Ok, bit of history first...
I learned to weld at the colliery years ago, never finished the course as Thatcher closed the place down before my apprenticeship was up!
GRRRRRRR...
Anyway, I've got a cracking mig set and up until recently some oxy/accetellene bottles for the small bits of gas welding.
I did a gas safety course for ADR a while ago and that scared me enough to get rid of my ancient gas bottles!
Now I'm looking at getting a tig to do the little stuff and fancy the added bonus of doing aluminum.
So, if I was to say welding a chassis and wishbones and doing the fiddly bits and bobs in 3mm steel as a maximum, and welding exhausts and Ali
manifolds what would I need?
Also how alike is gas welding and tig welding?
Will the argon bottle I have on my mig be ok for tig?
Cheers,
Steve
all you need to know on here http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
quote:
Originally posted by theconrodkid
all you need to know on here http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
Steve you need pure argon for tig. You will have an argon mix for your mig.
Have you finished the jago yet
Neil
Also a 2nd thumbs up for http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/, it's where I've got most of my info from. If you work backwards on the steel
thickness you can figure out what power you need.
I've never done gas welding but have just started teaching myself TIG, and it's worlds away from MIG. You need have a very steady hand -
something I currently lack!
Once you go TIG the mig will hardly see daylight unless you are welding up an old snotter or need to go upside down, no more balls of splatter burning
your hands, shoes or fizzling in your ears !
Ali is power hungry, at least 160amps, my rtech 200 amp job is never cranked up that high doing stuff.
Factor in a decent auto mask and a baby water cooled torch with a home made cooler using an old central heating pump.
quote:
Originally posted by neilp1
Steve you need pure argon for tig. You will have an argon mix for your mig.
Have you finished the jago yet
Neil
Shame you want the AC option, I've a nice little Kempii MasterTIG 150 inverter jobby for sale.
I recently bought the R-Tech 200a AC/DC unit and it is excellent,
Welding alloy manifolds takes 160A to start dropping back to less than half that when it warms up. Foot pedal a must for me.
Cheers
Another thumbs up for the R-Tech 200amp AC/DC tig. Had one a few months now and can't fault it. Lovely piece of kit.
I have the R-Tech 251. Massive overkill for just about anything you might want to do.
Current doesn't really go above 80-90A for anything mild steel, 60A is about the 1.6mm norm. Advantage of the lower power requirement is that the
torch can get smaller, great for manifolds, tight spots. You've got the ability to pulse weld, etc. etc.
I'd say anything 160-200A is all you'll need.
Welding alloy requires lots of amps, especially when pulse cleaning. Fitting a plate to the bottom of a GSXR sump (made from total shite), sees the
32A supply to the welder do what it was meant to.
http://www.weldequip.com/inverter-fusion-tig.htm
I went for a solid-state welder. DC only, but what a bit of kit. Absolutely rock solid performance, great features (like pulse welding), and
bomb-proof. I had my electrician install a 45A feed for it, and a special breaker to allow for the ramp-up.
Once you start Tigging, you'll never go back. Excellent precision, control of the weld pool and you get such a feel for the work, you'll
know quite quickly if you've got penetration right.
When i upgraded from a Cebora dc tig to an ac/dc machine i decided to treat myself with the theory that if i got a top spec machine i'd never
need to buy another in the future. I bought a Lincoln V205T with the water cooling unit/torch, foot pedal etc, luckily i found a 2nd hand hardly used
setup on ebay wrongly advertized and got a bargain, otherwise they are quite expensive. It is very very good.
Ian
Having a look on't bay I've come across this just down the road from me...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TIG200P-TIG-AC-DC-PULSE-INVERTER-WELDER-WELD-ALUMINUM-/291414488466?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43d9a83592
Does it look any good? Obviously the pictures show some quality work but is the machine any good? I can see similar things from Germany for around
£500.
^ I had one of those, worked well enough for a while then failed so had to send back, it then got nicked a few months later on with a load of other
stuff 
It replaced a Marshall Dynabolt (Miller coil wound effectively) that I strapped for single phase and never matched it, I now have the rtech 200 amp,
it's head and shoulders above the ones I have had before.
Easy to say as it's what I have now done, build up the pot of cash and get a rtech shop soiled machine, if not go for a big old commercial
millers/lincoln etc and watch the meter spin as it fires up.
I got one of the "German" Chinese dc 3 in 1's it's been great and I don't regret getting a cheap machine to have a go but I really would like having ago at alloy.
Another vote for R-Tech, I got a little Tig160PDC 3 months back and its been brilliant. The customer service is excellent and all there Tig sets come
complete with everything you need to get started apart from the pure argon gas and filler rod
From the R-Tech website
Package Includes = TIG torch, earth lead, MMA Lead, gas hose, mains cable, argon regulator, and torch consumables kit including tungstens
Another vote for R-Tech - we use their 251AC/DC for our manifolds, usually set between 130-190A for this work. Realistically the 200A machine will be
fine for pretty much anything your likely to do at home. Even the 160A would probably suffice (worst case, you do anything really big in alu you would
just need to pre-heat somehow).
Just bought a water cooler for ours and dropped a torch size - what a revelation!! So light and nimble!