Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

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tiramisu
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Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by tiramisu »

So
I can pay for $180CAD to get a deluxe upside down all the holes beer keg welded up by someone who has done a few kegs and is a welder
OR
I can buy the cheapest Chinesium tig wait two months for it to arrive,
buy a bottle, gas, mask, gloves, and make my first experience with welding thin sheet metal stainless.

I suspect I would love to own the tool and there are probably tons of thing I could do with a metal glue gun
but
then again I might be creating an entirely new hobby of metal gluing when all I really want to do is heat a pot of water.

If cheap TIG welders weren't a thing I probably wouldn't even consider it.

If I'm not too concerned about pretty is this easy peasy... OR yea,h no. leave the power tools to the grown-ups?

-t
Winnipeg204
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by Winnipeg204 »

No such thing as cheap tig welders, they wont even have foot control, it will be a mess. Bottle and gas is expensive too.
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corene1
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by corene1 »

Well you have to purchase a bottle of Argon gas, a hood if you do not have one, gloves are pretty cheap and you will need them somewhere anyways. You will need to buy filler rod probably 308L and a piece or tungsten for the torch itself. Do you have a grinder to sharpen the tungsten tip? Do you have tools to cut the holes and do the fit up of the fittings on the keg itself? Plus you must purchase the fittings. A TIG unit is really nice to have but initial setup to do one boiler is pretty excessive in my thoughts. If you plan to use it for many more projects it could be worth while. Plus the learning curve can be quite steep just remember fit is everything when doing thin stainless.
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Expat
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by Expat »

If you have to choose between these two options, paying someone to do it for you is going to be way faster and much cheaper (welder, materials, and a few extra kegs after you burn through the first couple by accident, +++).

Option three is you can soft solder the connections, plenty of resources around here on how to do it.
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HDNB
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by HDNB »

buy the tig and have some fun! I mean really, you can buy airline tickets forever but wouldn't you rather have your own airplane?
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zed255
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by zed255 »

If you have the extra money, and it will cost more than you think, buy the welder and the required accouterments and work at gaining a new skill. My advice is don't scrape the bottom of the barrel with regards to the equipment, look at AHP, Everlast and similar; these will be way more affordable than the likes of Miller and Lincoln with good quality and features. Also don't think you are going to be a rock star with a few hours under the hood. You will use lots of scrap and consumables before you reach the point where you will make an acceptable weld on an actual workpiece. With that said, I don't regret buying mine and spending time working on building some new skills.

On the flip side, $180 is not bad for someone else with experience doing the job.
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Deplorable
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by Deplorable »

Pay the man to do the job.
Unless you find yourself saying "I wish I owned a welder." every few weeks while shelling out money to pay for the service, its just not worth the upfront costs.
I own a mig that I bought long ago as a mechanic to do exhaust work. Honestly, now that I'm out of the trade, it's only been used twice in the last 15 years.
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Yummyrum
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by Yummyrum »

They say the difference between a good weld and a bad weld is a lot of grinding . Man I do a lot of grinding and my welds still look like shit .

Soldering on the otherhand doesn’t look to bad . .. but I still do a lot of filing . :ebiggrin:

Pay the man ( or woman , sorry Corene :thumbup: ) the money unless you are not fussy with your work .
WithOrWithoutU2
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by WithOrWithoutU2 »

If you are "handy" and willing to learn, then go for it. Once you learn, think of the possibilities beyond just this one project.
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tubbsy
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by tubbsy »

I already had a small stick welder that's capable of Lift TIG, so I went out and bought all the consumables, torch, etc. My first welds were some of the worst I've ever seen, with heaps of warped steel. Cut it out, patch it up and start again. Repeat x 2. But I have been getting better, to the point I can just almost make a tube butt join invisible. I say almost because I still have blow throughs when I dick around on the one spot for too long.

The only advise I'd give is if you plan on TIG welding often, go for it. If it's something you'd only need once a year or so, you probably won't pick it up quick enough to be competent.
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by zapata »

I vote for solder. You get to DIY, get it now, save some cash, keep skills sharp etc. BUT, I say that as not a welder. I want to be a welder, but continue just soldering or brazing 99% of what I would weld.

A big difference is in the workup. Welders can just set something down and weld it in place (not really at all, but sorta). With some solder joints it pays to think about contact area, dimples, flanges, fillets, bridges, capillary tolerance etc. By not welding I've probably forced myself to be better at those sorts of things. But as a whole those are skills that don't demand a lot of practice, so unlike welding you usually nail them the first time and don't get rusty.
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shadylane
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by shadylane »

tiramisu wrote: Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:40 pm I suspect I would love to own the tool and there are probably tons of thing I could do with a metal glue gun
A Mig welder is more of a "metal glue gun" than Tig
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Fredistiller
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by Fredistiller »

If you have time and money to spend and enough available space, I would say:" go for it!"
There will be a lot of things you can make/repair once you can weld. And the sensation you get when you control melting metal is peculiar. Even after 25 years, I still have a satisfied feeling in my work.

On the other side, don't underestimate the time and effort you'll have to put before you can proper weld. It's actually not as easy as a glue gun.
stillness
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by stillness »

I recently made the jump and bought a tig welder. About the cheapest on Amazon, with loads of 5 star reviews. I think it was about $250 (lift start only), and I've spent more than that on other required items. And, I'm a ways from getting my distilling setup operational, due to learning curve, and limited time. So, I'm not distilling.

All that said, it was the right choice for me cause I love making things and I've been wanting a tig welder for a couple years.

Money-wise, $180 for a fully welded up boiler is a great deal. If you just want to get up and running, that's the way to go.

Some of my welds on my steam generator thread:
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 92&t=80488
Chucker
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Re: Chinese TIG Welders and Monkeys?

Post by Chucker »

If you’ve always wanted to learn to weld and have lots of other projects lined up only lacking a machine to do the work with, great. It is an investment that you will get much enjoyment from.
But obtaining a welder and necessary accessories is a long way from being able to work with it properly. Kegs are thin, have contours, and are not easy to work with. I’ve worked with ss sheet and tubing on the job for over 30 years and find kegs to be among the most challenging side projects I’ve had to work with, despite the easy sounding description of “cut a hole and weld in a ferrule or half coupling as low as possible”
In addition to being able to strike an arc and control heat you’ll need to have a good grasp on cutting, forming, fitting of any work you want done. There are also some special techniques required to successfully weld SS. Unfortunately, it’s not just something that you just pick up and do.
If you’re not up on the prerequisite skills or willing to spend some substantial time in working your way up to it, I think you’ll just find yourself very frustrated.
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