As a full time Tig welder here in Australia I'm on a few forums dedicated to fabrication and welding. It's quite funny looking from the sidelines about the constant arguments of "red versus blue" welding machines. For us it isn't a case of preference along company lines rather than "bang for your buck" and what each machine can do.
About 10+ years ago both Miller and Lincoln had a reasonable share of the market but that has eroded over time as other companies "mainly from Europe" decided to aggressively market their products and both red and blue failed to react particularly in regards to pricing and in effect they priced themselves out of the market.
With the distances involved to get machines here in Australia we always get charged more than the equivalent prices in the USA but the extra money being asked for red or blue (particularly blue.) is simply over the odds.
To that end when I was looking at an inverter 240 volt Tig I looked at what the European's were offering in comparable machines and was more than pleasantly surprised. Esab were struck off as they have become a niche player here like red and blue but the really interesting machines were from Fronius (made in Austria) and Kemppi (made in Finland). Both these machines have taken 240 volt inverter Tigs to new levels where red and blue aren't even relevant, things like hybrid wave mix tig, 220 and 230 amps capacities, sine wave as well as square wave forms.
In the end I chose the Kemppi MLS 2300 it's the new kid on the block machine with all the bells and whistles and Kemppi are aggressive in their pricing compared to all the others.
So here it is everybody, this is what you're missing out of when you lock yourselves into an either/or point of view.
Regards Andrew.

 

So what happens if your tig gets smoked by a boomerang? would you have to send it to Finland for repair?

 

Interesting....

Post some pics when you get a chance to try it out.

 

So other than buzz words, what actually makes that a better machine?

 

Orange machines rock.

 

That machine looks almost exactly like my thermal arc 185

 

I agree...there may be some great machines out there. My only issue is, like someone said above, what do we do if it breaks? Will I be without my welder for 6 months?

Also, what does it take for us to purchase that machine due to shipping and fees. It might be just as unfeasible for us to purchase that as it is for you to purchase a Lincoln or Miller.

Don't get me wrong...if I can get that thing repaired and buy it cheaper than a Lincoln or Miller....and it's reliable. Sure my next purchase/upgrade might have to look in that direction.

Do they have these small inverters that are going 300 amps+ with water cooling now?

 

I would assume you guys have a repair service for kemppi welders...

Heh, nearest to me is 38km away, but then again I live in kemppi-land.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2point2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So what happens if your tig gets smoked by a boomerang? would you have to send it to Finland for repair?</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol @ the boomerang comment. I just checked Kemppi's website. 39 service workshops in Austrailia so I think he'll be alright.

The only dealer in North America is in Monterrey, Mexico, so I think we're SOL.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by awill4x4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As a full time Tig welder here in Australia I'm on a few forums dedicated to fabrication and welding. It's quite funny looking from the sidelines about the constant arguments of "red versus blue" welding machines. For us it isn't a case of preference along company lines rather than "bang for your buck" and what each machine can do.
About 10+ years ago both Miller and Lincoln had a reasonable share of the market but that has eroded over time as other companies "mainly from Europe" decided to aggressively market their products and both red and blue failed to react particularly in regards to pricing and in effect they priced themselves out of the market.
With the distances involved to get machines here in Australia we always get charged more than the equivalent prices in the USA but the extra money being asked for red or blue (particularly blue.) is simply over the odds.
To that end when I was looking at an inverter 240 volt Tig I looked at what the European's were offering in comparable machines and was more than pleasantly surprised. Esab were struck off as they have become a niche player here like red and blue but the really interesting machines were from Fronius (made in Austria) and Kemppi (made in Finland). Both these machines have taken 240 volt inverter Tigs to new levels where red and blue aren't even relevant, things like hybrid wave mix tig, 220 and 230 amps capacities, sine wave as well as square wave forms.
In the end I chose the Kemppi MLS 2300 it's the new kid on the block machine with all the bells and whistles and Kemppi are aggressive in their pricing compared to all the others.
So here it is everybody, this is what you're missing out of when you lock yourselves into an either/or point of view.
Regards Andrew.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

How much and where did you end up getting that machine? BOC in melbourne seem to want in excess of $5k for AC/DC TIG's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2point2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So what happens if your tig gets smoked by a boomerang? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hahahahaha....that's some funny ****...I missed that one.

