What affordable options are their for TIG welding aluminum as far as new machines??? I am totally ignorant to this type of welding although I do MIG and Stick weld.

If you currently own an AC/DC welder then a high frequency box added to your set up would be a viable addition.

Miller EconoTIG.

B, is that a scratch start on aluminum ? Took a brief look at the specs

No,..the Miller EconoTIG is a full featured 150 amp high frequency TIG welding outfit with foot pedal actuation.

It's a very high quality unit.

+1 on the Miller. Very nice set-up. Tom

I dont know much about tig welding but ill definitely speak in favor of a miller machine anytime.

I was first introduced to the Miller EconoTIG when I worked at a shop that had one.

Later, I opened up my own shop and bought one for myself. I never found any TIG welding chore that it wouldn't handle.

The place I work now has this huge Lincoln TIG setup,..ain't no tellin' what it cost. I'd guess somewhere in the $5000 range, but I've yet to find it capable of doing anything that the Miller EconoTIG can't do.

Unless you get into some very exotic application of TIG welding, the $1600 EconoTIG will do the job and do it very well.

If the aluminum your thinking isn't just real thin have you thought about purchasing one of the many small spool guns for your mig outfit.

I got a really nice unit for my little Lincoln 140C that wasn't so cost prohibitive (does require a different gas though).

The spool gun for my Power Mig is quite a bit more, but with the 140C it's a whole lot more portable running on 120 volts.

Phil

Agreed on the Miller Econo TIG. We had one where I used to work mounted on a cart for portable spot jobs and the thing worked great. Never did use it for aluminum because we had higher amp and duty cycle machines for that. I could see where the 20% duty cycle and 160 amps on the high end could restrict to the thinner aluminum. For "most" jobs or the backyard hobbyist, the Econo should be fine.

I hire a lot of contractors for doing sanitary stainless tubing jobs, along with other random stainless fabrication work. Everyone of them uses the thumb control rather than the foot, but they are doing all field work rather than bench. They all say they'd never go back to foot no matter what. I'm just a hack when it comes to welding, but I've sure watched a ton of guys do it.

The thumb control is indeed an asset when in awkward positions or climbing around and the foot control has been around forever. Both have their applications.

I had a small tool & die shop. The TIG welder was something that I mainly bought just because it was so handy to have around for doing repairs and fabricating small tools, but it turned out to be a money maker for me.

My shop was located in an industrial park with various businesses surrounding it,..truck repair, auto repair, a small paint factory, and a large trash pickup place,..some others,..

I was the only guy in the neighborhood with a TIG and when word got around about what kind of welding could be done with it, people were constasntly dropping in to get some stuff done.

TIG is the only type of welding that I care to do.

I hear what you're saying but a tig setup is just so much nicer to work with. Esp when it comes to delicate little work. I've done small work on thin material where I used .030 stainless wire for filler rod.

You just can't beat a tig setup. Especially with a rheostat.

TIG is indeed versatile. I used to work for an outfit that mfg'd. pressure vessels for the petro/chem/pharm industry.

Sometimes the customer spec'd that ALL welds be stainless, preheated, TIG welded and then tested with ultrasound. These were usually jobs in the inch to inch and half range and took FOREVER to complete.

Things of beauty when they left tho'.

tig is versatile as processes go, but impractical in many applications due to it's sensitivity to moving air and the loss of shielding gas...

any outdoor work generally has to be tented up to achieve good heliarc welds... fans are a detriment...

i was on a small outage (outside boiler) a few weeks back where engineering finally approved a 5p root for the wall tubes... this results in a lot of effort to flush tubes after welding, and/or shortened turbine life...

tig is great where it works, but not a true do-all process....

bristoe's econotig is a great unit...
the welding manufacturers are extremely competitive in this economy... lots of good options....

How thick of aluminum are you wanting to weld and do you have TIG experience with other metals?

Aluminum is an entirely different animal and will have a rather steep learning curve. MIG and spool guns and aluminum say up to 1/4" is much more user friendly. Probably easy for you to get the hang of since you already have MIG experience.

I've got what's rumored to be the third Dynasty DX 300 Advanced Square Wave Inverter Power supply ever to hit Arizona,.....

Brought it in for a Gov. Contract, and it payed itself off on the first job.

As a Year 2000 "Rocket Ship" it's now somewhat Passe', ....but apparently can be updated to latest spec with the addition of a coupla' new boards.

This thing has been FANTASTIC, compared to the old transformmer power supplies.......powerful, reliable ( NO problems at ALL in 10 years, and I've run the BAG offa' it)

Since than , I've had a chance to play with ALL of the new Miller and Linc stuff,.......the "Econo-Tig is indeed a good choice.

It (if I'm not mistaken) IS however an AIR COOLED torch rig, so SLOW will be the order of your days. Air cooled, combined with a "Lean" duty cycle will keep you in the 3/32 tungsten range, and Aluminum , in particular will not be a high production range venue.

Sit down, before pricing out a 100% duty cycle, water cooled rig these days,.....spendy arena, sure certain.

All best of luck,......You're about to arrive in a whole NEW universe of welding potentials, and perfection.

TIG's addictive,......so just go ahead and become hard core, right from the get go.

Best Regards,

GTC

Spool guns SUCK, compared to TIG, or a proper "Push-Pull" wire rig, like a Cobra, or such.

