AHP Owners/Users Thread. No Trolling unless you have used/own one!

[h82crash]

I bought it because I've wanted a tig machine for years and really never could afford one. This one had enough good reviews for me to take a chance. I'm super happy with it so far.

Oh, NICE cart you built! i am jelly. I work full time so I don't really get to do what I want all the time. But I do sneak out to the garage every chance I get to fool with my projects.

Thanks! Exactly the same reason I bought mine.

My practice has been limited. As I run a pass, I get random popping. Upped the gas, as one youtuber said his meter reads high for the actual flow and looks to be the same off brand as mine. Seems to be better. I hope I don't have bad gas. My first tig and it's hard to discern whether it me or equipment.

[vdotmatrix]

I have searched high and low for this info i guess i am going to have to reach out to AHP .40 amps is more than enough I am sure , but wou;d like to know what they recommend

I was thinking about adding a 220v dedicated line to my shop and called AHP and they said for. 220, a 40amp was nominal...

[vdotmatrix]

Just so you know, no, I am not affiliated in any way, nor paid, etc, by AHP to post what I did, I am just giving my experiences with AHP Tech support.

i am as green as can be. I got my ahp 201xd in august and had a few questions for them. I called and wrote them and they answered and wrote me right back as well.

[vdotmatrix]

Words of encouragement? Here ya go - Likewise, I'm on a fixed income, so I try to get the most for my dollars! I have the Alphatig200, the 201 is pretty much the same machine. I am very satisfied with it. Yes, their website is not quite up to par(it sux), even their Forum was never setup, along with registrations, etc. BUT....I have had great success with their Tech support. That being said, there are my words of encouragement. No, I am not affiliated with, or compensated by AHP.

i might be the only person on their forum.

[vdotmatrix]

I read the entire 2019 posts for this section for AHP.

Tonight i popped my cherry on my AHP201xd. It was a sobering experience.

After reading and watching endless hours of videos on TIG, suited up, I carefully set everything up, cleaned a steel coupon and fired up my machine.

I forgot to turn my helmet on, but I think it has an automatic moron proof sensor that saves people from flashing themselves and doing serious damage. Next it seemed like I was MIG welding, blasting holes in the coupon, crap flying everywhere. Something wasn't right....yup, i also forgot to turn the gas back on. Then, i just wanted to practice laying some beads...what a joke.....sad joke.....

i thought i had all the settings right, but it was barely marring the surface of the coupon and after i released the foot pedal, the arc would continue and that was freaking me out. You old timers probably guessed what i did wrong.... anyway, frustrated to the max, i took a foto of my first attempt and took a picture of the settings to post here to get help...as i was writing the post I looked at the settings and realized what I did...it was on 4T instead of 2T. Still pretty sad attempt but tomorrow will be better.


Top left- no gas top right set on 4t instead of 2t with a pedal, bottom-filler wire attempt..... what a mess. Zero for zero.




There is nothing easy about first time TIG without the understanding of what settings to use..... i will be proficient in about 3 years.

[duramax-rob]

looks like you got it set a little low. other is the 3 p's. practice, practice, practice!

[vdotmatrix]

looks like you got it set a little low. other is the 3 p's. practice, practice, practice!

Thank you. Should I start a new thread?

Settings:

I am using a 1/8” steel coupon and and my main amperage to around 130.
DC and 4T for pedal.
Starting (upslope) and ending(downslope) amps??

PULSE: defines the characteristic of the pulse?
Toggle switch for high and low frequency or NONE ?
Pulse frequency: adjusts the shape of the cone?
Pulse amperage: ?
Pulse time ON?

AC pulse and Freq. are for Al & Mg

Post flow: gas duration after weld arc is broken to shield the cooling weld puddle.

I want to watch the amperage as I hit the pedal to see that the amperage hits the max amp I dial in...i thought I saw a .002 that I saw from an earlier post.

I need to understand and read about how to adjust the PULSE with the (3) dials or just leave them on min.

Lastly, should i grind down the coupon or will that contaminate my flap sanding discs?

