Cheapest AC / DC TIG Welder For Aluminum From Amazon: Riland Tested!

[@bobrossaholic6615]

Hey bigtb , I made the mistake of purchasing this welder last week without looking at reviews. Last night I found yours. I just received my Riland ac/dc tig welder today and because of your thorough review I’m sending it back and saving for a more quality made tig welder. Just had to say THANK YOU for your great work and GUIDANCE!!!!

[@lukedoc2697]

Thank you for you HONEST review. Not many will give such a transparent review, so I applaud you in your efforts. The truth is, 'things we ignore will one day get the best of us', here and in real life. Well done!

[@ricardomontes373]

You sound knowledgeable and most of all you know how to narrate these videos. I like watching and listening. Good video and thanks for sharing.

[@GregoryJohnston77]

This is one of the best detailed reviews I've ever seen.

[@74willy81]

Very clear and professionally presented video. Lots of insight and knowledge! Thank you taking the time to help others. It may be an idea to tie the fan into a lower value temp sensor or leave it on constantly if a longer life is expected. From what your experience has gleaned from this experience I think I'll pass. Again thank you sir for this very insightful video. I only wish that all YT videos were this well done.

[@kmatikzofficial]

Talk about a thorough review!! Thanks for sharing!

[@____________________________.x]

ah, the bit I was looking for was the price, $480. Thanks for covering the starting issues, I wouldn't otherwise have known about the problems with cheaper welders

[@ЧжунванЧ]

So expensive. In China just about $200😂

[@BoostnFD]

I got this unit for $155. Had the same issue with arc start until I turned up the start frequency to 100% . Slapped a nice bead at 53 amps pulse on 14 gauge and down to 18 gauge same settings.

[@jondavidmcnabb]

Excellent review, thank you for the clean information and the excellent video production.

[@redzspear1153]

yow!!!! this is good. well detailed. didnt expect so much info. even inside view. amazing man. thank you

[@redzspear1153]

am looking for a plant now. being in Jamaica a $500 plant works out to be like $750 when i get get it. so really dont want to buy one that wont last for a good time.

[@idontwantcorporateretaliat6301]

Just got this at a deep discount. I was scratching my head for a while unable to start an arc because I followed the silkscreen on the front and put the ground clamp where the tig torch picture is essentially putting both leads on (-). Arc start isn't 100% but I haven't tried very low amperage yet. I have not run into the same situation you did w/that many false starts. I'll revisit and check the gap if it becomes annoying enough. Oddly enough the HF went away messing w/the settings and came back as I switched modes.

[@vladshmit]

Thanks for your review! This is very handy to understand how it's built.

[@weldphd]

Your reviews keep on getting better! Have to love those Chinese metric amps.....

[@bigtb1717]

Thanks. Metric amps, lol.

[@georgeavargas3351]

ty that was good video. Riland is a NO. What is the best cheapest AC/DC TIG welder for my Garage.

[@bigtb1717]

There are some "cheap" AC/DC machines for around $800 that seem generally well reviewed. AHP used to be the popular "cheap" AC/DC TIG machine, but not there are also Primeweld, Weldpro and others for around the same cost. I don't have any direct experience with any of them though. Once you go to something like a Lincoln or a Miller you are probably around $2,000 minimum, and it goes up quickly from there.

[@avobass]

Nicely done. I purchased that same Riland AC/DC machine a few months ago while in a pinch. I was also surprised by the performance and form factor. I purchased the machine assuming a foot pedal would be available, but I was sadly mistaken. Nevertheless, your video review is awesome, and I am excited to hear more about your progress regarding a foot pedal.

[@bigtb1717]

I still plan to try to get the pedal working. Not sure when I'll get to it. I've been extremely busy lately. Hopefully sooner than later, but it just depends on how work and family stuff goes.

[@avobass]

@@bigtb1717 I am a sheet metal fabricator and conceptual designer as opposed to an engineer with system-on-chip experience. Before I purchased the Riland AC/DC machine from Amazon I was able to read the manual, so I assumed a foot pedal would be a simple proposition, but I was wrong. I reached out to the seller and was told that the next Riland will have the foot pedal, and the foot pedal is not available for the machine that I purchased. I was not able to get an explanation from the seller. I reached out to Riland directly requesting a simplified pinout and variable resistor value specification and never heard back from them. I am under the assumption that the machine may require a firmware upgrade in order to work with a foot pedal and I am scared to start probing the circle connector pins because I lack the electronic experience. Did you ever probe the circle connector or come up with a pinout specification? The Riland AC/DC machine seems to be the next generation of Chinese welding technology and the pinout is a mystery to me. I purchased an Everlast AC/DC TIG welder prior to Everlast releasing a foot pedal, and because the pinout and variable resistor value is documented in the user manual; I was able to modify a guitar effect foot pedal to work with my Everlast welder. Since then I purchased an SSC foot pedal. The Chinese welders are convenient for field work, but I do prefer to use a transformer machine in my shop.

