What should i look for when buying my first TIG welder?

[sniper]

Anyone have any ideas, advice on what to look for when buying your first TIG welder? What are some factors to consider? Options i cant live without?

 

[cjsupra90]

It really comes down to what you plan on using it for, how often, and how much money you are willing to spend.

Things to think about.....
DC for steel, stainless steel, Titanium
AC for aluminum and magnesium
High Frenquency Start (Needed for aluminum, nice to have for every thing else)
If planing on an welding a lot of aluminum, the a square wave machine with ballance control is a really nice feature to have especially for thicker materials.
Amperage of machine (thing to remember is that a rule of thumb is 1amp per .001" (.025mm) of material thickness)
Another nice thing when tigging with AC current is continous high frenquency (help to produce a more stable arc especially at low amperage settings)

Those are pretty much the basics to worry about. There are several other features, but are almost standard on most of todays Tig machines. One example of this would be post flow adjustability.

That should help you. Any questions, please feel free to ask.

Chris

 

[sniper]

Is it true that if I intend to weld long aluminum beads, i will have to get a water cooler for the welder? one machine can be AC or DC right? i intend to do alot of stainless and aluminum fabbing headers and intake manis, trying to anyways

 

[cebby]

Water Cooler is a definite if you plan to use it for long periods. My Miller Syncrowave 180SD gets really hot and I haven't used it for what I'd consider really long periods of time. A water cooled torch is in my future...

It does come down to money though. Buy as much power as you can afford.

 

[markstoys]

Water Cooler is a definite if you plan to use it for long periods.

I agree. I have a Miller Dynasty 200--which really is a kick ass machine. It's very light and very flexible, an excellent all around welder--but the torch gets hot quickly when welding aluminum. If I'm welding 1/4 inch (which is about max for the machine), I can only get a couple of inches of bead before I have to let the torch cool off.

Mark

 

[Toysrme]

You typically use 50-75% more amperage to weld X thickness of aluminum VS X thickness of a steel. To me, a torch cooler is important once you're welding around 150-175amps+. On the contrary, I don't weld with thin TIG gloves. I do have a afew nice sets of thin tillman gloves, but they're too thin for any kind of production welding. The random ".065-.125 exhaust is one thing, but anything els It's full blown thick MIG gloves for me.


At a minimum you want:

• HF and/or lift arc starting
• Balance control on an A/C machine
• Post flow control
• Remote amperage control (foot pedal), or the provision to make one

beyond that, helpful to me is:

• pre-flow
• 110/220v automatic switching

Everything else I honestly don't play with much. Engloid told me on time he likes to keep it as basic as possible unless you are required to do otherwise.












I needed a tig/plasma cutter so I bought the more advanced version of this that has the dual voltage, and the 12' long tig torch Christmas.
http://www.rilandusa.com/#Riland_CT416_Machine

For home use... I'd never buy a M/L/H. They're just too expencive. If I were going to buy a new welder tomorrow, it would be one of these.
http://www.rilandusa.com/#Riland_Tig200WSE_Tig_Welder_












Beyond buying a welder the most important things would be:
convert to a gas lens setup!!!!!!!!!

1. use the correct size tungsten & filler rods - makes life easier
2. buy the largest argon/co2 gas bottle you can possibly find. 300cu^ft+ is nice. An 80cu^ft tank will only last 5-6 hours at best. current general US pricing would be $40 to exchange an 80cu^ft tank and $75 to exchange a 320cu^ft tank. That's 50 cents a cu^ft VS 24 cents...
3. have a good flow-meter
4. split your gas line so that you can add an auxillary flow. specifically for having gas coverage on the back sides of your welds. (very important for stainless pipe on turbo manifolds!)

That's about it...

 

[mdcmotorsports]

As the other members have stated, it depends on what you plan on using it for.

You will need a water cooler if you plan on welding continously - ferris or non ferris.

I enjoy my miller 180sd. It doesn't have enough power to weld thick cast aluminum housings unless preheated, but I enjoy the digital controll of the foot pedal.

The 180 or the new 200 are both good entry level tig welders that the professional or the beginer can use.

HTH,

~Jon