Lincoln Precison 185 TIG?

[zags]

I am looking for a new TIG machine. I like the looks of the Lincoln 185 on paper. Has anyone had any experience with this machine? It will be for my home shop, no production work so I don't think I need water cooling, but I would like to make sure it is powerful enough for general fab work. Mainly tube work up to .120 wall and possibly up to 1/4" plate.
TIA

[SeanP]

The guy at my local welding store sell both the Blue and the Red. He had some really good things to say about the lincoln ac/dc. The auto pulsed arc sounded like a real good feature.

SeanP

[jasonmt]

The Lincoln 185 is a conventional transformer machine and has a low duty cycle (15%@185A). Either one of these two reasons would cause me not to consider it; both combined would make me run away from it. If you don't want to spend the money for a Dynasty look at the TA 185 for the same price, it is a inverter with a better duty cycle and requires a 40A circuit at 240V vs. Lincolns 70A circuit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=57039&item=3864343781

[edog1]

Im also looking at the same machine.

jasonmt what does "conventional transformer machine" mean and why is that bad ?

[jasonmt]

Mostly explained in this thread: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=180585

Click the Miller link as well, if you have any more questions come back and ask away.

[Pin Head]

There are a couple of good things about "conventional transformer machines".

1) They are cheap as used units because most people prefer inverters.

2) Your buddies won't ask to borrow it because it weighs 400 pounds.

That is a really poor duty cycle for a transformer machine. In comparison, my Heliarc HF250 is 60% at the full 250 amps output.

[camsk5]

I have yet to overun the duty cycle on mine... when I get carried away I have the 300 powermig....
it works well...is easy to get parts for...
the blue one is the same....

cam