TIG Welders

[Dano]

Hi all, just doing research on TIG welders, any info /  would be awesome......thanks in advance.

Here's a cheapy any good?
experienchttp://www.mytopia.com.au/p/inverter-welder-dc-tig-arc-plasma-cutter/WELD-CT312es

[Bedfordcrazy]

i can tell you dano that tig is the bees knees of welding, nice and clean, BUT is a lot harder to master then mig and oxy, so they tell me. I would love to learn one day.
george

[BusyKiwi]

tig is just like oxy/acl welding but with a pedal

Dano, those 3 in 1 machines are more hobby machines, they can over heat.
Although a lot depends on what you want to do with it, if you want to do light panel steel work then the type mentioned above could be enough but if you want to do hard out stainless work then you need a big tig.

If you just want to do the odd bit of stainless welding and already have a mig welder you can get stainless wire for it

Also when looking at tigs price up things like the rods, tips and cones, as they wear down with use. some are universal others aren't and can be costly

[Bedfordcrazy]

its the peddle on the tig that would stump me  i would have to customise the peddle so my stump could push it  aaaahhhhhh i still dont have it 

I have just got rid of my oxy kit, the annual hire of the bottles was killing the wallet, anyhow with some research my hare & forbes and welding supplier now carry an oxy kit called the turbo 200 and it cost nothing for hire, and the bottles are $19 & $40 for gas & oxygen bottles. For what i do this is the perfect solution, not spending $400 a year just to hire the bottles.

george

[Bas / NZ]

Just Tig welded this the other day, a Boss for my sons Go Kart, not to bad I think...

[Marishka]

Thats awsome Bas,
You done well mate, id be happy with work like that.

[MaTTe]

The pedal doesn't have to be used.. 99% of the welding we do is tig and we never use a pedal. I saw one of the boys use the pedal the other day when he was welding tantalum as he was welding with 450 amps. We can weld over 50mm thick titanium/super duplex/stainless etc. With just a trigger ranting from 80-150 amps depending what you're welding. With a tig machine Dano, it really pays to get a decent one which will give you enough options to weld different metals with different requirements. Most tig welders that are cheap will only be able to weld steel/stainless which is fine to get a cheapy that has no real settings if that's all you want to do. But if you want to be able to do aluminium aswell or want to be able to do some beautiful welds that will pass xrays, or just be confident of complete fusion, you need an ac/dc machine with adjustable slopes and gas settings, high frequency, etc.

I had a fair bit of experience tig welding stainless and ally before coming to this job, all that experience counted for nothing when taking on pipe work, doing root runs rather than fillets, and dealing with exotic metals.

There is a little cig machine we have at our other workshop which is a 200amp unit (all our others dwarf this particular machine) but this cig machine is awesome, 15amp plug instead of needing 3 phase, it's a top of the line model that I saw recently for about $4k, but I'm going to get one as it will do anything the big machines will for what I need outside of work.

If you want, I'm happy to come welder shopping with you one arvo

[Dano]

Brilliant Bas,love it....

Matte, not ready to purchase yet bud, just wondering if it was worth it... or waiting for that special rig that comes along for the right price.....but again, not for a while yet. Getting my info together, cheers peeps.