Is there such a thing these days as a good cheap TIG welder? After building my trike with the MIG and steel tube. I’m wanting to use a TIG and
aluminium tube for my next bike. Obviously for bikes the material is very thin around 1mm.
Any recommendations? I’ve only every used a TIG once for about 10 seconds so a bit of practice will be required! But if I got one I can see me making
loads of different types of bike as I've very into cycling and building the trike and using everyday it has been super enjoyable 
I hunted for *ages* around all the forum posts I could find, all the warnings off of cheap TIG machines.
I saw loads of complaints about many of these items but one that kept popping up as a good option and had no complaints against it at the time was:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/13740-WELDER-TIG-AC-DC-200-PULSE-HF-INVERTER-ARC-STICK-AC-DC-welding-machine/372485192391?epid=24026715038&hash=item56b
9d8fac7:g:wUcAAOSwZW5aA~NJ
Search for model 13740 and from some .de ebay sites.
I paid 370 shipped from Germany.
It looks really nicely constructed, it's a heavy solid unit, but I haven't tested it yet unfortunately - I was about to buy in some argon
when lockdown happened lol.
Many people would advise you to pick up a used machine but in that price range you won't get one with HF start and some of the nicer features.
Also be wary of power connection - even this one is technically rated at 16A (so too high current for a normal 13A house socket) requiring you to fit
a 16A or 32A supply off your ring.
[Edited on 4/6/20 by coyoteboy]
cheers, prices seem to vary a lot! still seems a bit expensive...
how can a machine listed there for £10,558.88 be bought new and shipped from Germany for £370...???
[Edited on 4/6/20 by Mr Whippy]
Clearly it's a placeholder for when they get them back in stock. Lots of ebay sales do that for some reason that I've not worked out yet.
That particular machine varied from 370 to 600 when I bought it.
Ahh I see sorry I've never seen that before, not much a user of ebay....
Under 400 would be my limit for now till I was doing a lot more bikes. Might go on a welding course too as it seemed quite different to Mig.
I think the silly price is so the advert always remains live but no one buys it - I guess it's a way round listing fees
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
I think the silly price is so the advert always remains live but no one buys it - I guess it's a way round listing fees
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Might go on a welding course too as it seemed quite different to Mig.
I was a whizz at oxy-acet welding, after the first 30 seconds it felt very natural (did a welding course intro on all types). TIG, I found very tough on Alu, but never tried steel. Similar in feeling but so incredibly sensitive I kept blowing holes.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
I think the silly price is so the advert always remains live but no one buys it - I guess it's a way round listing fees
Take a look at this https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/sherman-tig-jasic-in-disguise.93719/
In conclusion from people who know their stuff it's the same machine as an expensive branded unit and welds really well. It's AC/DC so you
can weld aluminium as well as SS - Very tempted myself!
quote:
Originally posted by tajgreidotu
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
I think the silly price is so the advert always remains live but no one buys it - I guess it's a way round listing fees
It's a way around, but not exactly for listing fees.
The issue here is eBay deleting your listing after 60 days (cannot remember exactly) of being out of stock. If your listing gets deleted, you loose all the historic and your list rank with it. Some of my clients have listings with +10 years and +50K sales historic, they would cry if they have them lost!
So the only option is to increase the price till you are sure nobody buys it.
Cheers