Buying a new 200DX or 300DX today and can't decide

[Doug Doty]

I would like opinions on the limitations of air cooled torches before " needing " a water cooled in referance to material thicknesses being welded. I will be doing 70% 0.94" 4130 tubing in complete drag race chassis building and 10% Aluminum fabrications and 10 % other. I have used a Sync. 250 in the past a little and an econotig 175 ?? so I have some experiance with both and remember getting hot on ac aluminum welding with the air coled but it has been quite a while and memorys fade along with near vision. Obviously the 200DX is the low road $$ speaking and I would only go this direction if I thought I would never add a coolmate or need more horsepower but If I think I will need it I will go ahead and spend the extra money on the 300DX. This decision is way more a function of useability and not out growing the unit than the $$ but I don't want to spend foolishly either. I have been struggling with this for several days and I am going to buy yet today and need to decide. Somebody through out an opinion or two before I leave to go get something. I am needing to do some tig repair work yet this weekend as the chips are down now.

For what it is worth I came across this forum and the good people, willingness to share, help and advise did solidify my decision to buy Blue -vs- a friend that is swearing by his lincoln Precision 275. I know it is not an inverter maching but I was considering it at one time.
Doug...

[KB Fabrications]

I have owned both of those machines and if you are welding around the 100 amp range, air cooled is fine. Anything more than that, for any length of time, will get pretty hot and I would go water-cooled. Both of those machines are awesome but if you don't need the portability or the 115V option, I would opt for the 300DX Tigrunner.

[Sundown]

Looks to me like if your needs are 70% under .100 thickness the Dynasty 200DX should do you fine, and it is much more portable being lighter weight and able to run on 120V. I have done 1/4" alumunum with my 200DX using a air cooled CK210 (same size as the #17 torch and rated to 200 amps) ok, but I don't make a habit of it. If you don't need to be portable, don't care about carring it in your vechile to a job, and money is not important, then the Dynasty 300 is a great deal. On the other hand it is being discontinued I think so you might need to spring for the new Dynasty 350 model. This is of course my opinion and other will vary I am sure. Good luck on you new purchase and let us know what you ended up with and why you bought what you did, this information might be helpfull to others facing the same choice.

[Pile Buck]

I’m new to this welding gig:) , but I’ve always found it easier to turn a machine down, than turn it up past what it was designed to do. I even have a 48-inch pipe wrench, and I still can’t get that dial turned past the max position:confused: , maybe I need to really put my back into it! :D

Another school of thought is, they chip these new computer controlled trucks, so maybe someone will come up with a chip for these welders. :p :D

[Sundown]

Help, I'm flanked by Dynasty 300 owners ... I hope it doesn't rub off on me as I can't afford to upgrade again :eek: :D :p ;).

[Pile Buck]

Help, I'm flanked by Dynasty 300 owners ... I hope it doesn't rub off on me as I can't afford to upgrade again :eek: :D :p ;).

Oh sheet George, if I had your money, I’d throw mine away!

(insert little guy rolling on floor)
:D :D

[Doug Doty]

I have never bumped the duty cycle shut down on a tig but If I was welding at a setting that was rated for only 40
% duty, how long would I be able to go before stopping ??

I do want the 300dx tr setup and I am intentionally avoiding to extra cost associated with the new 350 but trying to feel I have real justification. My aluminum welding would be limited to fuel cell fabrications or modifications with .125" sheet and an occasional small bracket of sorts but they could be .250" or even .375" but like I said small and not having continous welds of more than 6" or so.

Doug...

[Doug Doty]

Sounds silly but I am trying to decide within the hour as I have a business trip taking me out of town in the direction of the miller store.

Doug...

[Pile Buck]

Sounds silly but I am trying to decide within the hour as I have a business trip taking me out of town in the direction of the miller store.

Doug...

When in doubt, go BIG!!!!!!!!!

[Sundown]

I have never bumped the duty cycle shut down on a tig but If I was welding at a setting that was rated for only 40
% duty, how long would I be able to go before stopping ??<snip>

If the duty cycle is 40% then you can run a 4 minute continus bead out of every 10 minutes. I don't know about you but I can't do anything for 4 minutes stright, don't tell my wife though as I don't want her to know that :o.

[Sundown]

Oh sheet George, if I had your money, I’d throw mine away!

(insert little guy rolling on floor) http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_11_6.gif
:D :D

I have more money because I bought the Dynasty 200DX instead of the 300 ;)

[Pile Buck]

When I bought my Dynasty, I never even looked at the 200. I felt good about myself buying only a 300-amp machine:) . When I was working I wouldn’t give a machine a 2nd look that didn’t start with a 4 ;)

[KB Fabrications]

I hope this doesn't turn out like the dude with the bandsaw.:eek: :D :rolleyes:

[Pile Buck]

I hope this doesn't turn out like the dude with the bandsaw.:eek: :D :rolleyes:
Heading that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[Doug Doty]

Ok, clue me in on the band saw guy, sounds too good to not have a funny story.

Doug...

