Help buying my first welder

[Evil Wizard]

Hey guys.

I'm a professional craft distiller, been hobby building my own gear 14 years so I'm a dab hand at soldering copper and stainless but it's time to step up my game and get a tig welder.

I looked to take some intro classes to help figure out what kind of machine I need but nothing fits my schedule so i will likely just get a machine and figure it out myself.

The trouble is figuring out the specs on what I need.
Afaik i dont need something super strong since I'm not welding plate or super thick stuff. I'm doing steel water heaters, aluminum kegs, stainless spools and ferrules, and 6" copper pipe. Tig can do all that, yes?

Portability is a benefit and some of the newer devices look much smaller.

Lets me know please what to look for in a machine and what works well for you.

[shadylane]

I've been using a Hobart EZ Tig 165i

[OtisT]

Hi evil. I am TIG hobbies and no expert, so consider the source. I had lots of MIG experience before this.

TIG in general can do all that you listed, but not all TIG units or setups can do all of that. Aluminum is a special animal requiring special features that some of the low end TIGs won’t do. I don’t do Al, so I can’t speak to this. Different materials can require different gas mixes, and I think Al is one of those that requires a special tri-mix of gas that is expensive (helium is rare).

So far, I only do iron and stainless tig welding. As a hobbies, I found that argon gas works just fine for my iron and Stainless welding. I started with a basic tig unit (Lincoln MP 210) and quickly bought a more advanced model that has some features I found helped me immensely. Here are some features I really like and don’t like:

I like having a pulse feature for controlling heat, especially on thin material.
I really really like configurable gas flow control, for automatically stopping gas flow a set number of seconds after welding stops.
I like having the option of ramping up and down power automatically (especially ramping up, giving me time to steady the arc before things get too wild.)
I did not like the foot pedal power control. I do like a hand trigger on the torch. The pedal required too much dexterity for me and the power ramp up/down took care of most of my power management needs. I’m sure if I did it a lot more welding I could get the hang of the peddle, but my needs are basic and I’m not concerned with productivity so I can stop/start more frequently.
A flexible torch tip is very helpful at times, especially welding inside of kegs and such.
I have a nice small water cooled torch, but my power needs are low and I don’t do long welds so that I rarely run water through it. Purpose built water pumps for welding are expensive. It’s super easy to build a dirt cheep water pump system with pond pump and bucket that work great. Also easy to just run a hose line in from a spigot and out to a sink (what I do now)

The unit I use now is an Everlast PowerTig 250 EX. I bought it used.

Hope this helps.
Otis

[heynonny]

Register here (both free)
They will answer your questions.
Both welding & equipment

https://weldingweb.com/forum.php

Not as many people here

http://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

A LOT of good Info here for learning

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

-hey-

[Evil Wizard]

Thanks gentlemen,

I'll likely forget about aluminum then, I'm more interested in water heaters and stainless sheet.

I had a nice guy pro welder when i lived in quebec who liked me enough to let me "assist" and we barely spoke the same language. Back in ontario i cant imagine paying tons of money on some kijiji rando while I'm still prototyping.

[Evil Wizard]

Thanks, especially to Otis.

I just pulled the trigger on an Everlast PowerPro 205SI
https://www.everlastwelders.ca/products ... ro-212.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

It does TIG and Stick and Plasma cutting which is why I went with the multi purpose unit. You ever run a 2 1/8" hole saw through 6" copper or stainless spools? No fun.

They have a moving sale so it was $270CAD off.

[OtisT]

Congrats. And a plasma cutter too? That’s very cool. Otis