I want to learn to Tig weld ideally Aluminium and Stainless steel. Now given I have no experience in welding at all is it wise to go out and buy a relatively low cost AC/DC tig welder to start and learn with or not bother at all and pay an expert to do any upcoming work I have.

I am wondering how long and how much practice is required to achieve average results?

I would advise against a cheap TIG set, I bought a £400 Cobel AC/DC, and it was a complete pile of crap, never worked on AC, I ended up selling it as spares, and buying an R-Tech, never looked back. Some people have had good experience of cheapies, Imp Paul got a good one, but I wouldn't risk it again. R-Tech are a great company to deal with, very attentive and helpful.

As for learning, read all you can there are some good articles and video demos on the TIG section of the MIG Welding forum, if you can do a nightschool course it would be worthwhile if there is a decent practical element to it.

After that its practice practice practice, and then some more practice.

I have £120 DC Tig set bought on a whim - I ended up welding my whole chassis, wishbones, sump and just about everything else steel for a full build with it!

Wish I had a pedal for thinner stuff and better control.

As said practice practice practice

Not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but with some reading and youtube browsing you can pick it up.



I found it straightforward, as its similar to oxy acetylene welding. My welds dont look anything like as good as my pro son in law does, but Im on a Chinese tig and he has a £1800 tig set .....and its his trade....


R-Tech get my vote too

[Edited on 20/11/13 by T66]

Thanks Pete, the corbel was one of the ones I was looking at...

So any recommendations so i have a choice of welders would be appreciated thanks.

R-Tech welding, both my Mig and Tig were bought from R-Tech and the customer service, backup and warranty has been spot on, not the cheapest but as has already been said the cheapest will not serve you well.

http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/

HTH

Another vote for R-TECH here

I've looked at the R tech ones which obviously get a good vote here but as said not cheap.

Rather than me buying new which is quite an investment if i don't pick it up very well or even buying new cheap Chinese stuff, what second hand equipment has any recommendations? Brands etc

pete and the lads a spot on, r tech are very good and pete had very bad luck on his cobel .as for my cobel it seems to work fine ,but it must be said it is also a hard to learn skill .but its also not locost on gas but thats just my take on tigs ,hope you find one to suit your needs.

cheers
paul

It would be worth having a look on the migwelding forum, they have a tig section.

I'm a member over on the mig welding forum. They are a good bunch of lads and there are some really experienced guys on there who will give your the benefit of their knowledge and experience freely.

R-tech have a good reputation over on there, and here by the looks of it? They really are the bargain basement of the tig welding world and you get a lot for your money. AC/DC sets are not cheap, you might pick up a decent 2nd hand DC unit for a wallet friendly price, but a decent ACDC set will make your eyes water.

Depends on what you want to do? and how much you want to spend? You might pick up a transformer AC/DC unit for sub £500, but it'll probably be the size of small semi detatched and need to be wired directly to your nearest nuclear power-plant.

Inverter sets do come every now and again on evilbay, but decent quality ones will go for £1500+. I've seen R-tech ones go for sub £750 every now and again.

Most single phase inverter types are limted to about 220ish amps, which will get you up to about 6mm Ali. A smallish transformer unit will get you up to 250amp range, but will probably need a meaty 32amp supply in your garage

Avoid the brand new £300 units you see littered all over the bay. It could destroy your confidence, conversely buying one with all the bells and whistles could have the same effect.
R-tech, Xcalibur, Thermalarc, Cebora , GYS, are the decent entry level. Migatronic, Murex, Esab amongst others are the middle of the road, then you're into Kemppi, Fronius, EWM, Miller etc which are premier league stuff.

Practice with a bit of tuition is the key. See if you can get someone to show you how to set it up, what all the knobs and dials mean and then practice some more. Welding tips and tricks.com on youtube is a great site to get some info, your local college for a course is also good. Start on steel, then stainless then onto Ali when you get the hang of things. Lots of people dive straight into Ali from little or no experience, you might get lucky? Few do
Its a great skill to learn, but it will try your patience and frustrate the hell out of you. But when you get that "stack of dimes" which everyone craves, its very rewarding.

Keep us posted.

PS don't tell you're mates you have one......................

[Edited on 20/11/13 by clanger]

I really appreciate the responses guys,

I have a very good friend who is a retired aircraft engineer/certified welder who has all the equipment you could wish for in his workshop and his welding skills make me quite jealous . I will probably get him to view/test anything I buy and comment on it for me. I will also try and lean on him to for some tuition if possible before I buy anything.

None of those machine makes currently mean anything to me, but I'm not in a great rush to go out and buy anything so I will have a look on the mig welding forum and observe what becomes available second hand as well as new.

Give R-Tech a call as they regularly have ex demo or ex display machines available for a discount

r-tech here as well, I started with a huge Marshall Dynabolt like millers strapped for single phase, it was unbreakable, heavy on power as it drew 60 amps but was fantastic.

Sold and got a £400 one off eBay, it got stolen but did work well, although I thought so until I got the r-tech on a special offer, although stated a factory second or return it was unmarked!

Once I got my TIG 8 years ago I have only used my TIG once, 7 years ago.

They come with loads of knobs to fiddle with, most I never touch, make sure you get a pedal thrown in.

Regards Mark


[Edited on 20/11/13 by mark chandler]

I've only ever heard good things about RTech.

However I couldn't run to their prices and wanted an AC/DC set so went for a Cobel - very impressed with as is my Fabricator mate, on ally and stainless.
You're welcome to come around and have a play with it before comitting to buy Marco - you're not far from me.

Rob

[Edited on 20/11/13 by Wheels244]

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=185520

here you go rob your tig was made here as mine is the same as yours hope this will be helpfull

http://www.chndd.com/en/Img.asp?/b-0-p-1-c-299.html

also called a cobel tig and the same brand as eastwood tig all the same

cheers

paul

Thanks Paul

How do you get on with yours ?
I haven't had chance to use mine much yet.

Cheers

Rob

hay up rob im not a expert. i have had a few goes with it, i have a lot to learn lol but i let a chap who tigs a lot have a go, he said its spot on so i know all is ok with it i hve been to busy building a new gararge for the last 6 months lol but i do need to have more time with it yours looks like it works well

Rtech have excellent customer service, have bought a plasma cutter and an AC/DC tig from them.

Just get stuck in! I bought a Clarke scratch start set second hand from eBay and you can make a reasonable job with them, then moved up to AC and foot pedal when I could afford it.

This is a really good set up.....

http://www.unitedwelding.co.uk/thermal-arc-arcmaster-202-acdc-tig-welder-package-240volt-185-p.asp

We hired one for a couple of weeks and ended up buying one just for any ali jobs, our place does mainly stainless.
If you know someone who can tig weld give them a couple of beer tokens to give you some pointers.