Thank you all!

[vdotmatrix]

My first beads. The first two coupons i used about 130a, 2t, no pulse, 3 sec post.
The last coupon was my first beads adding filler wire.
Man that stuff gets hot. I bought a tig finger and I am using it.

[mechanic416]

4t is for the trigger not the foot pedal. More post flow 7sec. The brown is contamination form dipping the tungsten, resharpen it. Keep at it. Also in the picture your pulse is turned on not off.

[vdotmatrix]

4t is for the trigger not the foot pedal. More post flow 7sec. The brown is contamination form dipping the tungsten, resharpen it. Keep at it. Also in the picture your pulse is turned on not off.

I ran one bead at 1 sec low freq pulse but everything else the pulse is turned off because i was just practicing laying my first beads. Hmmm, now I am second guessing and dont now remember, but if you see that I had the pulse on, then I probably did....what do I know at this point..... I had to sharpen the entire pack of tungsten. The arc wouldn't appear on 4t and the pedal, which explained my bumpy start on this journey yesterday.

With the pulse turned off, do i have to dial in the starting and ending amps or is that only for upslope and down slope? Thanks

[mechanic416]

starting and ending amps and upslope and down slope are used in 4T with the trigger only. Never with the pedal turn them off in 2T.

[xmmancharl]

My settings for 1/8 steel...










Charl

[vdotmatrix]

starting and ending amps and upslope and down slope are used in 4T with the trigger only. Never with the pedal turn them off in 2T.

Yes , i found that out early on... post #2855 shows what happens when i started first ever, with the machine set wrong. Thanks.

[vdotmatrix]

My settings for 1/8 steel...



Charl

Thanks for posting this.

You are, I assume @110v.

So for working on mild steel, with NO PULSE, NO up or down slope, The only (2) knobs that we use is MAIN AMPS and POST FLOW- right?

The other thing I noticed today, and also noting in your settings for 1/8" steel that, ON MY MACHINE, at 110v my amperage readings are as follows:

AMP SETTING Reading

10 ----- 8

50 ----- 31

100 ----- 88

150 ----- 129

200 ----- 148


Is this accurate or sound right to you all?

HERE are my latest TIG results on another post:
https://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.ph...17#post8735317

[vdotmatrix]

After laying out beads no filler, i started today with filler wire.

Referring back to my last post i realized that if i am running my machine on 110v, i must crank the main amps high enough or a sufficient weld puddle wont appear to dab filler , as a beginner...

[vdotmatrix]

#post8735317[/url][/QUOTE]

[xmmancharl]

use 220 ac on all my welders...



Charl

[vdotmatrix]

use 220 ac on all my welders...



Charl

Hi charl,
Thanks for responding to my newbie comments and questions. I was commenting based on the settings image you posted and i didnt check to see if we are using the same welder. Based on your main amp settings in your image, even if on 220ac, it would still be less than 100a. I read for 1/8” mild steel, the main amps shoukd be at least 120. I am using 3/32” tungsten. Thanks in advance.

[JHVA]

Got a new 201xd (April 2020) just got around to using it for the first time. The foot pedal on 2T the arc continues after taking my foot off the pedal. Post flow works as it should. Same problem using trigger control 4T. Plugged into 110v outlet. The arc only stops after I pull away from the material. Anyone know what’s going on here? Do I have a bad board?

[mechanic416]

May be the pedal, seen a few of them were the rubber strip inside came lose and causes this. Also does it do the same thing when you use the trigger on 2T?

[vdotmatrix]

May be the pedal, seen a few of them were the rubber strip inside came lose and causes this. Also does it do the same thing when you use the trigger on 2T?

I vaguely remember Something like this maybe not. Is your ground bombproof?

[vdotmatrix]

Got a new 201xd (April 2020) just got around to using it for the first time. The foot pedal on 2T the arc continues after taking my foot off the pedal. Post flow works as it should. Same problem using trigger control 4T. Plugged into 110v outlet. The arc only stops after I pull away from the material. Anyone know what’s going on here? Do I have a bad board?

