I spent quite a few hours over the last few weeks searching for info on various welding forums on how this actually worked, and found a lot of people who A.) had not used it but B.) still insisted that the miller, lincoln, etc. equipment that their daddy/grandad/uncle bob showed them how to use when they were a kid did not need to be replaced by some fancy 'lectronic gadget made up by some chinese communists. Unfortunately, as I noted, none of the naysayers had spent any decent weld time actually using the machine, yet were convinced it could never work. As someone who is not opposed to new technology or methods, I imagine this same argument has been repeated a thousand times by people who did not believe that the cotton gin, horseless carriage, electric light bulb, solar energy, etc. would ever replace the more traditional "tried-n-true" methods of doing what those inventions do. More recently the auto industry and big oil kept (keep) insisting that electric cars wont work or that we wont buy them. This is, I honestly suspect, why something like the multiplaz has not been more prevalent in the industry for which it was made. It is different. It does not work the same way as every previous welder available since the industrial revolution. We are talking, after all, about steel workers and welders, one of the earliest workforce unions and a pristine example of a "good ole boy network." Not trying to knock welders here, I have a lot of respect for anyone who has skill and talent and a strong work ethic. I'm merely saying that accepting change can be difficult, and from what I gather this device is definitely change on a major scale for someone who makes a living cutting and joining metal.
I did notice a couple of forum posts, however, from people who actually did get to spend time with one of these things. A couple guys purchased them, a couple only got to spend a day or so doing a demo with it at a show or the corporate offices of multiplaz, inc. Of these, the reports were unanimously positive in reporting how it actually worked. One guy who has been welding for decades commented that "all my other equipment is now sitting unplugged in the back of my shop." I got to see some of his welds and read about 14 pages of his comments about how it performed doing the various tasks. Though they were not pretty work, they did appear to be quite solid. A lot of guys lambasted him for not being willing to provide them with industrial/scientific test results of the structural integrity of the welds, etc, which he was not obligated to do by any means, though he was kind enough to continue offering a considerable amount of info on his experience with it even though a number of working welders gave him a hard time about it.
His, and the several other findings of people who actually got to use one of these, were the deciding factor in me taking the plunge and purchasing one of them. As I would have had to shell out nearly the same amount (if not more) for a MIG/TIG/plasma cutting setup, gas, torches, wire, flux, rods, etc., it seemed to me to be a good choice. Additionally, I would have had to learn all those different machines and tools, rather than learning the various methods on the one machine. The primary difference and biggest obstacle to using this thing, from what several of them said, was that because it was so different, you really had to UN-learn previous methods in order to learn how to use this correctly, it is very different from using a mig/tig/plasma cutter, etc. The other difference they agreed upon was though it did all the things the other equipment did, it did so a bit slower in all cases. Being new to welding, neither of these poses a problem for me, it will all be new. My only experience up to now is doing some silver/gold jewelry and doing high end copper gutter fabrication and soldering on fancy houses I will never afford.
SO, all this aside, I have watched the hour long CD that came with this on how to use it, and plan on getting out into the shop in the next week to begin doing some tests with various scrap I've got around the shop. I will try to do a butt weld, T weld, some round tube and plate cutting and some cast iron. I will get as much video as I can of it, though I cant promise that any of it, including my work, will be pretty. lol. I will attempt to cut some of the welds in half with a jigsaw (wish my bandsaw wasnt apart in a moving crate still) so we can have a look at weld penetration and joins, etc.
I do not imagine that I will be disappointed with it, it is merely a matter of spending time to evaluate it and learn how to weld and cut with it at the same time. I will report back as much as I can, I am really looking forward to it. As I said, I love new technology and could care less if the russians designed it (AK 47? T72?) or the chinese manufacture it (anyone use an iPhone/iPad?). I would love it if this was American made, but I am most concerned with how well it does the job. My Volvo isnt made here either, and it performs so much better than any Jeep wrangler I could have gotten for twice the money. (Thanks to YOU lot for helping me make that decision.)