[Doug Doty]

Well I never decided for sure if I could justify the Dynasty 300DX over the 200DX so .........in the end I reflected on a joke I had heard about a man who was faced with the choice of three different women to become his mate and after careful consideration of all of the various attributes each of the ladies possesed, he went and done what every other man would and married the one with the biggest tits. I am now sitting a little lower in the chair as I type out this note but I am reasonably sure I will enjoy my new welder without fearing that I will wish I had bought a different model so I am good.

Now the next question is do you bother telling the wife how much this new shop toy cost or just act like you have had it forever and it is her that has never noticed it before when and if she even spots it. I suppose I will go for the later of the two.

Now I need to order a matching Miller cover for the MM251 and they will look like a family developing in the shop.

Doug...

[Pile Buck]

I never say a word about the 3-billion pairs of shoes my wife has:rolleyes: , and the worst she does to me is roll her eyes when I buy something:cool: . This has worked for over 30-years! ;)

[KB Fabrications]

Well congratulations, it didn't turn out like the bandsaw dude at all.:D You will love that machine. Did you get the tigrunner package? As far as your wife goes, I'll leave that one to you.;)

[Darmik]

:cool: OOOOOOOOOOOO sure you can sundown your a welder.
Buy a 300DX hey I know do a poll
you cant go wrong because there is lots of buttons to play with who cares what they do there's just lots of buttons.like the man's remote control.

[Doug Doty]

Ya, I got the runner package and a cover to go with it. I sold my Sync 250 when we moved and have done without a tig for a little over a year and it has drove me nuts every time I go to weld something. I just finished a new race shop beside the house and added back the two things I had parted with previously, a hoist and my tig. never again. Were going on 22 years here and not really an issue here either. I mentioned it at dinner tonight and she never even bothered to ask.

Doug...

[Pile Buck]

I mentioned it at dinner tonight and she never even bothered to ask.
RUT ROW! :eek: :eek:
That means she is saving it for future ammunition!



Just funning ya.:D

Don’t forget to post some pictures! ;)

[Doug Doty]

I ended up ordering it from an out of state dealer and It should be here by midweek they said it would ship from Miller no later than Tuesday. I stopped at my local welding store and they had nothing to look at and no one that has a clue how to even spell tig and the store in Indy acted on the phone like they couldn't give a flip if I bought one or not so when I got back today I called the first dealer that came up in a search that was out of state and give him my money. Seemed like a great guy on the phone. I try like the ***** to shop local but I expected a little bit of service/support for my $$ spent and no one seemed to have any so I just elected to not pay the extra dollars " local sales tax " to have it today instead of next week if there was no apparent return.

Doug...

[Darmik]

:cool: If miller comes out with a 350 DX I would wait for it and for now try to get by on what you are currently working with as long as you dont have to wait to long for it.

[jas-b]

get the 300 dx. you might not need it, but you wont waste the time and $ trying to upgrade. you will need more amps occasionally. As for water cooled torches, they are smaller than air cooled. I'm gonna upgrade to water cooled. After the initial check is written, you'll never question the decsion, in my opinion. I finally splurged on the kurt d88 vise and think its the greatest thing ever. If your purchase = expectations then price is relative. My 300 dx rules and is more than I need most days !

jas-b

[Tom Vogel]

Ihave the 300DX tig runner and love it, it makes so many jobs easy. If you want to get the 350 its an extra 2000$... for that you get an extra 50amps and variable amp control (on each side) of the AC wave. If thats worth it to you, wait for the 350. Having said that I am more than 100% satisfied with my 300 and you might have some bargaining room on the 300 since it is being replaced. Of course youd have to find a dealer that actually had one on the floor.:rolleyes:

[Tailshaft56]

I never say a word about the 3-billion pairs of shoes my wife has:rolleyes: , and the worst she does to me is roll her eyes when I buy something:cool: . This has worked for over 30-years! ;)

Now I know what i need to stop complaining about. Guess it's the nature of the beast that women require more shoes than men. Ever wonder how they survived before shoes were invented. LOL

[Doug Doty]

I did get the 300dx........ should come in mid to late next week.

Doug...

[Coalsmoke]

I have owned both of those machines and if you are welding around the 100 amp range, air cooled is fine. Anything more than that, for any length of time, will get pretty hot and I would go water-cooled. Both of those machines are awesome but if you don't need the portability or the 115V option, I would opt for the 300DX Tigrunner.

KB, does heat in the torch build-up differently with AC and DCEN? The reason I ask is becuase I have a 150A CK flexhead, aircooled, and was running it yesterday on some steel at 150-160 amps no problem, didn't get too hot to hold.

[KB Fabrications]

KB, does heat in the torch build-up differently with AC and DCEN? The reason I ask is becuase I have a 150A CK flexhead, aircooled, and was running it yesterday on some steel at 150-160 amps no problem, didn't get too hot to hold.
I doubt it, heat is heat. I was just speaking to welding for extended periods of time. When I was welding bicycles, we were just using air-cooled torches and after welding for 6+ straight hours it got to be a pain, even at 150 amps. I have welded at 250+ amps with a WP-9 air-cooled torch but I wouldn't want to do that all day.;)

[Coalsmoke]

Yeah, I wasn't pushing the duty cycle too hard, just doing some 1/4" wall 3" square tubing, did two and then took a break and did something else. I guess I was thinking of 150A as a max capability when really as you pointed out its more of a rated capability:cool: