Son is learning Tig, wants to use it to impress the interview panel when he applies for his apprenticeship, I feel he will be doing thin stuff 2mm max and mainly bike / car parts. He is hoping to make a fuel or oil tank whilst learning at college
We already have a Mig and an old Oxford for bigger stuff
He could start cheap even with new stuff, DC MMA inverter that is capable of scratch start Tig, torch, regulator, some tungstens and filler wire and a bottle of Argon, shouldn't cost more than £300 new.
Would it be the best way, probably not but....
Dc only covers your for steel,stainless, titanium, copper, and many others but if you want to start doing aluminium then you need an AC DC unit and the cost goes up dramatically.
Uk supported AC/DC machines start off at around 900-1000 quid.
The more you spend the quality goes up
£500 will buy you a top end DC setup used or a very nice parweld setup.
£1000 will buy you an nice parweld AC set, £2000 will get you a very very good unit, £3k plus will get you up there among the best.
I had a little Hanshen DC unit that worked for me until I upgraded to AC/DC. Cheap as chips secondhand, around £100 - £150 but the gas, gloves and helmet are going to double that at least.
Yeah I agree there.
The ones to watch for are the Miller max stars and Esab caddys that pop up on eBay and gumtree DC only machines and they get ignored because they don't do Alu. If seen the hammer hit down on such machines making 400-500 quid yet they were a fortune new.
No one wants em and that's great for guys like yourself as high end kit becomes affordable.