Hi all. New to this forum and hoping to pick some experienced brains in my search for a suitable ac/dc tig welder.
Fabrication / welding for me is purely a hobby but I pride myself on having the best tools I can afford for the job so that I can produce good quality work. No point in doing a job if you can't do it well IMO. By trade I'm a cabinetmaker and am an absolute stickler for detail. Now with my experience with arc and mig, I'm looking to make the next step up to an ac/dc tig.
I don't believe in using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, but with welding it seems that there is little point in buying a machine at the budget end of the market as it won't enable you to produce quality strong welds and can be a PITA with low duty cycles.
Main reason I want an ac/dc tig is that I want to be able to weld aluminium. I'm a major petrolhead and like my cars and bikes and one of my planned projects is an offroad buggy running a 170bhp Yamaha R1 motor (similar to a Rage buggy). One-off ally fuel tank etc mean I need a tig.
Have been considering the Portamig 206i ac/dc tig. Seems to be one of the cheaper full featured machines around. Prices then seem to take a significant leap. Are the much more expensive machines necessarily better or is it more a case of diminishing returns, where much of the premium is from the brand name?
Any guidance much appreciated.
Greg
Fabrication / welding for me is purely a hobby but I pride myself on having the best tools I can afford for the job so that I can produce good quality work. No point in doing a job if you can't do it well IMO. By trade I'm a cabinetmaker and am an absolute stickler for detail. Now with my experience with arc and mig, I'm looking to make the next step up to an ac/dc tig.
I don't believe in using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, but with welding it seems that there is little point in buying a machine at the budget end of the market as it won't enable you to produce quality strong welds and can be a PITA with low duty cycles.
Main reason I want an ac/dc tig is that I want to be able to weld aluminium. I'm a major petrolhead and like my cars and bikes and one of my planned projects is an offroad buggy running a 170bhp Yamaha R1 motor (similar to a Rage buggy). One-off ally fuel tank etc mean I need a tig.
Have been considering the Portamig 206i ac/dc tig. Seems to be one of the cheaper full featured machines around. Prices then seem to take a significant leap. Are the much more expensive machines necessarily better or is it more a case of diminishing returns, where much of the premium is from the brand name?
Any guidance much appreciated.
Greg