R-Tech Welders - A mini Review

[simonr]

Six months ago I bought an R-Tech AC/DC TIG

http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/tig-welder-240v-ac-dc-200amp/

Which is lovely to weld with - only really held back by my lack of ability TIG welding!  However, most of you, if you're buying a welder, will want a MIG and probably a cheaper one!

Until now, my favorite welder was a Cemont 180A which I sold on to someone on here - and regretted selling it ever since!  I replaced it with a portable MIG that I just didn't like as much.  I since bought an R-Tech 180A Portable Inverter MIG which seemed to be well reviewed:

http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/mig-welder-r-tech-i-mig180/

I have to say, I love it!  Despite being Inverter based, it has the smoothness of a big old Transformer based welder but with the adjustability of an Inverter.  It's continuously adjustable form 30-180A which, particularly for thin material is a big plus.

Most transformer welders have a 'sweet spot' - one power & wire feed level where it feels nicest and puts down the best weld.  This doesn't seem to have that - or more accurately it does but over the whole range of power.

It's light enough that you can pick it up with one hand.  OK, it only takes 5kg spools but it does have a proper Euro Torch connector which is rare on portable (lower cost) machines.

All-in, I have a new favorite welder!

If you're considering buying a new welder - you could do a lot worse than one of these!

Si

[Orgasmic Farmer]

I did look at those when I needed a new welder but decided it wasn't quite man enough for many of the farm repair jobs I end up doing... think 12mm steel, long long runs etc. 

I ended up buying one of these from Phil Weeks in Bath after using them at my mates engineering works. They are also UK made.  OK it is twice the price but can only recommend it if someone wants a bigger inverter welder.

[Tim2809]

i have the 180a mig/mma welder and for anytging landrover related its more than enough. I also work on a farm and it gets seriously abused and has never complained in 5 years. I even run it off a pto driven generator which is never a true consistant output but the welder continues perfectly as if plugged into the mains

 

[robertspark]

Si,

 

The tig, what have you welded with it?  Material plus thickness?

 

Thanks 

Rob

[HoSS]

I just bought the (R-Tech) 180A MIG and the 170A AC/DC Digital TIG.

The MIG is superb. much better than my old Clarke. My only criticism is that the manual lacked any setup information for speed/volts/amps vs gauge. I had to go research that and make my own table. (possibly a more experienced welder would do it by ear and eye)

The TIG, well i am still learning... 

[pitmole]

Hi Simon and all, I have had an r-tech 200 acdc tig for about 6 years now and it has been brilliant, welding 0.8 aluminium tube and 10mm  aluminium plates.

It works fine on a 13amp plug on the lower settings and I feed it 32 amps for the big stuff. mine is the older, manual set inverter, but I love it.

When its resting it lives under a cover to keep the grinding dust out of it, that is the thing that kills circuit boards in welders.

Have bought the 250 mig and plasma 30 and 50 since then and never a problem with anything, I know all about people saying "ah its all from china really"

but wise up, how many components these days in anything aren't sourced from there, its the support/aftersales that matters.

Nick

[Tal]

I just bought an R tech 180i MIG MMA machine and I have to say I am well impressed, welds are clean and soo smooth compared to the hobby machines I have been using.

The return to base warranty is awesome too. these guys are so confident in their machines that they will collect and return it free of charge if you have a problem

My last welder (wolf) looked like it had a flux capacitor by the time I had fixed and refixed it but when the the torch gave up and started leaking gas I had to recycle it, so weighed up between the R tech 180i and the Thermal Arc 180 ...the price difference (I got the machine and a spool gun, alu wire, 5kg of steel wire and consumables for less than the thermalarc machine alone) and the warranty did it for me but actually welding with it is a dream.

The guys at R tech are welders too and know their stuff so if you have any questions theyre good for answers.

 

[HoSS]

What do you guys with R-Tech 180 Migs do for set-up. Like i said theres no guide table in the manual, I found data for Kempi Gauge vs Volts/Feed and guess with the amps knob. Anyone have anything better?

[Daan]

Interesting write up, I would have overlooked it at that price to be honest. My current mig is dead, so Looking for a replacement. How thick steel can you weld with one of these? Also, there is mentioning of 16 amp fuses, where as my house only features 13 amps. I presume my wiring needs an upgrade, or is it a case of putting a 16 amp fuse in?

 

Daan

[Tal]

ok first they work on 13 amp up to 150 amps welding as well as 16amp up to 180 amps weld so you can run them off a heavy duty 13amp extension cable or put a 16 amp socket on your cooker outlet ro run the higher amperages.

For cars you shouldn't need more than 150 to be honest and if you can mma weld which these machines do as well as mig you certainly won't need 180 amps.

I went by the sound of the arc and the quality of the weld.

For wire speed, if the arc is popping turn up the wire feed abit and if its bumping on the parent metal turn it down a touch.

For a 2mm sheet steel weld I turned mine about 3/4 of the way round for both voltage and wire speed welded abit and then adjusted it to what I felt was right, The wire speed was about right and I adjusted the voltage down a bit.

Beyond that I can't tell you much because I didnt even look at the machine and I had my shield down anyway,

However their phone number is on their ebay page and they are extremely helpful

[madmatt]

Yep another R-tech machine here though seeing as we spend more time messing with tractors than Land rovers these days we went with the 250amp machine that takes 15kg reels of wire. That impressed with it we bought the plasma to.

[discomikey]

Interesting. 

I, for one, love my Oxford machine, and my esab one at work. Couple of weeks ago I had my first ever go at tig welding, that was with a 160a R-Tech machine. Having never heard of them before I was dubious, but I have to say I was super impressed with my first attempt at both Ali and mild steel after 10 mins. I put this success down to the machine not the driver ?

[Daan]

Following Simon's write up, I now bought one as well. Yes, I can create some decent welds with it, and haven't had much practice recently.

Very happy with it so far.

 

Daan

[HoSS]

Yeah, i love my R-Tech MIG 180. With mediocre skill i am putting down much better welds than my old budget transformer MIG.

[CwazyWabbit]

I know this is an old topic but I see comments about a settings guide for the r-tech 180. They have one now on their site (also have one for the 250)

Here's the link for the 180 @HoSS if you haven't found it in the last couple of years https://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/media/attachment/file/r/-/r-tech_mig180_weld_settings_chart_2017.pdf