Write customer service. He has seen it all and will respond in a few hours.

[istemper]

New to this forum but I've got a situation leaving me SOL. I bought a 2015 AlphaTIG200x used from a guy who used it twice over the last 6 years. He advertised that the foot pedal was broken and the welder tested fine ac and dc with the on/off hand switch. I bought it thinking the foot pedal was an easy fix or replacement.

After testing the foot pedal as per AHP's tech support document it looks like the pedal is fully functioning and the problem is with the welder. The foot pedal LED indicator doesn't come on and the digital display drops immediately when you plug the pedal in. Also gas flow is triggered by the pedal but no arc whatsoever.

AHP tech suspects a "knob board" problem and would have had me buy a new board BUT.... they are no longer available! So now my "only option" they say is to pay to ship it back and forth and be repaired in house for an estimated (possible) cost that basically has me paying almost the price of a new welder from them (ON TOP of what I payed for it already).

Is there anyone on this thread that could point me to finding a replacement board outside of contacting AHP? I know that's a long shot probably but I'm basically out of options and I bought the welder for aluminum more than anything else so without the possibility of using a foot pedal I'm pretty much up **** creek.

[Weldordie]

New to this forum but I've got a situation leaving me SOL. I bought a 2015 AlphaTIG200x used from a guy who used it twice over the last 6 years. He advertised that the foot pedal was broken and the welder tested fine ac and dc with the on/off hand switch. I bought it thinking the foot pedal was an easy fix or replacement.

After testing the foot pedal as per AHP's tech support document it looks like the pedal is fully functioning and the problem is with the welder. The foot pedal LED indicator doesn't come on and the digital display drops immediately when you plug the pedal in. Also gas flow is triggered by the pedal but no arc whatsoever.

AHP tech suspects a "knob board" problem and would have had me buy a new board BUT.... they are no longer available! So now my "only option" they say is to pay to ship it back and forth and be repaired in house for an estimated (possible) cost that basically has me paying almost the price of a new welder from them (ON TOP of what I payed for it already).

Is there anyone on this thread that could point me to finding a replacement board outside of contacting AHP? I know that's a long shot probably but I'm basically out of options and I bought the welder for aluminum more than anything else so without the possibility of using a foot pedal I'm pretty much up **** creek.

I have a suggestion, but the title excludes me from posting.

[jfk92]

New to this forum but I've got a situation leaving me SOL. I bought a 2015 AlphaTIG200x used from a guy who used it twice over the last 6 years. He advertised that the foot pedal was broken and the welder tested fine ac and dc with the on/off hand switch. I bought it thinking the foot pedal was an easy fix or replacement.

After testing the foot pedal as per AHP's tech support document it looks like the pedal is fully functioning and the problem is with the welder. The foot pedal LED indicator doesn't come on and the digital display drops immediately when you plug the pedal in. Also gas flow is triggered by the pedal but no arc whatsoever.

AHP tech suspects a "knob board" problem and would have had me buy a new board BUT.... they are no longer available! So now my "only option" they say is to pay to ship it back and forth and be repaired in house for an estimated (possible) cost that basically has me paying almost the price of a new welder from them (ON TOP of what I payed for it already).

Is there anyone on this thread that could point me to finding a replacement board outside of contacting AHP? I know that's a long shot probably but I'm basically out of options and I bought the welder for aluminum more than anything else so without the possibility of using a foot pedal I'm pretty much up **** creek.

istemper - I have the same exact machine - bought used about 3-4 year ago - I had a board go/replace after purchase and a handful of uses - I feel your pain. Rather than go back through AHP - is there perhaps a local welding supply shop or repair that would offer a look into it first - I hope you didn't pay too much for it as at this time its 5 - 6 yr old model. I am not sure what you mean that welder tested fine ac and dc with the on/off hand switch but trust you had a solid test and feeling of function to purchase. does the finger trigger work for you when hooked up or same as foot pedal? any option to try out a different foot pedal to ensure it's not the pedal but the board? sorry to hear this - hope it works out for you somehow....