Tig welders.
 

Any one have experience with tig welders? How hard is it to learn over a mig? I looked on amazon.com and found several different kind of tig welders from a few hundred bucks to $2k. Some of the cheaper ones are stick/tig welders. Whats the difference between these and some of the high dollar tig welders?

if you have a cracker box you can get a TIG set up to work with that vs buying a whole new TIG set up. ive never done it but ive seen a few people TIG and it's pretty easy... im going to buy a MIG and just get a TIG set up for other things i really want to be welded great.

So are you saying you can get the tig parts and tig off a mig welder?

Tig welding isn't that hard. Takes some getting used to and good coordination.

Before you go choosing a machine you need to know exactly what you want to do with it. answer a few questions to start out. Like do you want to weld aluminum? or just mild steel/stainless. What is the thickest material you will be welding (especially aluminum)

Pretty much every "good" tig welder is tig/stick compatible. Main difference being different features like high freq. starting and HF AC current for welding aluminum. You can weld mild steel and stainless no problem with a little cracker box welder but it will be scratch start only and you will not be able to weld aluminum.

Mig welders are another ball game. You can tig weld using a DC power source ie: stick welder, but not with a mig machine. (unless it is a multiprocess machine but that's another story)

Tig welding by far is the hardest to learn... You have to coordinate the action of both hands and have to move the TIG welding electrode in a very controlled manner. Everyone has there own technique for feeding rod into the puddle..

The difference betwwen a little buzz box and a bigger machine is the larger one will have a foot pedal to control the voltage (much easier/precise) and will have the ability to weld positive direct current, negative direct current or an alternating current, depending on the power supply set up, material you are welding..while the small machine is scratch start (like stick) and usually only weld in one or two modes..

If you are considering a Tig machine, invest in a good one with a pedal imo..Its like alot harder version of sheet metal soldering..Any questions, let me know! I am a 12 year cert welder, and my Pops a welding teacher/instructor/inspector :)

please get one that can do stainless and aluminum, js'n

Thanks for a little more understanding. I've heard some guys refer a mig to a cracker box welder that's the reason I asked that. I taught my self at a young age to weld with a mig and that's all I've ever known. I'm wanting a tig welder with the balancer install tools I'm building and I'm just wanting a nice welds on them. Ill also use it for other various stuff.

i have access to both a really nice miller tig i will say i can mig /stick with the best of them but tig is much harder i have only messed with it a few times trying to do SS and i got a decent weld it was just alot harder than i thought. im sure a little practice and time will help but definatly a cool skill that will be handy to learn .

Tig is not too hard you just need to know some basics. mostly to get a good weld is a steady hand and coordination.
I have a miller dynasty 200DX which is the top of the line for the 200 amp machines. If you are only wanting to weld steels then a miller maxstar is a good machine. But the cheapest of the ac/dc machines will be the synchrowave. it a solid machine but does not have the fancy stuff that the dynasty has.
Miller also has the diversion but you will quickly outgrow it if you do more than small stuff.
I recommend heading over to weldingwebdotcom and read on there for a while.

Also don't cheap out on a crappy machine. welders are definitely investments and a good case of you get what you pay for.

Buy a Tig welder that has a water-cooled torch or water-cooled torch attachment, Don't buy a air-cooled torch...Water-cooled is smaller, more comfortable and never gets too hot to handle no matter how long you"ve been welding...:D
Especially when working on Aluminum!

Water cooled is nice. but is a bit costly. I think the upgrade from miller is another 800-1000.
I'm looking to upgrade to it now but for a beginner its definitely not necessary. You will be regrinding your tungsten so much the torch won't have time to get hot. lol

il tell ya . i was a hard core mig welder before i learned to tig. i will say that tig is harder to learn than mig , it takes better hand eye coordination and a steady hand. but once you learn you will never want to go back!!!

tolerances have to be better between work pieces (no gaps!!!!!!!!)

i would get a syncrowave 200 if i were you ive welded with the maxstar 150 , diversion 165 and syncrowave 180 .i like the syncrowave the best.

im a combination pipe welder......... use tig and stick...... tig is not extremely hard to learn but it does take some time and lots of patience. the difference between the cheap machines and the high dollar machines is the duty cycle.. a good machine will give you 100% @ the highest rated amp...... while a cheap machine is only going to give you 15-20%...... so let say ur welding at 120 amps and ur machine is rated for 20% @ 150amps... u will probably get about 4-5 minutes of 120amps output, after that ur machine will decrease power....

i never used a water-cooled, and probably never will...... doesnt get too hot.

i agree. water cooled is for hard core all day long users. . i say spend the 2300 and get a syncrowave 200 runner! and get a small 125 amp tig torch!!!

i agree. water cooled is for hard core all day long users. . i say spend the 2300 and get a syncrowave 200 runner! and get a small 125 amp tig torch!!!

Went and looked at some yesterday just gotta figure out which one I want miller 165 was $1300, miller 185 was $1600 and the synchrowave 200 was $2300. Just gotta fugure out which route I want to go and what will be good enough for what I need. I might get a chunk of money pretty soon and may go with the synchrowave.

Not at all taking away from your skill or talent, Most "Hobbyists" weld thin material....I have tested multi pass pipe for most of my testing...
Welding Sq. 80 pipe or even sq. 40 is a hell of alot different than welding 22 GA. S/S or .090 Alum for a gas tank. I know multi pass pipe welding is hard and takes skill...But your talking 1/4" to 1/2" thick versus 1/16" to 3/32".
Get the 185...Thats the welder I run and love it!!! And for the record In my 24000 Sq. foot Sheet metal shop out of 25+ welders...ZERO of them are water cooled, Its mainly for industrial....

I have an old Syncrowave 351 I bought new about 16 years ago. It's been a good machine.

I don't weld much anymore, but I still wonder if the inverter machines are better than the old machines like my 351?

Both the 165 and the 185 are in the diversion series which means they are tig welding for dummies. Also both of them have only half of the duty cycle that the syncrowave has.
Also the syncrowave has pulse adjustments as well as pre-flow and post-flow adjustments. Also it has A/C balance control which can help with aluminum welding.
So of those three get the syncrowave. It costs the most but if you really take to tig welding you will quickly outgrow the diversion welders.

I have the Miller Diversion 165 and I love it. I don't use it a ton, but have at times and it works great. Just the right size for the stuff i do and the best bang for the buck for a tig that does MS, SS and aluminum. I also sprang for the foot pedal too since that is what I was used to but the torch controls work well too.

get the syncrowave if you are goin to do aluminum welding..... get the CST280 if you dont need to do aluminum as it is DC only. and can get one from ebay for around 800 or so used. they are really small machines but damn good.