Thermal Arc 211i Fabricator
 

Anyone used these? Looking at buying one with a TIG torch. My local welding supplier carries these. They're made by TWECO/Victor tech.

$1200 with torch.

http://victortechnologies.com/Therma...SB_3-30-12.pdf

I bought one for my shop a few years ago that is in use almost daily. No issues to date. The rest of our small field machines are Miller Maxstar 150's. The Thermal Arc work's great for the money, we mostly use it for tig stainless and it has been a good machine with a decent arc.

Two years ago the thermal arc was running a special around $900 IIRC for the complete setup which was a great value. Compared to $1350 for the Miller Maxstar machine. The mig feature is decent for what it is, it does have short leads. Usually I buy our machines bare and outfit them with 20' tig torches, ground leads and foot pedals for ease of use when working on or building larger equipment.

The only downfall when using it in the field is it requires 240 volt single phase power instead of 110v like the Maxstar machines. So your limited to available power when using it. Home or shop use is obviously no problem.

It has a 220-> 110 plug.

I forgot to add running it using the 110 volt power is very weak and shuts down early to cool down, even on light sheet metal projects. That's where the Miller Maxstar really shines it has a better inverter technology with 100% duty cycle.

The thermal arc really performs nice using it with 220 volt. We quit trying to run it on 110 volts. If running on 110 volts at full amperage it pulls more then 20 amps and a standard outlet just trips the breaker.

Hope that helps explain it. Great machine still I would focus on using it as a 220 volt machine.

Well, I got it minus the TIG torch. $1200 out the door with a bottle of 80/20. They wanted another $250 for the torch. I've found it online for $100 less.

Another note. ESAB just bought out TWECO who bought Victor Technologies who bought out Thermal ARC.

Nice you'll be happy with it. Usually you can pickup a 20' weldcraft torch and lead 150 amp for under $80. Cheap argon regulator flow meter combo are $40 and I like to use SSC controls for foot pedals for under 150 shipped. Just give them your make and model and they will hook you up with any foot pedal for any welding machine.

I should also say I got a TWECO cause that's what they had in stock.

Considering the old Lincoln tombstone 220a AC, this thing lights easy and is easily adjusted. I am loving it!

Another thing to note. The guy I was talking with and bought from was the customer relations manager of the welding outfit. He said he found it curious that he was getting miller trained when this model came out. He was up at their factory and they had a Thermal Arc 211 tore apart in a room. A few months later they had a model very similar but for nearly $2000. The managers preference is the Fabricator. He said he owns a Miller and uses a TWECO at his parents farm. He wishes he had bought the TWECO with how everything was much cheaper but did the same work.