[@bigtb1717]

@@avobass I haven't probed the connector yet, but that's what I plan to do. I should be able to figure out which two contacts are the switch easily enough by probing the connector on the included switch. Then I just have to figure out where the voltage supply is in the connector and I should be able to hook up the pedal. Now, I have no idea what resistance range the welder is looking for, so that will take some experimentation. If the pedal doesn't work I may try getting and hooking up some cheap potentiometers of various resistance values to see if I can get any response.

[@avobass]

@@bigtb1717 I developed my assumptions regarding firmware based on this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3WYlIOkf76Fqa8

[@K2DO]

Thanks for the honest review mate,

[@danielforcier5264]

Great review. You are obviously fairly knowledgeable with the internal components. This video saved me from buying this welder. I ended up purchasing a Lotus acdc Tig 200. I have noticed Amazon now has a acdc Tig from Vevor that is only 379$, I'm wondering if anyone has done any kind of review for it

[@robertblackshear8963]

I love the part when those guys say; THIS WELDER IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE LMAO. GOOD VIDEO AGAIN MY MAN.

[@mohawksniper79]

Just prefer a smaller hose that's not what she said😁👍my Lincoln fan turns on real quick and when done welding it stays on untill cool even when not plugged in.

[@danhufferdoutdoors]

This looks like a yes welder brand housing. Yes welder peddle might work.

[@tresharobinson6537]

What are the settings for the ac because I can't get a nice bead and I'm welding on 1/2 Inc material I need help

[@dairoruidiaz5727]

Hello friend, great explanation, like several colleagues, I am tempted to buy this welder and take a risk, since at the moment I have no possibility of buying a better one, I live in South America and here earning 100 dollars is very difficult, you can imagine getting That getting about 1000 would be even more, according to your experience with the team welding aluminum, do you think it can last at least 8 months? I work with repairs to aluminum wheels and engine parts.

[@bigtb1717]

Hard to say for sure how long it would last. The fact that the fan waits so long to turn on gives me a little concern. It might be fine, but I can't say for sure.

[@dairoruidiaz5727]

@strayarticle many partner, I will follow your advice.

[@alexwang007]

The red wire near the output terminals is the part of the HF start high voltage circuit, and having it that close to the other cables is concerning.

[@CASLUICEBOX]

are there high frequency points in this machine? if so adjust them in and that will help with the poor starts and machine gunning.

[@kevinm4225]

What do you consider to be a good alternative to this welder with ac capabilities for aluminum?

[@rolandojatib9526]

Did you ever end up buying a compatible foot pedal, if so which one?

[@bigtb1717]

I bought a generic foot pedal at the same time I bought the welder. I could find nothing that was specific for this welder, and nothing that even had the correct connector. Hopefully this weekend I'm going to see if I can make it work.

[@henrye718]

Thanks for the review! I guess this review kinda shows it's unlikely there's a cheap AC Tig welder.

[@bigtb1717]

Possibly. I sent an email to Riland. I'm going to see what their customer support has to say. If the unreliable arc starts and the arc stuttering were fixed, this might be a reasonable option. We'll see what they say.

[@AN-kg4ei]

Did the manuf/dist ever answer or resolve your arc starts inquiry?

[@nahhh5318]

Might just be my area but an $1100+ TIG welder is more expensive then most locally sourced options haha, got my hopes up...

[@Ezekiel-OffRoad]

You sound just like Eric The Car Guy I thought you were him and he had another channel with different kinda content till i scrolled through your videos to see what you look like

[@jamieh4133]

Thanks again for your review

[@BigCelloSchool-ms8gw]

Re fan itwold be pretty easy to just bypass the thermostat and run it always on :)

[@BudMasta]

Have you seen the new yeswelder mp200 coming out? Looks like it could be a pretty cool scratch start machine, but I'm not huge on the brand. DC only but a 6010 setting and 40 amp plasma cutter.

[@BudMasta]

Got to hate the amperage swing and outright lies for the AC output. I'd be mighty displeased. In my schooling we always used a balled tungsten for AC, I think it makes it easier to maintain the arc.

[@bigtb1717]

I can't give any details at this time, but I will be testing one of those machines (YesWelder MP200).

[@bigtb1717]

I have no problem using a balled tungsten and if that had completely solved the issue I wouldn't have cared at all.

