Tig welders???....sorry not saw related....or is it!

[Skeans]

I’ve been running Everlast stuff for a few years not in daily use but they do get used for equipment repair as well some Miller equipment, get what you can afford to get started and buy the most amperage you can afford.


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[Ted Jenkins]

You have to have AC for aluminum? That’s news to me, I’ve DC welded aluminum with helium on thick material. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I know several guys who weld aluminum with their DC sick welder. I have done it a few times, but my beads were not as nice as my friends were. I have one MIG and two TIG welders that I use pretty often. They look beautiful. My friends that use their DC unit can get in weld and be done about as fast as I can get set up. Thanks

 

[Canyon Angler]

You have to have AC for aluminum? That’s news to me, I’ve DC welded aluminum with helium on thick material.

Generally, yes, if you want any "cleaning" action to help remove/displace the layer of aluminum oxide, which doesn't melt until about 3500° ... whereas the aluminum melts at something like 1750°. The positive portion of the AC cycle "cleans" the metal, and the negative portion melts the aluminum...and you can vary the proportion of positive to negative with "AC balance control" – Syncrowaves and most other square-wave machines generally have AC balance control – to get just enough cleaning as you need, and also combat "arc rectification" where the aluminum tends to rectify the AC into DC...but this is getting into the weeds some...

Helium is great if you want to weld something a little heavier than your welder can handle...it makes the arc WAY hotter, but also is far more expensive than argon, and tends to float away from the puddle since it's lighter than air.

 

[Skeans]

Generally, yes, if you want any "cleaning" action to help remove/displace the layer of aluminum oxide, which doesn't melt until about 3500° ... whereas the aluminum melts at something like 1750°. The positive portion of the AC cycle "cleans" the metal, and the negative portion melts the aluminum...and you can vary the proportion of positive to negative with "AC balance control" – Syncrowaves and most other square-wave machines generally have AC balance control – to get just enough cleaning as you need, and also combat "arc rectification" where the aluminum tends to rectify the AC into DC...but this is getting into the weeds some...

Helium is great if you want to weld something a little heavier than your welder can handle...it makes the arc WAY hotter, but also is far more expensive than argon, and tends to float away from the puddle since it's lighter than air.

Sorry for being a bit of a smart (pick the word) it was more of to say you can do it without AC, I do my fair share of AC aluminum as well and mixing both gases. The last time I bought helium the swap price was almost neck and neck for the same size bottle surprisingly.


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[catbuster]

Yeah, some people weld thick Aluminum DCEN with either shielding gas. It just has to be clean. Like, filed with a clean file & acetoned clean. It removes the oxide and then the heat on the EN side really welds it well.

I’ve also seen some people weld thin aluminum on DCEP at very low amperage with a big electrode (1/8”). It worked pretty well for them. They used helium. The EP side will put a lot of heat into the electrode, thus the need for the big electrode and only running at low amperage.

Either way, helium seems to stabilize a DC arc on aluminum for some reason. I don’t know why, it just does. Helium, being much less dense, and thus with Q (heat transfer)=Mcdt(mass*specific heat*change in time) less heat is lost to the shielding gas and less amperage is needed to weld a specific part. It applies to both AC and both DC polarities but that would be the primary reason to either use straight helium or wye some in with your hose going into the gas solenoid on the machine.

 

[Kyfan]

You have to have AC for aluminum? That’s news to me, I’ve DC welded aluminum with helium on thick material.


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The big issue is helium is hilariously expensive so no industrial settings will use it nowadays I should have expressed that better. What I was saying is basically if you are going to do it in a modern shop/industrial setting odds are 90% of the time it will be ac with argon. Somebody already posted about the reasons so I ain't got to get into that.

 

[Yotaismygame]

Hmmm now I won’t be welding much aluminum more so I want the right tool for the job if I’m going to spend the money on another welder. Is welding aluminum that bad with DC? The DC machines are much cheaper and plentiful.

 

[BamaMac610]

Weld.com on YouTube shows welding aluminum with dc and helium. Bob is the guy to watch, not Mr rig. They have a lot of machine reviews as well

 

[BamaMac610]

Look up the AHP alpha tig. It's supposed to be a really good machine at around 750

 

[Yotaismygame]

Look up the AHP alpha tig. It's supposed to be a really good machine at around 750

I’ve looked at it. It’s on my radar. The everlast unit doesn’t too bad. Just looked on Craigslist and theres a pretty healthy selection of used units for reasonable prices.

Anyone have an opinion on the miller 215? I wouldn’t be opposed to selling my 211 and getting a multi process machine

 

[Yotaismygame]

wonder what’s wrong with this? $300 with delivery!

 

[BamaMac610]

Lincoln was built to support the national power grid.
Miller was built to power Liberace's blow dryer
But definitely buy American if you have the money

 

[Skeans]

wonder what’s wrong with this? $300 with delivery!
View attachment 787557

Do you have the power to support an older transformer say a minimum of a 50 amp breaker?


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[Yotaismygame]

I don’t know. I would be using it in my Dads shop where the rest of my more expensive tools are. 220v is ran all around the shop.

 

[Yotaismygame]

Anyone know of the lotus China machines? In the $600 range on eBay. Funny thing is also on eBay there’s the same machine but in red instead of brown and no name on it for as low as $500.

 

[BamaMac610]

I tried a lotus myself. It was bad out of the box

 

[Kyfan]

Lincoln was built to support the national power grid.
Miller was built to power Liberace's blow dryer
But definitely buy American if you have the money

Pipeline pierce may be the funniest video on the internet.

 

[catbuster]

That Idealarc will have a sine wave for AC, not a square wave. It’s not fun in comparison to any square wave machine. Also, it may require an HF box, any sort of sequencer and its own gas solenoid if it’s not included in the deal. Those can get expensive fast.

They also need a big breaker to run.

Other than that, they’re reliable. That machine will do all CC processes, including carbon arc gouging and stick weld with about any size or type of rod you put in the stinger.

Last I checked Lincoln built a great high end engine drive and Lincoln was behind Miller in everything else.

 

[BamaMac610]

I love it and Heatin and Beatin.
The lotus I had would stick weld great. The high freq didn't work in the tig side so I sent it back. I like the inverter units personally. Smaller footprint in the shop and a lot have dual voltage input. I do a lot of onsite welding at work and some on the side for folks

 

[Kyfan]

That Idealarc will have a sine wave for AC, not a square wave. It’s not fun in comparison to any square wave machine. Also, it may require an HF box, any sort of sequencer and its own gas solenoid if it’s not included in the deal. Those can get expensive fast.

They also need a big breaker to run.

Other than that, they’re reliable. That machine will do all CC processes, including carbon arc gouging and stick weld with about any size or type of rod you put in the stinger.

Last I checked Lincoln built a great high end engine drive and Lincoln was behind in everything else.

Big blue pipe pro 400 is the **** nowadays. A whole lot of mainline guys are going to them. What can I say I like the color blue lol