Some pictures from Factory

[Titan winch]

The first picture shows the new handles for the 2013 models,

Second picture is the commute to work

Third picture is the new 200 with lift tig being prepared for independant lab testing .

[Titan winch]

View of the Downtown area from my hotel room

[Jason]

View of the Downtown area from my hotel room

Is the factory downtown or do you travel to it?

[Tanh]

View of the Downtown area from my hotel room

That looks quite modern and stylish. In contrast to Tokyo which is all concrete with no trees in sight. How's the air quality as I've heard some bad stuff about it over there.

[Titan winch]

The factory is on the outskirts of town ,the old factory was actually only about 5 minutes drive from the hotel but the newer larger facility is about a 25 minute drive. The factory has a driver pick me up and deliver me back to the hotel each day.
Normally I have a car and driver waiting for me when I arrive in Shanghai and they take me directly to the hotel ( it is about 2.5 hours drive) this past visit I handsome other things to take care of so I told the factory not to pick me up as I was traveling elsewhere first and would find my own way to my destination and I just needed a driver for 8 am on the Monday .
As for the smog it is definitely present but not as bad as some areas . I never see the sharp blue colours that are so common for us to see even on sunny days.
I can not say that I have trouble breathing or anything like that but then the town is smaller i think it is only. 1 million population . Unlike large city,s of. 5 - 10 million or Shanghai 23million.
Cheers

[Titan winch]

This particular day was a combination of smog and fog i think it was mostly fog rolling in from the South China Sea . The pictures are a little backwards, the second picture shows the the nightime shot and if you look at the left area in the far distance you can see the overhead cranes for the Shipyards of in the distance. In fact in the first picture you can see i managed to zoom in with my little camera i use to show the area in question and a close up of the shipyard area
With working at the factory i find many days are long as it is sometimes difficult to keep up with production and still find time for all the other day to day matters with new models and improvements etc. It makes for very full days at times

[Titan winch]

Chinese New year is the 10th of february this year. The exodus of people traveling back to there families starts much earlier. This picture was taken last wednesday morning at 6.30 am in a small town train station. I had already had the hotel purchase my ticket the previous day and i was only planning on visiting a supplier for a couple of hours before heading back to Shanghai that afternoon ,in fact my plan was to leave before lunch and be back in Shanghai by 5 or 6 that evening.
Even at this early date the busses and train stations are getting crowded with workers leaving to make it home in time. most only get to see there families once a year and they often take anywhere from a month to 2 months off at this time with millions of travellers over the Spring festival it is not hte best time to be in China if you want to do any work.
As it turned out i could not get a train back to Shanghai during the day and i ended up with standing room only that night for the 5 hour train ride back to Shanghai.
People will actually start sleeping at the train and bus stations in a effort to get tickets for there journey home. This will normally start over the next week or so.
On the other hand if you like to party and enjoy the varied night life that Shanghai ,Shenzhen etc have to offer then this would be the best time to be there.

[Titan winch]

I am Back to the factory at the end of the week and will be pretty busy over the next little while . I am particularly looking forward to working on the new DC digital tig that has been mentioned and I look forward to seeing how the different pedals work on the new digital units.
I will be updating as best as I can while I am at the factory on this and other models that we are working on.
Cheers

[Titan winch]

The digital series of Welders use this type of HF start that is shown in the Power I-Tig 200T .

[Titan winch]

We will be introducing a new PowerPro 164 with this production run. Based along the same lines as our PowerTig 185 the 164 has 125 amp output on 110v for both tig and stick and 25 amp plasma on 110v ( the 1/4" plate was cut on 110v and it still has a 60% duty cycle on 110v )
220v gives the full 160amp tig and stick and 40 amp plasma function.
This unit will fit a nice niche market given the fact that you have the option to run a decent amp output on 110v and it has the ability to do first class welds
Cheers

[Oleg]

Pretty clean cut , I like it !

[Mr120]

Excellent enhancements for the small operation that needs a multi-process welder that is portable / compact and that can weld aluminum. You are going to have a lot of fans who can make use of the 110v capability. I was wondering why this model didn't get a face lift like the others and now I know why!

