TIG welding/welders

[Madmac]

Couple of questions for the welding gurus here, i own a couple of boats (one aluminium, the others fibreglass but has a lot of stainless steel bits) so im thinking about buying a Tig welder, dont want to spend a fortune, but dont want cheap crap either, it will be used for light work like making rod holders, bow rails etc, what brand do you recomend, are the ones on ebay any good?, how hard is Tig welding? im pretty good with the Mig on mild steel, but ive never welded stainless or aluminium before, the plan is just to buy one and practice on some scrap. i would appreciate any recomendations on different brands and any Tig welding tips people can offer.

[rockcrawler31]

I've only just bought a welder and havn't had the chance to use it so i can't give you a review. I bought an Everlast machine, the 230EX which is the highest spec model available in single phase.

http://www.everlastwelds.com.au/welders ... rTIG_230EX" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I REALLY wanted a Miller but as a home user i just couldn't justify a top end machine for 6k plus if i'm not a production welder or business owner. So even though i DETEST buying chinese or cheap shit i settled for this. It got a pretty good review from Cody on http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which is why i went that way. It's got all the bells and whistles and full process control.

I used that website and have subscribed to his weekly welding videos and i've learned a LOT from it. I've yet to start but i think like you the best thing you can do is to spend a bit of time laying beads and practicing with the type of material and joints that you'll be most often doing. For example i'm going to be doing a lot of tube work so i'll get a bunch of scrap and cope them out and practice first to get the settings right and get a feel for it.

It's been suggested to me to get a little notebook and each time you do a weld or practice run write down the settings and any notes on how it performed so you can refer back to it.

Preparation is EVERYTHING. And so much more so on ally than steel. Cleanliness is your friend and having consumables, wire brushes etc that are dedicated to alloy/stainless and used on NOTHING else.

Go to the miller website and they've got a heap of resources you can download for learning to TIG for free.

MILO

[Madmac]

Thanks for the info and links, welding tips site is great, will definately being having a good read and watching some of the vids.

[rockcrawler31]

P.S. Andrew (Awill4x4 on here) has been an awesome help with some great tips. I'll forward them on to you mate.

I note that your talking about stuff on an existing boat - So cleaning off crud and oxidisation is going to be even more critical in parts that have been subjected to that environment than normal.

My Everlast was about 2100 from memory if you need an idea of cost. It was from a mob in Sydney and there's only a couple of suppliers so won't be too hard to find out who.

M

[AFeral]

Cigweld are now doing a 200amp acdc tig for $1500 could be worth a look. Not sure if its any better than ebay offerings but aleast you will get a lot more customer surport.

[Madmac]

Cigweld are now doing a 200amp acdc tig for $1500 could be worth a look. Not sure if its any better than ebay offerings but aleast you will get a lot more customer surport.

Thanks will check out CIG website

[inbits]

Cigweld are now doing a 200amp acdc tig for $1500 could be worth a look. Not sure if its any better than ebay offerings but aleast you will get a lot more customer surport.

Bought one of these at work a couple of weeks ago great value much better than any other tig in that price range

[pom]

I just got a cigweld 200 for $1500 from alweld, there good for price!