[@sandiproom2372]

Hi mashin available Amazon

[@Mrkouman]

Good review

[@ronskopitz2360]

Thank you - saved me from buying this thing!!

[@walmermartinez7764]

I think you had the hf set on start mode.. try to set the hf on continuous mode ..if it's possible.

[@bigtb1717]

Unfortunately there is no other mode for the HF. Generally, inverters don’t need continuous high-frequency to run AC, but this one almost seems like it does.

[@macelius]

I'd be interested to see how it runs with the fan overridden to run all the time, maybe some of the issues are due to heat.

[@bigtb1717]

I doubt most of the issues are due to heat, but if I was going to use it very much and wanted longevity, I'd probably jumper the fan to run all the time.

[@dcale15]

Any update on the pedal?

[@bigtb1717]

Not yet. Still planning on it, but I've been crazy busy lately. Hopefully I'll have a day to spend in the garage before too long. I want to mess with the pedal for this welder as well as a couple other projects. Sorry for the delay, but I do still plan to see if I can get the pedal working.

[@mtnton1]

All I needed to know at 14 minutes. NOPE!Not dealing with a machine that can't do its only job.

[@choco107]

These seem to be the newer designed boards coming out of China. They are very well designed but this one looks like a pretty bad build. It may of been seconds from a better know brand.

[@bigtb1717]

Honestly, after just looking the machine over inside and out, I was pretty excited. I figured I found an excellent value little AC TIG. But this one just had too many performance issues. It's possible mine was defective. I'm tempted to contact Riland (if possible) and see what they say.

[@choco107]

@@bigtb1717 it's worth a try,

[@bigtb1717]

I sent them an email. We'll see what they say.

[@choco107]

@@bigtb1717 sweet hopefully they will send you a replacement and you can document it :)

[@Helloverlord]

8:54 actually there's a lot wrong with an air flow there, heatsinks are self supported and will created dry joints resulting werder melfunction, heatsinks are also upside down, and to add to that, air will flow easiest path thus above heatsinks not thru the ribs...whole sut up looks like a chinese understanding of engeeniring aka they doesnt have a clue what they're doing...

[@frankmarti8984]

Almost looks like a yeswelder

[@bigtb1717]

A little bit. A lot of the direct from China welders are remarkably similar.

[@jinxtacy]

Pure speculation on my part, but if I were to guess YesWelder either buys from Keygree Group Co. (if they aren't Keygree themselves) and then they order machines from Zhejiang ST Transformer Co ( shunbian.cn ). But that's just a guess. If you go to made-in-china dot com and you look up 'ac dc tig welder' machines (after selecting suppliers on the drop down search field at the top of the page) and use some of the filters on the left side (manf type., annual revenue, certs, their volume, their website etc) you can start to read between the lines and see who manufacturers the units. I went way down the rabbit ole one night and started to see the electronics components suppliers within the machines. If you start to break it down by There are a ton of resellers within China and some manufacturers have zero desire to deal with the logistics/sales/ side of things. Unfortunately (but gratefully), we're reliant on kind KZbinrs like bigtb1717 who will pull these things apart to give us a better idea. Some manufacturers do provide looks at the layout though and owners manuals. Interestingly some manufacturers are absent though like DLD Welding, but I would be curious as to the number of units that they sell. Many "Chinese welders" are no different than Klutch, HF, Mac, Everlast, or other companies that source machines from a manufacturer and they alter the machines to suite that company's wants for their target market. You can start to see what products are actually used by the Chinese industry. I just haven't found a cost effecting way of shipping from China. I wanted the Bestech BI2000, but $1060 was the air shipped quote to Dallas, TX and they said they don't expect the boat to be much cheaper if only ordering one. It's a tad cheaper than the Sifweld that they discontinued fairly recently, and the Cros-Arc. I think sometimes we forget that the resellers/distributors actually can play a big roles it making a machine having features, compatibility or styling that we want and there are plenty that just miss the mark there. I had high hopes for the Riland as an open, but it just seems to be lacking in consistency.

[@jinxtacy]

Oh and one other note, it seems that the "brands" we often see within China aren't married to manufacturers and will source from multiple manufacturers to build out their product stack, so different YesWelders may come from completely different suppliers/manufacturers.

[@SMILYHIPPO]

I think the review is not fair and you are jumping to conclusions. If you want to review then you should have some standard around which you review things but you are probably comparing this al chepo machine to some Swedish or German welding machine. You get what you pay for. If these types were not in the market then people had to buy welding machines of high quality costing above $1000. You see, these types of machines allow us to invest in a single job machine.

[@fuzedfab]

It's a great review, chill