What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders?

   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #1  

diesel85

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For an industrial piece of equipment, why does one need an LCD touch screen on a welder?

Seems like it would be very complex if it were to break or if the memory got corrupt it would turn into a brick.

I like my Miller 200 Syncrowave...
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #2  
They aren't typically touch screen. But actually, a simple LCD screen is very easy and simple to do. The displays are modular and easily replaced. All functions are monitored and controlled elsewhere. I mean, think, though of the intense use and handling a phone gets. It will last. Usually the death nail for a phone (besides nefarious updates) is dropping and cracking the screen, or the battery. Neither of which would typically happen to a protected screen behind a flip down cover or a pop in plastic guard over the screen. Digital lcd screens can quite easily be made water proof as well.

What you are probably not understanding about the issue is the welder industry has transitioned to digitally controlled technology. When compared to analog technology of even just 10 years ago with many manufacturers, digital technology has reduced the sheer number of circuits and discreet components. Less circuitry means over all better reliability. On all of Everlast machines, most, if not all the main components are modular and plug and play. They are about 30% lighter than before on some products. If you think back to the early days of the computer (Univac), these were analog computers, taking up entire floors of buildings to do simple operations. Today, a simple cell phone has more than enough capacity to guide a rocket ship to the moon. Digitalization has made things more dependable in many respects, and not less dependable. Now, if you are dealing with cheap electronics, or poor quality control, in any system, analog or digital, it may make one system to be better than the other.
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #3  
For an industrial piece of equipment, why does one need an LCD touch screen on a welder?

Seems like it would be very complex if it were to break or if the memory got corrupt it would turn into a brick.

I like my Miller 200 Syncrowave...

Unfortunately, your synchro will turn into a major brick as soon as something happens. The circuit boards in the unit are prohibitively expensive to replace out of warranty, and those machines are discontinued. Miller seems to be obsoleting their products much faster than before and/or raising the cost of replacement parts so that customers are enticed to look at buying new product.
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #4  
Give me the ole heavy, bulky transformer/rectifier machine any day. They'll last pretty much forever, take abuse and don't fry up when you get a voltage surge which you're bound to get eventually.
I've got a TA 181i for screwing around in the garage, when the sky looks the least bit dark, I'll unplug it, when I'm done welding or doing something else such as cutting material, I'll unplug it. Great working machine but I know it'll bite me in the a$$ one of these days for no reason.
Electronics are great when they work and give you an insane amount of options but they don't do you any good when they're burnt up and they cost as much as a new machine to replace a 'board'..............Mike
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #5  
"just a transformer/rectifier" machine hasn't been built in a welder like a MIG or TIG if 40 years. After that they all have circuit control boards...From the 80's forward. It's going to depend upon the capability of the repairer and design of the unit as to what it costs and what can be repaired. The same goes for the majority of so-called "transformer" welders with tons of boards and electronics to control them on the inside.
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #6  
"just a transformer/rectifier" machine hasn't been built in a welder like a MIG or TIG if 40 years
Yup....and I bet most of them are still going :). I started out taking welding in trade school when I was 17, I'm 65 now so you see where I'm coming from. I still remember the old Lincoln Idealarcs' we had where I first worked, and stayed, for 15± years. Only thing I didn't like was if you went from burning a 1/8 rod and then had to do some gouging it was like trying to crank start a truck. The amount of turns it required to turn up the heat was unreal.........Mike
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #7  
Yup....and I bet most of them are still going :). I started out taking welding in trade school when I was 17, I'm 65 now so you see where I'm coming from. I still remember the old Lincoln Idealarcs' we had where I first worked, and stayed, for 15± years. Only thing I didn't like was if you went from burning a 1/8 rod and then had to do some gouging it was like trying to crank start a truck. The amount of turns it required to turn up the heat was unreal.........Mike
Actually only a very small percent. Transformer insulations begins to break down after a few years, and the fields are destroyed and they basically short out. Years ago it was economical to rebuild them, and many of them were. People forget about this. But in todays market it is not at all economically feasible for most people. Most of the bad ones have been scrapped. The survivors are the ones that were probably rebuilt along the way with improved protective coatings and materials that lasted longer than the original. Switches and fans played out as well. Contacts would wear and eventually fail, even if the other parts of the machine were ok, and most simply became inoperative relics in the corner, recycled for scrap value to add to shop cash flow during the myriad of economic recessions or became reefs in some farmer's pond or stream.
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #8  
Actually only a very small percent. Transformer insulations begins to break down after a few years, and the fields are destroyed and they basically short out.

All 3 of my welders are transformer type and my Dialarc was as well. That welder ran 50 years and was working when I sold it. I will have to disagree with your statement reagrding transformers, at least all transformers other than for welders. Maybe they are vastly different. I work in the power industry and power plants have dry type transformers that last decades with no issues running all the time. Mine may all fail next week when I get back home but I still have confidence. You make it sound like we need to ditch all of our old, piece of crap welders and buy new inverters. I'll pass, at least for now.
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #9  
All 3 of my welders are transformer type and my Dialarc was as well. That welder ran 50 years and was working when I sold it. I will have to disagree with your statement reagrding transformers, at least all transformers other than for welders. Maybe they are vastly different. I work in the power industry and power plants have dry type transformers that last decades with no issues running all the time. Mine may all fail next week when I get back home but I still have confidence. You make it sound like we need to ditch all of our old, piece of crap welders and buy new inverters. I'll pass, at least for now.
I bet if you opened them up, you'd see degradation of the core. These are often exposed to humidity, and corrosive environments (like the smoke from welding) with little protection of the iron used and very little maintenance (if any). I've never said to ditch your old piece of crap welder. Never said it was a piece of crap. If you feel that way, then that is on you. They were fine for the time. And as a relic of the past, they were good for what they did. Anyone who has a 40 model ford who would make the same argument and say it is better than any modern car and more reliable, and never gave any problem and then argue that the majority of them are still on the road....well.... I mean, the comparison is valid that I am making. As long as you drive your 40 model ford, you may continue to think that. But no one is saying they were crap, but there are better automobiles out there now. Will they last as long? Maybe not. But maybe they will. Back then a car was barely good for 100k miles. Now, they are surpassing 400k frequently in a shorter amount of time due to changes in driving habits. And they still are nicer and get from A to B on a 500 mile trip a whole lot more comfortably and smoothly. Who needs air conditioning in Florida during the summer right? No one really needs it right? Same with a welder. Same exact type of argument that "transformer" guys are making. But people who do buy a good quality inverter, instantly know there is a difference in how they weld and perform. I hear it ALL the time. Not just one, two, or a dozen people have said that to me over the past few years. Literally I've heard it thousands of times...maybe tens of thousands.
 
   / What's the deal with "digital" LCD screen welders? #10  
Incidently, an inverter welder does have a transformer in it, but it is much smaller and easier to maintain and replace.
 
 
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