I've run literally TONS of 1 lb spools of 5356, 4043, 308,309, and other wire through the dirty fussy little bastids,.....

'bout the time they're running right, you gotta' stop and screw with em'

GTC

fixed that for ya...

Stick dittos,.....still a love affair, after 51 years, I'm afraid

GTC

That is the exact unit that ended mu machining career. I have used one and it does a great job, just don't try to lift it.

johnw, the Lincoln 5P is almost the standard of the industry (6010) Why wouldn't Eng. go to a 5P+ possibly. Was the job that dirty ?

it's not dirt that was the problem... it was wind... even at that it's real rare to use anything but a heliarc root on a powerhouse of any kind... wouldn't have happened there if it had belonged to a utility provider... this was a co-gen supporting a steel mill...

actually, lincoln rod is rarely used on any powerhouse job... esab is the norm across north america...

and even at that we used 6010 only to test... 7010 and 8010 on the boiler depending on location... the weld procedure is identical so the 6010 is used to test... and it really only works well with NDE... only ever so rarely do they bend a "5p" root....

it's just a commonly used mis-statement that we use "5p"... we (however wrongly)classify all of the --10 quikstiks as 5p rods...

i'm currently pushing a condenser crew on nights in our neighborhood nuke...
with our ASME testing almost everyone who has GTAW certs can weld stainless with the process...
in the condenser however, with it's mandatory forced air ventilation while occupied, tig is almost worthless...
a guy with stainless SMAW papers is fought over by foremen...

You have to be careful of some of the old AC/DC Machines the cirquit boards some time can not handle the High Freek options. They can burn up. I have a Lincoln Vantage 400 about 4 years old and was told NEVER add the High freek by a Lincoln rep. it would damage the electronics in the machine. I am a Lincoln man but Miller probably make the very best TIG machine for the price on the market today. I have a friend that uses a spool gun in the field and a Miller TIG in his shop. When TIG welding you do not need the high freek if you are welding mild or stainless steels. Aluminun and some exotic steels require the high freek. Good luck in your search!

Anyone have any experience with this Hobart Welder???


http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/tig/eztig_165i/

I was told several years ago that Miller builds all of the small Hobart machines and ESAB builds the big stuff. unfortunatly I have no proof. I have two small wire feeders from Hobart and I like Both of them but they are very limited do to there size.

I think that's right about Hobart. I have no experience with that actual machine however. I do have a hobart ac/dc stick welder here at thouse and it's been a top quality machine. In fact I like it over the miler/lincolc because you can dial to the exact amps you need.

I have a synchrowave 250 for tig welding here at the house as well. No experience with the econtig.

Both Miller and Hobart have excellent forums on their website and you'll get some good info - even it it includes another brand.

I noticed that both Hobart and Miller make an inexpensive TIG welder that doesn't do stick welding. I have a Lincoln SP-100 mIG welder already. How important is this option???

Anyone have an opinion on this......

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/diversion_165/

looks like an awful lotta' bang for your buck,.....

There's one over at my local depot (was over there trading out some bottles today.

I can run the thing , if you want,..... and report......

WHAT exactly do you foresee being your main use for the machine?

'twould make opinionating a mite easier.

With a 3/32 Tungsten, working on LIGHTER materials,sub-100Amps I'd venture that machine will give you better than a 50% duty cycle.

Maxed out, a 20% duty cycle just SUCKS. One good things is that virtually ALL of the better new mini-power supplies ( the BIG ones to, for that matter) have thermal protection, so you won't be frying anything.

GTC

My ex-wife ran SS overhead for years welding tanks and has a 6G as well as a bunch of Navy nuclear certs.

After they get done fighting over her do ya think somebody can drop her off somewhere outa town.

+1 on the little Miller's, they are good machines

I used to have a Synchrowave 180 that was a pretty capable little machine. It wasn't much more than the Econotig back then and was quite a bit more machine.

Keep in mind that with the little Tig's and air cooled torches, you are limited to fairly light duty Aluminum. Aluminum just takes a lot of heat. You can run Helium instead of Argon and get a little more out of these machines.

As an alternative to the little Miller's: If you have the space, electricity, and something to lift it, you can get used industrial duty machines for very little money some times. I picked up an AeroWave (Sold new for $8k) at an auction one time for $1200 and it came with 4 torches, 25' stick leads, 25' of 4 ga power cord, and a couple boxes of goodies.

The biggest downside to the entry level tig machines is their minimum current. The neat thing about tig is you can weld amazing thin material, if you have the low current control. The only thing that's kept me from getting an econo tig is wanting a unit that goes way down for welding the thin stuff. Miller makes great stuff, love my little 130 mig unit.

To the o/p, what are you planning on welding, and what is your budget? Also what is your experience tig welding and what courses are available to you?

I picked up a MAC TOOLS TIG unit. This is a Miller Econotig set up. Low hrs. and got it for $1100!

Congrats,.....PM ,...any time for coaching, steering, ....or ya' might want to try a certain size collet / tungsten size before investing.

All kindsa' that chit squirrelled away here.

GTC

Thanks!!! I will take you up on that. This is a new kind of welding and I will have plenty of questions!!!

You might want to find someone TIG saavy near you who can spend some time and show you the ropes of TIG welding or it can be very frustrating trying to learn it by trial and error.