Test and review inverter welder Kühtreiber KITin 150

This very lightweight inverter welder weighing approx. 5.5 kg also has relatively compact dimensions of 220 × 143 × 310 mm. On the rear side you will find a 2.5m long power cable, a switch for switching the welder on and off and a grille under which a fan for cooling the welder is located.
On the upper side you will find a simple adjustable strap with a circumferential extension of up to 1.5m. Of course, the strap can also be shortened enough to form a handle for easy carrying of the welder. And here we touch on one of the few drawbacks of the welder, as we would have preferred a more user-friendly fixed handle.
On the top of the welder is a label with basic electrical information about the welder.
However, you will be most interested in the front side, which is clear and well designed for the user.
The potentiometer, which adjusts the welding current between 10 and 150A, catches the eye at first glance. Next to it is the switch for the remote control and below that the connector for connecting this remote control itself.
On the top right, you'll use the switch for MMA (which is a coated electrode welding method) or TIG with touch start (which is a method for welding in a protective atmosphere with a non-melting electrode). However, this switch has one more function which we will talk about later.
Below the potentiometer on the left is a yellow light (a signal light, if you will) that, when lit, indicates overheating due to exceeding duty cycles.
On the right you will find a green indicator light, signaling the inverter welder to turn on.
Below the control panel you will discover inputs for connecting welding cables.
On the left is the input marked minus, to which the ground cable with clamps is connected in the case of MMA welding. On the right is the input marked plus, to which you connect the cable with the electrode holder, again in the case of MMA welding.
If you decide to TIG weld, you must reverse the polarity, i.e. the ground cable with the clamps to plus and the welding torch to minus.
In this review, we will focus on the MMA welding method - that is, the coated electrode. If you want to TIG weld more often than occasionally, we recommend that you consider getting a Kühtreiber KITin 150TIG LA inverter welder, which is a bit more expensive than our test piece, but offers more features that could definitely come in handy for more frequent welding.
This 230V single phase welder is very easy to carry thanks to its light weight and small size. The welder's protection is 16A, but when the HOT START function is switched off, the welder can operate with a 10A circuit breaker.
The HOT START function, which increases the welding current value at the beginning of welding, can be switched off when welding thin materials simply by switching the switch in the MMA position to the TIG position.
In the case of other functions, you will also welcome the ARC-FORCE function for stabilizing the burning arc during welding or the ANTI STICK function for easier unsticking of the so-called stuck electrode.It must be said that the sticking of the electrode occurred quite rarely.
Very important, after the selection of the welding machine itself, is the selection of good quality and correct electrodes. Important is the brand (in our case ESAB), the type (where you can choose from rutile or basic electrodes, but also electrodes for aluminium, cast iron, stainless steel, etc.) and especially the diameter, which ranges from the standard 1.6 mm through the commonly used 2.0, 2.5, 3.2 to the maximum 4 mm.
With the use of suitable electrodes, the welder produces absolutely trouble-free and high quality welds with very good arc holding.
The Kühtreiber KITin 150 welding machine welds perfectly with diameters from 1.6 to 2.5mm. It can also do very well with 3.25 electrodes at 125A without the need for breaks (the limit here is the human factor - i.e. human fatigue, not machine fatigue). When using these electrodes and a welding current of 125A, it is preferable to use welding cables with a thickness of 25mm, as in our case. There are also different lengths of welding cables to choose from ranging from 3m as standard, to 5m (which is again our case) to the commonly used 8m.
In the short term, the welder can handle 4mm electrodes, but in truth, when welding very thick materials, at a max current of 150A with an ED load of 45%, it's not quite the same. For a quality weld, 25mm welding cables and a quality extension cable are an absolute must here.
However, the absolute best welder is in the loader values, where it has almost no competition. With electrodes with a diameter of 2.5 and a welding current of approx. 110A, the welder simply will not melt even in the summer months.
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