 

Everyone seems so concerned about the warranty side of things but in all honesty I don't see it as much of a concern. Modern machines are in general very reliable and at work we have a 20+ year old Esab tig, a 10 year old Miller Syncrowave 250 and a 5 year old OTC AVP 300 inverter. (yellow, blue and blue/grey )
Reliability of all the machines has been excellent considering the length of time we've owned them and the amount of work we use them for (every day).
Kemppi have their own import company in Sydney and are flying equipment in all the time and I have every confidence in their ability to service their customers.
We don't have a welding machine manufacturer of any reasonable size here in Oz so we rely on imports whether they be from North America, Europe or Asia. As a consequence of this we tend to see the best machines (and some pretty ordinary ones as well) from all of them and it gives us a broader choice.
We buy machines to suit our needs not dictated by their colour, I've had red machines, we've still got a blue one and our new one is orange. If a purple or pink one comes along that will suit a specific purpose for our company and it fits into our structure and it's of excellent quality (our primary concern) we'll get that too.
It's a pity that both Lincoln and Miller have been very slow to react to competition here in Oz as their market share has shrunk to a fraction of what it was previously.
I have used both the DX 200 and the Invertec 205 inverters and both are fine machines, I have a leaning towards the DX out of the 2, but the European machines offer a few more features and are prepared to compete. Something that neither Miller or Lincoln are prepared to do and it reflects in an ever falling market share.
Regards Andrew.
ps: I'll try to make sure my Finnish machine doesn't get smoked by a Boomerang

 

Hi Andrew, ah its great to see you finally bought the TIG that real winners use! Nah just kidding everybody. I've only ever used my kempi Mastertig 1600 and a 2000 so I can't buy into the red vs blue vs orange thing. I think Andrew has a right to an opinion though, he has done a hell of a lot of very nice welding. Its a pitty he and Greg dont post up more pics on here. My Mastertig has the built in memory and pulse panel. I've had it about 4 years now and I reckon it is fantastic. Its my baby. I also use my bosses newer 2000 mastertig at work a lot and it is great as well, it is used everyday and we haven't ever had any issues. Although as somebody mentioned there are a lot of distributors here in Australia so we do have people to turn to if anything does go wrong. I guess if there aren't very many dealers stateside it may be a little off putting.

I wouldn't hesitate in handing over my hard earned again for my welder, its been a fantastic machine from the start.

Andrew, I'll have to come and catch up with you guys soon. Post up some pics when you start using it.

Cheers Ben, MRD.

 

It looks similar to a Fronius. Fronius has an awesome synergic pulse welder.

 

A few of Andrews welding and fabrication creations.

BMW M3 1050hp Intercooler water to air.



BMW 318 is special 600hp



TD42 Nissan/Ford Patrol/Maverick 26% power increase and 29% Torque



Bolt on version of the TD42

 

the dynasty 200dx has more features like sin/triangular/square/advance squarewave connectivity range of 115v-460v single/three-phase but damn the kemppi's 230a 40% duty cycle is definitely something to envy

 

paul, where you been? you need to stop by my shop some time!

 

Well I guess if you live outside the US your options are more diverse. Here it's waaaaaay more convenient to just have miller or lincoln machines since the service is faster and more reliable. By fast I mean 3-4 day turn around. I don't even see any reason to own a thermal arc welder. plasmas are fine since they are so common you can get parts for them fast. Their welders are a different story though. We had a thermal arc 180 that failed on me in the field and I had to drive 120 miles round trip to rent welder while a natural gas pump station was shut down. Customer was less than pleased. Never again.

 

We had a new dynasty 350 go **** up in a month of owning it. Warranties save pocket books!

 

FWIW to the international guys, we have a few players here in the US that are extremely competitive in performance at a great price. Both the HTP and Thermal Arc machines are great and save a pretty penny