MIG or TIG?

[Tote]

I'm considering enrolling at my local TAFE in a welding coures and am trying to decide between MIG and TIG classes. I'm a reasonably competent weder with either stick or oxy although I've got an oxy set and prefer to use it.
Purpose for learning either class is to fix old Land Rovers ie. aluminium welding
so what do the experts on the forum think....

Regards,
Tote

[Cap]

Im no expert in the field, but my bro is. He was telling me the other day about these newish MIGs you can buy that are an inverter type rather than the typical transformer (cant recall the techy words) Anyway, he welds everything, alloy, stainless, mild, etc. Aparently these newer generation MIG's can do both steel and alloy. So going by that I would do the MIG course.

[isuzurover]

MIG is fairly easy to pick up yourself.

TIG is much better (and neater) than mig for welding thin alloy panels. I have welded LR panels with a MIG successfully, but I have needed to use a brass block as a heatsink behind the area to be welded. With TIG you don't need to do that, and the welds are much neater.

Only downside is that TIG is harder to learn and more time consuming.

[Disco_owner]

Hi Tote;

If the pupose of 'learning' is to learn to weld 'Aluminum' , my suggestion is start off with TIG ( GTAW ) at Local TAFE and see how you go , you start off with 'routine' , then onto 'weld using' and then 'advanced' , most of the retirees I see at evening college are mainly there to learn TIG for sake of welding Aluminum boats or other projects they have lined up around the house , or Tradies wanting to brush up on their Tigging skills , you will enjoy it immensely and it is very rewarding when you can weld alloy and get it to come up nice and shiny after preping your Job . all the best with it mate.

[cinders]

If I was to do a course I'd pick TIG. Migs a piece of ****, as long as you have a good welder, but TIG is an art and one well worth learning if you get the chance IMHO.
Cheers

[PAT303]

What type of welder are you going to buy?,mig is a lot more useful than tig. Pat

[Slunnie]

I'm considering enrolling at my local TAFE in a welding coures and am trying to decide between MIG and TIG classes. I'm a reasonably competent weder with either stick or oxy although I've got an oxy set and prefer to use it.
Purpose for learning either class is to fix old Land Rovers ie. aluminium welding
so what do the experts on the forum think....

Regards,
Tote
If you can Oxy weld then you will find TIG to be a walk in the park. If you're working on Al sheet etc like panels etc, then I'd be inclined to think TIG. I think that on panels etc that MIG will be very difficult and the results not nearly as good as TIG. If you can Oxy then the big thing that you will take away from the TIG course is probably going to be the theory behind TIG and this is as important as the process so you understand what does what, why it does it and the modifications you can make to the machine to alter the welds produced and to protect/preserve the tungsten.

MIG will be waaay more beneficial in everything else you do with the Landy and I'd rather be MIGing the steelwork rather than TIG for the sake of speed and economy. There is no need to be producing welds to TIG quality even if you can even TIG better than MIG - which sounds a bit off at this stage.

I have both and I've never used the TIG on any of the Landys. If its Aluminium and broken then I just replace it as its a lot easier.

If it were me, I'd look to do a MIG course.

Also note, that the stick welders that do TIG don't TIG aluminium as they don't have AC current and high frequency.

[robzilla]

Definitely TIG. gives you more options down the track.

we've got a nice MIG at home and it does a sterling job! but i still wish it was a TIG for alloy/stainless stuff.

and AFAIK, a TIG can still do mild steel? someone can confirm that :p

[twitchy]

Definitely TIG. gives you more options down the track.

we've got a nice MIG at home and it does a sterling job! but i still wish it was a TIG for alloy/stainless stuff.

and AFAIK, a TIG can still do mild steel? someone can confirm that :p

TIG will weld anything really.

[**Discovery300Tdi**]

Have to say mig as i used it everyday at the panel shop. every now and then i would use tig.

[Slunnie]

Definitely TIG. gives you more options down the track.

we've got a nice MIG at home and it does a sterling job! but i still wish it was a TIG for alloy/stainless stuff.

and AFAIK, a TIG can still do mild steel? someone can confirm that :p
Yes, its really nice in MS also. Its a better way of oxying.

