Tig welder

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Oh, boilermakers.... Pay no attention to them.:D

They only know welding in spaces so tight you never get see the whole weld without a mirror. They don't know about real world welding, without mirrors and tape. Cheaters:p
 
griff154 said:
Hey, I can walk the cup also. And far as mirror welding most people can't do it. Anybody can weld when it is right in front of ya and flat. Don't be hatin on boilermakers I have family that fitters also.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Welding in a mirror is a challenge. Done a few hundred in my career.
 
Well i was looking into a mig welder. They don't have the range of weldable metals at a tig does. I have experience on a thermal arc inverter type tig welder so it's not going to be an issue of learning. I think a rig weld looks more "sexy" then a mig weld and the ability to weld thinner steel with out then consumption of so much gas from my propane/oxy set up.

I seen that northern tool has one for a couple hundred bucks. But I think I'll end up having to wait a few more months and save more Penny's to get a name brand one. I do like the miller machines better then the Lincoln ones I have ran.
 
Im not sure how someone would think that there is a significant difference in the amount of skill required to either walk the cup or freehand. Any decent tig welder could do both in any position (i would hope atleast). Mirror welding and back feeeding on the other hand are a differnt story.

OP, im not sure the point of your thread. What exactly do you plan on doing with your new welder? How skilled are you at tig welding? I personally do not think tig welding takes any more skill than any other process, but it does take alot longer to get a good hand at it. Tig is a slow go, its for precise work, and it takes alot longer to tig a joint then it would to stick or mig it.

Also, you have to consider other things like; what size/ type of tungesten are you gonna use, tungesten is pretty expensive. Then your gonna need differnt size cups, extra gas lenses, diffusers, collets, caps, etc. etc. Differnt sizes and types of filler metals as well.

If your gonna just be welding light metals for general purposes. i would buy a small mig welder, run flux cored wire with gas for the extra penetration. You can buy them at lowes or home depot. I have a licoln pro mig 140 my dad bought and its a great little welder for smaller materials and sheet metals. If the material goes over 1/4 inch i reach for a stick. you can buy a spool gun for them too for light aluminum work.

On another note, i absolutley hate mig/ wire welding. its monotonus and boring. i would rather stick and tig weld more than anything. but sometimes it is easier, faster, and more practical to use mig.
 
I have a small syncrowave 180. It does everything I need and was reasonable used but in new condition. If you every think you want to do aluminum you should get a high freq ac capable machine at the start. My syncrowave on dc stick make beautiful welds on larger stuff. Did you know you can use the foot peddle with ec stick? Comes in handy every so often.

As far as oxy propane. Do you own your own tanks? If not you need to. Same would go for your gigs argon bottle. I fill my own propane bottle of my house lp tank.. Summer fill rates are dirt cheap in comparison to else where.
 
I've got a miller dynasty 200dx that has been fantastic, probably more than you want to spend but it's got more features and controls than the space shuttle. If you're looking for cheaper units, find a transformer based synchrowave or whatever the lincoln equivalent is. They will outlive your grandchildren and you can find them for pretty reasonable prices. I do like the variable frequency and waveform on the inverter machines, makes it a lot easier to keep a tight puddle with higher frequency or to blast through cruddy cast aluminum with a nice fat low frequency arc.
 
Boilermaker here. Yes most stuff in the boiler is freehand and it works well. Pipefitters normally have more room around the pipe or are in spooling shop and walk the cup which can make a beautiful weld. As for the machine and decent dc machine on straight polarity can run atig torch. Most boiler jobs had these before the inverters. If you you looking alum you normally use AC with high frequency. But some people can do it withn the pulse rate set super high and no high freq. There are some nice small machines out there but they are not cheap. Decide what you want to weld and get what you need. Remember the name brand machine have parts available and can be resold easily. I would do the miller/lincoln machine. Esab make some nice ones to. A mig welder does do quite a few different metals with the right wire and gas just not real handy on small finicky stuff. They make nice small multiprocess machines but they not cheap.Straight mig is cheaper or DC stick and do scratch start which really isn't that hard to get used to.
 
Big Natey said:
Im not sure how someone would think that there is a significant difference in the amount of skill required to either walk the cup or freehand. Any decent tig welder could do both in any position (i would hope atleast). Mirror welding and back feeeding on the other hand are a differnt story.

OP, im not sure the point of your thread. What exactly do you plan on doing with your new welder? How skilled are you at tig welding? I personally do not think tig welding takes any more skill than any other process, but it does take alot longer to get a good hand at it. Tig is a slow go, its for precise work, and it takes alot longer to tig a joint then it would to stick or mig it.

Also, you have to consider other things like; what size/ type of tungesten are you gonna use, tungesten is pretty expensive. Then your gonna need differnt size cups, extra gas lenses, diffusers, collets, caps, etc. etc. Differnt sizes and types of filler metals as well.

If your gonna just be welding light metals for general purposes. i would buy a small mig welder, run flux cored wire with gas for the extra penetration. You can buy them at lowes or home depot. I have a licoln pro mig 140 my dad bought and its a great little welder for smaller materials and sheet metals. If the material goes over 1/4 inch i reach for a stick. you can buy a spool gun for them too for light aluminum work.

On another note, i absolutley hate mig/ wire welding. But tigweldersreview its monotonus and boring. i would rather stick and tig weld more than anything. but sometimes it is easier, faster, and more practical to use mig.
Click to expand...
I understand that you are discussing the level of skill required for TIG welding techniques such as walking the cup or freehand. You believe that a decent TIG welder should be able to perform both techniques in any position, and that mirror welding and back feeding may be more challenging.

Regarding the OP's thread, you suggest that they clarify what they plan to do with their new welder and their skill level in TIG welding. You also note that TIG welding can be slower and more precise than other welding processes, and that there are additional costs for tungsten, cups, and filler metals.
 
design inside said:
I understand that you are discussing the level of skill required for TIG welding techniques such as walking the cup or freehand. You believe that a decent TIG welder should be able to perform both techniques in any position, and that mirror welding and back feeding may be more challenging.

Regarding the OP's thread, you suggest that they clarify what they plan to do with their new welder and their skill level in TIG welding. You also note that TIG welding can be slower and more precise than other welding processes, and that there are additional costs for tungsten, cups, and filler metals.



learn tig welding
Click to expand...

No response?
 
dozerdan said:
I like red. I bought one of these a few years ago.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/Equipment/Pages/product.aspx?product=K2618-1

I also bought the pulse panel for it.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/equipment/accessories/Pages/product.aspx?product=K2621-1

Later
Dan
Click to expand...
I have a large Invertig with a cooler on it and it's a nice (but expensive) machine. if I had it to do again, I'd have bought the Harbor Freight TIG capable power supply for thousands less. Good welds don't come from any machine, they come from a skilled welder. Also have an ESAB pulsed MIG that gives you TIG appearing welds with the speed of a glue gun. Have an engine drive Lincoln as well for the back of the truck for field work and yes, I'm certified and usually busy sticking stuff back together. Just got a parallel linkage in for a JCB Extenda Hoe the owner broke and bent. Gas axe time first, then lots of beating followed by some good old SMAW welding.
 

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