[performance]

It's been scaled down to what we feel are the essential features, but it should be a good starter unit for anybody looking for a nice entry level unit. Should be reliable and tough.

[Jason]

We will be introducing a new PowerPro 164 with this production run. Based along the same lines as our PowerTig 185 the 164 has 125 amp output on 110v for both tig and stick and 25 amp plasma on 110v ( the 1/4" plate was cut on 110v and it still has a 60% duty cycle on 110v )
220v gives the full 160amp tig and stick and 40 amp plasma function.
This unit will fit a nice niche market given the fact that you have the option to run a decent amp output on 110v and it has the ability to do first class welds
Cheers

That is pretty sweet.

It's been scaled down to what we feel are the essential features, but it should be a good starter unit for anybody looking for a nice entry level unit. Should be reliable and tough.

That or as a travel unit while the bigger 220 machines can sit at home.. I have had a few places I could have made use of 110 as they don't have a 220 line near the area where welding could take place.

[performance]

As we discussed in the past we try to be in the factory multiple times a year during most of our production runs. That's where we are right now, or at least where Duncan is, supervising, meeting, planning revising, and generally helping to manage basic production operations. This is for ALL those nay sayers who'd say we don't have any hand in our production and who call us "resellers". This folks isn't re-selling.

Right now for some reason he is not able to access the forum where he's at, but has asked me to post in his place. The information and pictures are Duncan's not mine...so read with a British accent not a Southern one like mine. I apologize if they are out of order, but I think you can make sense of it. Not sure why they aren't posting in the order they were loaded:

Hi Mark I explained to Alex that I can not get on the forum to post pictures so here are some from the factory to be added to the forum What I have done is just some shots showing some settings and fittings and what not First pic is the 255:

Second pic is he programming engineer chin in the background pointing to something with one of the testing department staff. He does plasma testing and sometimes mma.(Mark's edit: Stick=mma which is a European reference for SMAW).

Third picture is setting the low amps and verifying both input amps and output. As can be seen here the actual is 1.19 amp input and welding amps is 3.5

(Fourth)Here is the new fitting and the missing plug on the back. You also have the info on the Pfc and the amp draw reduction because of it.

[performance]

More from Duncan. Sorry for the upside down images. That's the way they came. When I view them, they flip up right, but can't seem to get them to correct their "attitude".

Here it is 11.30 and lunch. This time of year lunch is 1 hour in the summer it is 90 minutes There is a cafeteria on the factory grounds and I have on occasion had my meals from there. But as we have grown I now no longer get any meals from there . Instead I am taken to a restaurant each day.

Most days Miss Chen takes me for lunch along with Jason and we go to one of the restaurants owned by the wife of the factory.
Here is the restaurant , the Clove Garden .

And finally at the end of the day back at my hotel and the view of the downtown from my room Just down the road on the left is the boiling 100 night club. It is too wild for me going there once was enough for me I prefer the quieter bar on the right side ( out of the picture ) where a lot of ex pats hang out .

[performance]

The factory owner likes to fish. When he built the factory he had this sort of moat built around 2 sides of the factory that have road footage.. I often see people fishing from the bridge that crosses the moat for the factory gates. Here is a picture from this morning of two guys fishing. If you know any type of European fishing you will recognize the fishing gear and technique. (Mark's edit: Duncan has apparently never fished in the south. Cane poles are a staple for those of us who bank fish.)

[performance]

Now, this is Mark talking posting one of Duncan's pictures. This is for the nay saying guys who think we don't make changes or improvements to our product lines and sell off the shelf product. This is not the same 140ST from a couple years ago, and this is of the 140ST as it is today. The outside stays basically the same, but a lot has been done to improve product quality and manufacturing.

[performance]

Here's sneak peak at the new i mig 140E. A new product for 2014. Inverter based, not a cheap transformer model like you see everywhere, but it's going to be priced competitively.

There's going to be an i MIG 200E just about like it.

Duncan's comment:
Finished testing 140.

[Kempy]

I see and read the next production run has the water pump 220V plug on the back of the 255EXT also it nice to see units on testing panel. Can't wait to get mine.