Danno

So ah... after 12 faithful years of service, my MIG welder has finally gone kaput! The wire-feed control-board's fried and I get only full-speed on the wire-feed regardless of the ****'s position. Probably just the pot controlling the power-transistor, but figured it'd be a good time to upgrade.

Now I'm looking at AC/DC TIG welders in the $1200-1300 range. Anyone seen any comparisons of the various option out there? Miller? ESAB? Hobart? Lincoln? Good sources to buy from? Thanks! <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />

87951

Just weld faster!!

Dean

You can't go wrong with Miller stuff.
<a href="http://www.cyberweld.com/" target="_blank">http://www.cyberweld.com/</a>
Dean

Ed Newman

I have a Miller MIG setup at work and outside of the wire jamming (all migs do) I love it. The wire is more of a problem as we do alot of aluminum welding, the steel wire is pretty reliable.

gregm

Miller and Hobart, you really can not go wrong. Why do you want TIG? Do you primarily do sheet metal (body panels etc)? If so a highly respected welder friend of mine (ASME certified) talked me out of TIG. He said that MIG was really the better way to go. TIG puts too much heat into the material. I bought a Hobart 110 Volt unit and have been pleased with it.

Danno

"I have a Miller MIG setup at work and outside of the wire jamming (all migs do) I love it. The wire is more of a problem as we do alot of aluminum welding, the steel wire is pretty reliable."]

Yeah, the aluminum wire birdcages drives me absolutely crazy! <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" /> A push-pull torch takes care of that!

"Why do you want TIG? Do you primarily do sheet metal (body panels etc)?"

I like TIG because of the independent control of power and filler feed. You end up using 1/4 as much filler for less clean-up work. As Ed mentioned, aluminum welding is tough, especially on thin panels with MIG. TIG also has nice square-wave AC for aluminum welding. And eventually, I'll be doing some titanium welding, perhaps even beryllium.

"... TIG puts too much heat into the material."

It depends upon the welder model. The Miller Syncrowave I'm looking at can go down to 10amps (nice fingertip control at the torch), which is perfect for 0.030 aluminum sheets. I've seen guys at Cannondale practice on beer cans! FWIW, I've never been able to do clean MIG welds on aluminum thinner than 0.080.

Just found out that Hobart's entry-level Tig-Mate is the same as the Miller EconoTig/Moonliter. So that reduces the number of models I have to screen.

Any personal experiences with those or any other TIG welders out there? I'm looking at the Syncrowave-180SD now.

87951

Danno,
I use a Miller Syncrowave 250 Tig and it is excellent. As far as "why would you want to use tig versus mig?" The control you gain with tig is worth the extra cost. Try welding aluminum foil with a wire welder.

Jim Morton

Danno:

As a point of reference, I looked at the lesser cost TIG;'s for about 3 years and ended up getting a used Lincoln 300/300 for about $750. It is a lot more machine and saved about $500 in that I got it with everything minus the argon bottle. It is a work horse !

I mention this because you are talking Aluminum. After trying a friends "little" TIG, I really enjoy having the bigger unit on tap.

I was not that hard to find a lightly used 300/300 in great shape. I built a small frame for it on casters and have the torch cooling unit on top of the welder.

From an automotive side, I have done fine work on sheet aluminum as well as repaired some cast iron SBC manifolds / heads.

Hope to hear back that you are enjoying a TIG soon !

Regards

Jim Morton


<img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

User 4221

Danno,

Take a look at the Square Wave Tig 175-Pro from Lincoln. It's about $1200 and has control down to 8 Amps. It can go as high as 175 amps.

You can do AC, DC Tig and stick. I would buy this over a mig gun any day.

MIG is nice, but not the best for clean welding.

HTH,
Scott

Shane

Scott,

What's the duty cycle on that Lincoln? I'm looking for something in that range to put in my shop.

Thanks <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Ruairidh

Shane

I love that Avatar. Now that gets me thinking that I need to make one of those!

Shane

Ruairidh,

Thanks, a buddy of mine e-mailed it to me. It and a whole bunch of others labeled things you don't see every day. Here is another:


PS: I don't think I could get 167 mph out of my car. Yours would be a different story. Maybe in the future with a mod or two I'll be able to attain speeds close to that.

User 4221

Shane,

There's more to see at: <a href="http://www.lincolnelectric.com" target="_blank">www.lincolnelectric.com</a>

In the meantime, here's what I gleaned from a quick search:


Welding Specifications

* Rated CC AC Output
* Amps/Volts/Duty Cycle: 150/26/25%

* Rated CC DC Output
* Amps/Volts/Duty Cycle150/26/25%

* Output Range 8-175A AC/DC

150A at 25% is very good for a smallish unit. I'm betting that you will get tired before the machine

HTH,
Scott

Danno

Scott, thanks for the info. I'm down to the Miller Syncrowave-180SD vs. the Lincoln Squarewave-175. Both have comparable features with the Miller slightly edging out (auto-fan, 40% duty-cycle, digital volt/amp meters, etc.).

But the Lincoln can go down to 8-amps which is a BIG plus. What's the thinnest steel and aluminum panels you've been able to weld with the Lincoln-175 unit? Thanks -danno

Shane

Thanks Scott,
That will be perfect.