Welding Equipment: What Brand and type do you use to build?

[Tabucowboy]

What I am mainly looking for is what brand/type of welding equipment would you recommend for someone new to welding and only doing it for his builds?

Because I have soldered 7 pieces of copper to stainless.
Two work great 5 just cannot get right.
Was told welding was they way to go with copper to stainless.

Some examples I mean are:

Tig, Mig w Gas, Mig w/o Gas?
Can it be with gas or without?
What are some brands do you recommend?

Please remember probably going to weld copper to stainless.

Please also post what Brand and Type you use, also post how many years of experience and if you do it for a living.
I am just curious on this part because I see some of your guys stuff and it looks amazing.
Wondering if you are a true professional welder or just a hobbyist with amazing skills.

[Sailman]

A good quality TIG welder is what you want for copper and stainless with the proper filler material but unless do you have the experience it'll take a while to master. Brandon I don't have much experience TIG welding I can do it but not well most of my experiences in Stick and MIG welding with sub Arc thrown in 10 + years experience. You probably would be better served sticking with soldering. It just takes a little of practice and you can get it done just like TIG welding with take practice. These were some of the first stainless to Copper joints I did just use the proper flux and solder and it can be done.

[METALHEAD81]

Gonna need a TIG welder. 150-200 amp range. I have a Miller dynasty 200 for my home shop but any DC TIG welder with a similar output would work. 220v would be best as it’s less likely to trip a breaker on 115v.
Miller, Lincoln, esab all great machines with good customer support.
Some cheaper machines like everlast have okay reviews too.
Foot controls I would consider a must. Pulse would be a nice feature but not necessary. I’ve welded stainless to copper with pure argon but some helium or all helium would help if it’s available to you but not necessary In my experience.
Your going to need a lot of practice to manage a good joint.
I agree with sailman. If you are looking to learn to weld that’s great and I say go for it but there are easier cheaper ways to get this particular job done.

[shadylane]

For hobby use, My favorite brand is Hobart.
I'd also recommend buying a 240v welder.
The 120v welders may be cheaper, but they don't work as good.

[pope]

I bought the Everlast 185dv and love it. Thought I’d miss a pulse knob but don’t, haven’t done much aluminum but having dcv is nice. 100% argon 100% of the time makes gas easy to handle if you want to work 2-3+ metals. Welded 4” copper pipe and still haven’t maxed out my rig on amperage, if I needed a boost I could still buy helium.

[acfixer69]

Because I have soldered 7 pieces of copper to stainless.
Two work great 5 just cannot get right.
Was told welding was they way to go with copper to stainless.

Well I'll tell you you don't need to buy a welder you need to learn to solder better. I've got a mig and a tig welder but for this hobby stuff soft solder is the best and cleanest for me.

[pope]

K didn’t read your whole post. Tig is great for ss-to-copper if it’s not for stillin’ but for our purposes a gas braze is the way to go, try searching for silver braze or brazing and ‘Harris’ or ‘safetysilv’ there’s tons of info.

[Cabron99]

Might be a little off topic, but what do you guys do for gas. I bought a little stick/mig/tig welder with the intent of tig welding some stainless still parts. (after a ton of practice)
Went to Airgas the other day and found it costs about 4 bills to get set up with a new tank and a fill. So my question is... what do you do? Is that the route or am I missing something? If one wanted to set up for mig and tig, using separate gases, that could involve some serious change.

[zed255]

I own two small cylinders of argon, one for the TIG torch and one for back purging / torch spare. For MIG I almost always use flux core wire, but if a bigger project demands it I will lease a mixed gas cylinder for MIG. I rarely use stick.

I'm just a hobbiest and have a Lincoln WeldPak 100 with the gas kit for MIG and an Everlast PowerPro 205si TIG / stick / plasma combo unit.

It is not too common to actually weld dissimilar metals like copper and stainless, though I have read it is possible with some combinations. For copper to stainless I prefer silver brazing where practical but have used silver bearing plumbing solder as well.

[Cabron99]

Thanks for the info. I'm just getting started welding. Should be a great journey!

[METALHEAD81]

Might be a little off topic, but what do you guys do for gas. I bought a little stick/mig/tig welder with the intent of tig welding some stainless still parts. (after a ton of practice)
Went to Airgas the other day and found it costs about 4 bills to get set up with a new tank and a fill. So my question is... what do you do? Is that the route or am I missing something? If one wanted to set up for mig and tig, using separate gases, that could involve some serious change.

It sounds like they tried to sell you a large k size tank. If you go back ask for a Q or an 85 ft.³ tank. Much cheaper. Also check the used market.

[3illmesmart]

Tabucowboy, I am just a step past you. I ordered a $300 mig welder off ebay.
Like Cabron, I had to pay 4 bills for a Q tank at TSC. (Canada) 3 bills to buy the tank, 1 for the gas. You get the 3 back if you return bottle.
I sold my Mig for almost what it cost me, so not a big expense for me.
I still don't have it, but should be here this week. I have a keg waiting for copper fittings to be brazed on my new still.

If you are looking at this for only this hobby, it's pretty pricey and likely very close if you buy torches and have to get 2 tanks.
If you did a couple good joints and a couple bad, practice is much more affordable.

[Tabucowboy]

Thanks all your information is invaluable. Keep it coming. I am looking at every welder you guys talk about.

I am going to try my neighbors gas-less mig welder this weekend.

[heynonny]

They sell this goo to use instead of purging SS backside of welds, stuff is hard to remove tho. they also have SS mig wire. MIG is (for me) easy to learn, practice with mild steel, get some SS scrap & practice some more! I have a ThermalArc Arcmaster 185 TIG welder. Bought it 12-13 years ago, {from airgas $3200} I love it. ASAMOF, I found one on Craigslist, about 2 years ago, the same (about 200 serial #'s newer $1500), I gave it to my nephew. Only one I ever saw on Craigslist. People who upgrade them keep the old ones.

[arentwejusthere]

I want to throw my name in the ring with the group of people recommending soldering over welding. If the ONLY reason you want to get a welder is for this hobby using the right flux and solder will probably be a much much cheaper bet for you. For $9 plus a propane Burnz-o-matic I was able to stick my sanitary fitting on 2" copper without too much trouble.

If it's just for this hobby you're wanting to weld I'd imagine there's better places to invest that money. All grain equipment maybe, or wood for aging, SS kegs for storage, glass carboys, ingredients, etc.

[zed255]

For purely economic reasons soldering is the way to go.

For myself, I wanted to gain the skill of TIG welding. I had done a fair bit of welding and metal work throughout my life, using torch, stick and MIG, but working with stainless got me interested in learning TIG welding. I have been able to perform builds and repairs that otherwise would not have been possible in my own garage including the ability to finally stick aluminum together with a degree of quality I've only dreamed of in the past. Wanting to build my still was the catalyst to gain a new skill, not economics. If all I was worried about was the money I would have soldered instead of investing about 3k in equipment and supplies to TIG weld, never mind wat has been spent on my stills themselves.

I suppose you could argue that 3k might have bought a pretty nice ready made still... But then I would not have gained a skill and the hardware I will carry until I'm incapable of using that skill.

[Tabucowboy]

I think I want the equipment because I like learning and building the equipment more than I like brewing the hooch. The good stuff that I make is a bonus to me. I use all my foreshots and about half my heads and tails for fuel during camping trips. The neighbors Gas-less MIG welder got the job done great not the prettiest weld and he stated that with out gas it would be that way. I think I am going to get a MIG that can do Gas and Gas-less and buy gas if and when I need it.

Again thank you all your knowledge and advice are wonderful.