thermal arc 175 inverter

[apprenticetom]

hi looking for info on these wondring are they a good reliable machine? thinking of getting one as i need a new inverter and it has lift tig which may be handy. any info appreciated cheers

 

[Tigman]

Ive got one , smaller I think , had it ten years or more , no problems , scratch tig works fine , so light can put it on shoulder and use it ! reccomend to anyone !

 

[Desertrat]

Ive got one, brillient...and you can get one for £200 cash if you know where to go! I had a Tec arc 165i before, kept over heating got shot of the bloody thing!

 

[apprenticetom]

cheers guys. il pick one up tomora. sick of my swp 120 crock of sh1+ giving me grief

 

[pedrobedro]

A friend of mine bought one of those a few weeks ago and thinks it is the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[500e]

Tell all Drat

 

[Desertrat]

Let us know how you get on with it, hope you get the £200 deal, as I have seen them going for a lot more? Good luck I am sure you wont be disappointed!

 

[apprenticetom]

cheers guys. picked one of these up for 300 euro with a 4 and a half inch hitachi grinder. good deal. very happy with the best little welder ive ownd burns 4mm rods all day horizontal and uphand no bother. getting a tig torch soon methinks

 

[Jim_gsxr1000]

I have a 161s dual voltage machine, haven't mised a beat, excellent build quality, and the technical support is very good, would definitely recomend them

 

[keith19]

Looks a nice m/c guys, but just a couple of questions:

Does it really need an intake current of 40 Amps at 230v when working at the top end of the scale?

Or are they just covering themselves for inrush current max amperage?

 

[Jim_gsxr1000]

MY 161S draws less than 16 AMPS at 160 AMPS output !

 

[keith19]

Thanks, Jim. That suggests the 175 would only be drawing around 18 - 20 Amps at top output, which is probably average for this size of inverter.

Wonder why they put 40 Amps on there? It must be max surge current, I guess. I have a max inrush surge reading of 18.3A on the plate of my little 125A CEA buzzbox, but it has only ever blown one or two 13A fuses even when running 3.2s.