[awabbit6]

Seeing as you want to be able to weld aluminium panels, go for TIG. For thicker aluminium MIG is OK. As has already been said, MIG is fairly straight forward and you can teach yourself. You can probably teach yourself TIG too seeing as you are able to oxy weld. I found this book from Miller very good - TIG Handbook (http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/TIGhandbook/). You can download it for free. I have printed and bound a copy that I keep in my shed with the welder.

If you really want a challenge, enrol in a course to oxy weld aluminium. My Dad does a great job with the oxy on ally (uses the TIG mostly though)

[warren9981]

Just to be different I ticked option 3.:p Can be done but need to be something of an expert gas welder to do it. Go the TIG. Every man and his dog has a MIG welder but not so many TIGs out there. You will have plenty of people knocking on your door if you get a TIG. (that's if you want to go down that path. Welding with MIG is easy as, TIG is a bit more of a challenge.:D

[LandyAndy]

Go the TIG
Mig is easy,if you can operate a sillycum gun you can use a mig.
In the future I would like to buy a TIG,already got a mig.
Ive seen boat kits on the net that are very reasonably priced,all the bits laser cut,you DIY glue it.Wouldnt mind having a go at building one.
Andrew

[Slunnie]

Anybody can use a MIG, but a lot don't use it well. There is a lot of frightening welding going on out there.

[Disco_owner]

I don't mean to burst anyone's buble BUT the general population here is saying Mig is easy ,
wait till you start doing Pipe , vertical up and overhead with Mig.;)

to get a mickey mouse weld down , is NOT easy and takes a lot of practice.

Edit: I just read Slunnie's post , it's spot on.

[blitz]

while both can do the same job they are for different application. Generally speaking the tig is a finesse tool and the mig speed and big stuff.

Mig is great but steel wire rusts if not used regularly, so often a stick is better. A good tig welder is an artist just about I have seen some amazing work with a tig, but it is slow.

I want both but SWMBO says only one and as I cant deside I still have neither

[roverrescue]

Tote,
I reckon you should do what you want! but a couple things I have encountered.
Get the gear that you will use the most!

If you want to weld panels on an old landy O/A or TIG would be your best options. BUT - most old landy panels Ive laid eyes on wont be the greatest surface to weld!!! For overall "Landy Fabrication" a MIG with some edumacation will let you lay down good full pen welds on all the steel that needs replacing and adding to. You can of course TIG or stick chassis / axles / firewalls and door bottoms but MIG will be easier/ quicker and just as strong.

Im sure Yass is a little like where I am...
The biggest ongoing expense with TIG and MIG is going to be gas bottle hire & consumption. If you oxy weld you already have two bottles? Time for a third.

If you want to weld Al (for other things than panels) then buy a big MIG unit and rent straight Ar. On steel you wont get as much pen as Ar/CO2 mix but if you have bought a big unit you can crank it up when welding thicker plate to compensate. Thin stuff like chassis / brackets wont be a problem. The straight Ar will then let you re-line, re-tip and glue Aluminium down to say 1.0mm with no hassles. It wont be as pretty as TIG but wont let go?

Landy-Andy... if I was building anything bigger than a 12' punt I would want a big push/pull MIG with huge duty not a TIG... Can you imagine laying down hull long beads with 40cm TIG sticks! 3ph push/pull MIG is what the two Al boat builders use that I know?

anyways, my vote is MIG for its overall functionality in Landy fabrication. If you did the MIG course the teacher may even give you a few hints and helps for O/A welding thin Aluminium panels... that then gets all bases sorted!

Steve

[Tote]

Thanks for the replies folks, I now have a clearer insight on the two technologies and which is used for what. In the end the decision will probably come down to the nights they run the classes but I think I'd enjoy the TIG class more.

Regards,
Tote

[Landy Smurf]

i did a mig/stick/oxy class it was awesome learnt so much ps mig is easy as

[mightgeta4be]

I,ve been Tig Welding Stainless Steel tubing as my daily job now for 3 years and I'm still learning. Most of the small home jobs I do for people seem like they are getting easier as they are mostly straight line welds but welding around joints on 19mm x 1.2mm tubing still gets tricky at times especially if unable to maintain correct torch angle or joint clearances become excessive.