Thread: Welders

I believe TIG is an even more expensive option to MIG. I'm sure someone will chime in and confirm or dispel.....

Purely as a point of interest, my father-in-law happened to stumble across a 140 amp SCA MIG welder in SuperCheap last week ended with a shelf price of $149. He thought it was too good to be true so asked staff about it. They checked, and double checked, but claim it was the correct price. He grabbed it and ran. It's listed on their site at $499. Right time, right place........

TIG is very hard to master and is some thing you really need to do often to keep your hand in to do well.
Argon is usually used with TIG and this gas can be used with mig, but you will not get the penertration using argon with MIG as MIG is normally used with a Argon mixture which gives a hotter weld and penertration.
TIG puts alot of heat into the job...........MIG tends to put less heat into the job.
The best way to learn TIG is to do a Tech course as there is alot of stuff you need to know.
Note to weld Aluminum with TIG you need a machine which does AC and this is a much more expensive machine.
For home use stick/MIG and oxy welding are the go.
TiG is great for repair work on all metals.(slow and hard to master well)
MiG is fast and good for fabrication on steel and alloy.(easy to master)
Stick gives a good deep weld and is cheap and easy to use.

What sort of stuff do you weld Garry?
IMO, if you already have oxy/acetylene and mainly only do ferrous stuff then no point pursuing the TIG.

I've got a TIG that I use for thin stuff, and a side benefit is that I can weld a bit of stainless. Its an inverter jobbie, so its also my stick welder. I'd probably use a oxy/acet set more than the TIG - especially for cutting/heating, but its a 2 bottle hire instead of just the one for the TIG.

I've also got a cheap MIG which I use when I have a bit more welding to do. Its a cheapie and a PITA to set up, and runs better on gasless wire than on gas.

My advice - get the inverter welder (you'll love the quiet/stable arc compared to your old welder), forget about the TIG function, and try some gasless wire in your MIG.

Steve

Yeah - TIG is a bit more to master than MIG, but if you can gas weld you have a good advantage.

I have found it easy to not get good penetration with the MIG. Weld looks OK from the top, but when forced it breaks, as the base metal has not heated up/melted enough. Definitely operator error, but with TIG you go a lot slower, so you can see what is melting.

For long runs of mild steel you can't beat MIG. For fiddly delicate stuff, you can't beat TIG.

If you need to - TIG will also do aluminium (so long as you get an AC model).

Cheers
David

Ok thanks for all the comments - when I look to get an inverter stick welder I will not worry about the TIG function. I have learnt to weld 1.0 mm steel with the old stick welder and the smallest rods (with a bit of warpage - Mig gives the same warpage) so I might just stay with a inverter for what I need to do. I think I will leave the Mig in the attic - isn't gasless MIG the same a small rod stick??

Garry

I bought an ebay 200 AMP special last year ...has more knobs than a herd of milking cows and is an inverter stick/TIG. I've only recently started toying with the tig having watched numerous Youtube demos.

for all that I think that for domestic use I'd settle now for one of those portable over-the-shoulder inverter stick welders. In the hands of an experienced operator they can do a heck of a lot...

The chaps are correct about the MIG... they are reasonable to use but you can get an excellent looking weld that falls apart
Good luck!

TIG/MIG/STICK/OXY will all do good welds and have good and bad points and strenghts and weakness on different metals and thickness etc.
Migs are widely used in applications where strong welds with penertration is needed and used in repair of heavy plant equiptment etc.
It all comes back to knowleage of the welding process used, quailty of equiptment used and knowing what to look for with weld quality, gases etc.
Gassless wire in a Mig is worth while as it gives super smooth finish and good penertration while being easier and quicker than stick.
Most cheaper range machines do not give the best chances of getting good welds.
Knowleage, equiptment and experience is every thing with welding.

I am tradesman qualified in stick, mig and tig, but do not do tig on a regular basis and I find for tig work I want right I get someone else to do it as they are practised by doing it every day and will get it right,
At home for years I have had just oxy and a old Able brand stick welder with sliding induction amp control.
I built trailers, rust repaired and even oxy welded alloy crankcases on motor bikes, slelite faced valves, in that time.
I have currently set my self up a bit better at home.
I now have a old single phase 210 amp mig from work which takes full size wire reels and runs 9mm wire and can just get to globular transfer welding if the power supply is right.
It is the minimum needed to do real mig welding.

I have recently purchased a tig 200 amp /AC /DC as I wanted to alloy tig if needed at home , it is single phase with 80% duty cycle and is the minimum if you want to tig good alloy welds at home.


It all comes back to experience, need to use verses cost of equiptment and what sort of welding work you need to do.