wanted

[frenchie]

looking for a tig welder for Himself.

any ideas/advice, its for bikes etc, he has ordinary welder.
fren

[Peirre]

Fren
Does he know the spec of what he wants, and roughly the budget hes got?

As someone whos done all types of welding in the past, and knows roughly what is what, the only advice I can give him atm is do his homework & buy the best his budget can afford. Go get him to speak to some of the welding suppliers, there are some of them who are very knowledgeable, and may even have demo sets rigged up in the back for him to have a mess around with. With the recession, they will be falling over themselves atm to make a sale. there is also the option of 2nd hand kit, but again hes gotta know what hes looking at

Personally I`d love a tig set, but I know for the real mcoy I`m looking at spending at least a few grand on a AC/DC machine to do the work I want. IMO There ain`t no point skimping on cost, as you`ll only regret it later on.


PoB

[frenchie]

so, how much is Santa going to have put in the sack? he wants to make frames, swing arms etc, he's college trained, right now he's welding up the balcony and the railings on the Gin Terrace.

he dont come on here so if anybody has any advice I would be grateful as I just want to give it to him xmas day,
fren

[Blackjack]

Essentially, you've got two choices with a TIG.

AC/DC or DC only.

To weld Aluminium you need an AC/DC machine.

If your only concern is welding steel you only need a DC machine.

Next thing to consider is the amperage of the welder.

Miniumum requirement is 1 amp for every 0.001" of steel you want to weld in a single pass.

For 1/8" steel this in theory means you'd need 125 amps. For frames you're going to need a little more than that and generally most people would use an 180 amp machine as a minimum.

Unless you've got 3 phase electricity, you're really looking at an newish inverter type welder here if you want to weld ally. Figure around the £1500 mark for a new one that's worth having. Also figure on haggling over the price. Hard.

Less money, used transformer machines but you're limited to around 150 amps if you're using single phase. I was just given an 150amp Butters (English made, not a Chinese one) single phase TIG for nothing, so they can be quite a bit cheaper...

Don't buy one off the internet, use a shop. Things like ceramics and tungstens are consumable, you need rods, dealing with a shop makes sense.

A welding supply shop may also have used machines they've taken in part-ex.

You need gas too. The amount of welding you're going to do is the problem, a full size bottle from Air Products costs around £12-£14 a month to rent and the actual gas is about £90 (all plus VAT). You can get smaller bottles though if it's not being used that heavily.

You need a regulator AND a flow meter for that too.

TIG rods are different from gas welding rods so a pack of those?

So if you're happy to spend somewhere between a £1000 and £1500 then an inverter machine, if you're looking to spend less, something used is probably the best bet.

If you want him to be able to use it straight away then you need to think about a gas bottle, a regulator, some rods, and possibly a lighter lens for his welding helmet too.

I've never used an inverter so I've got no basis for making a suggestion. There's a welding forum that a few guys I know reccomend...

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php

You ought to find some discussion on what's good value and what's not on there.

That help?

[Peirre]

blackjack has about summed it up.
top of my wish list would be a 3 phase supply, a HF start, foot peddle controller, AC/DC machine. of the highest spec .............. and £££`s
then again these machines are the only 1`s I`d consider, as they are the commonest 1`s I`ve used. the smaller DC inverters I`ve also used onsite for welding stainless balustrades

[Blackjack]

blackjack has about summed it up.
top of my wish list would be a 3 phase supply, a HF start, foot peddle controller, AC/DC machine. of the highest spec .............. and £££`s
then again these machines are the only 1`s I`d consider, as they are the commonest 1`s I`ve used. the smaller DC inverters I`ve also used onsite for welding stainless balustrades

I'm told that you can get a thumb slide on the torch instead of a foot pedal these days.

That might be a better for welding frames...

[Peirre]

I'm told that you can get a thumb slide on the torch instead of a foot pedal these days.

That might be a better for welding frames...
your probably right, as a lot of the stuff I`ve done in the past has been "bench work" using out dated equipment

its the boarderline between single phase and 3 phase what seperates the basic & heavy duty machines ............ my choice will always go with 3 phase equipment. most folks tend to go on price/budget which leads em in the end to getting a machine that just does what they need. but when they want to undertake more serious projects, the machine will struggle to achieve the desired result

[Blackjack]

your probably right, as a lot of the stuff I`ve done in the past has been "bench work" using out dated equipment

its the boarderline between single phase and 3 phase what seperates the basic & heavy duty machines ............ my choice will always go with 3 phase equipment. most folks tend to go on price/budget which leads em in the end to getting a machine that just does what they need. but when they want to undertake more serious projects, the machine will struggle to achieve the desired result

I've got an old ADR300 that I use.

A 500 kilo tailgate lift wont move it off the ground.... :D

[frenchie]

this all sounds a bit complicated for my mere feeble female brain. . .

[matthewmosse]

I may get flamed for admitting to it but I read a magazine about classic cars which had a write up on tig welders including tests of sample kit. mags called practical classics, might help get yer head round tig sets.:unsure:

[Peirre]

this all sounds a bit complicated for my mere feeble female brain. . .
Nah ......... just figure on the right 1 for the job, then get the next 1 up in the series, or the biggest 1 that`ll run @240v If you don`t have access to 3 phase supply

just a thought:
I suspect that you may already have a suitable power feed to the garage, but if not, get the sparky to wire a more suitable stand alone high amp socket on the wall as I fink a 13 amp`er on the domestic ring just won`t cut the mustard and will cause you grief later on

[critch]

cracking write up in bsh about an easy to use gas welder from oz veeeery cheap and very effective

supposed to do all a tig can do and more.......:thumbsu:

[matthewmosse]

cracking write up in bsh about an easy to use gas welder from oz veeeery cheap and very effective

supposed to do all a tig can do and more.......:thumbsu:

Is that a current issue? I've read somit bout them ozzy oxy kits a year back or more. Wouldn't mind being able to weld alloy, no way Tig will work out in the sticks here, even my pillar drill makes the lights flash:rolleyes:

[Peirre]

cracking write up in bsh about an easy to use gas welder from oz veeeery cheap and very effective

supposed to do all a tig can do and more.......:thumbsu:
I`ll stick to the oxy/acetelene saffire 3 blowtorch ta