?
I'm thinking of getting the 160amp DC machine and would be keen to know what you think of their quality.

 

[discodoug]

Well, welder turned up thursday. When i wired it up it kept tripping my breaker everytime i turned it on. I was pretty disapointed.

Phoned up R-tech Friday morning. They were a bit suprised as apparently every unit gets QC checked before going out and the paperwork said it worked fine when it left them.

They dispatched another welder for a saturday morning delivery so i could be up and running over the weekend. The other one would be picked up on Monday.

Second welder arrives as promised. Fired up first time. Second time it tripped the breaker. Turns out although i have it wired to a 40 amp breaker it was B rated and not a C or D rated breaker which are less sensitive to sudden current draw on start up. I thought these were only needed for motors but apparently the new inverter technology they use takes a big gulp of current to fire it up.

Finally got the welder up and running and first impressions are good. Only tried AC so far and it certainly has more guts than my old 200 amp inverter TIG. It sounds different to, even on the same AC frequency. It sounds sharper like the changes between positive and negative are more abrupt. Spent about an hour messing around laying beads with different AC fequency and different pulse settings. One thing that would improve this welder is a digital memory. It has a lot of settings so it would be nice to be able to store setups.

Overall im pretty impressed with the unit so far. It does what it says on the tin and was very well priced compared to its peers.

What i am most impressed with though is the level of service i have had from R-tech so far. When i had problems with the first one they apologised and they were the ones that offered to send the next one out on an expensive saturday delivery. No grumbles from them at all. Gives me faith they would happily honour the 2 year warrenty

Spoke to them today and i think they are going to amend their handbook to specify a type C/D breaker and not just a 32 amp one.

I will keep you updated on how i get on after i've spent a bit of time with it but so far it gets a thumbs up from me.

Doug.

 

[Wayne.]

Thats great service and just what i wanted to hear, to be fair though i haven't heard a bad word about RTech customer service,which is just another reason why when i do have the rest of my funds for the Tig thats where my money will be going keep us updated if you dont mind on your progress and thoughts on this machine thanks

 

[Balders]

I bought the 200A DC from them recently. Their service (spoke to Rob) is brilliant.
Very helpful chap on the phone, even rings you back if he's busy.

 

[discodoug]

A quick update.

Spent most of yesterday using the R-tech and i'm very happy. Really impressed with its power. Tried the fillet weld to a big casting that i used to struggle with the old machine. The R-tech breezed it with power in reserve.

 

[Mrthumb]

hmmm

hi doug, im about to get one, do you think i should spend the extra and get the 200 am instead of the 160?

im use modern 3 phase migtronics at work for all my tigging, and i rarley go above 180 amps unless im doing 10mm aluminium, and 160 if im doing stainless.

what do you recon?

also do you think the amps compare to a 3 phase, as in 100 amps on the rtech is the same as a 100 amps on a 3 phase machine? thanks.

 

[Shox Dr]

hi doug, im about to get one, do you think i should spend the extra and get the 200 am instead of the 160?.

In a word Yes!

Better to have and not need. Than to need and not have

 

[dannyp]

you also get more duity cycel

I went for the 251, didn't know how meany amps id need but may eventualy end up working on quite thick ali so i thought i go for all i can get. and get a duity cycel bonus if don't use the amps

 

[Mrthumb]

hey how do you think this compares to R techs 200 amp welder? its 150 quid cheaper http://sip-group.com/acatalog/05164.html

i aint be able to find out if it uses MOSFET instead of IGBT, im still in the hmming and arring process.

 

[dannyp]

ive been badly stung a couple of times with SIP kit in the past

 

[Mrthumb]

that settles that then!

 

[James1433]

Just ordered an R Tech 160 amp machine today as heard good things about them and the 12 month interest free credit makes it more affordable. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[llamb57]

Had my R-Tech 161 ac/dc for a couple of weeks now. I am only a hobby welder but so far very impressed.
I went on a 2 week TIG course last year where I used high end machines but to me my R-Tech seems just as good.

I also got the little 30amp plasma cutter. Have clean cut 6mm mild steel with no issues at all.

ps - I wrote to R-Tech about the Pulse Width setting on the TIG as I could not understand the manual. They replied quickly with useful info and told me the Pulse Width is not related to time but is a % of the pulse where the current is at the maximum.

 

[Andy 24]

I have a nxtig 250 from tigmigit.com . It is basically the same as the rtech model also with 2 years warranty but almost half the price I paid £760 posted . I also had the same problem with it tripping out so that's pretty standard on a high powered 240v unit I guess . Very happy with the performance so far , I also have one of there 250 amp inverter migs and a 60 amp plasma . All very impressive for the money .Defiantly worth checking these guys out before spending your money on the same kit from rtech .