Hi All,
Going back a few years I picked up a used R-Tech TIG-201 AC/DC unit as I knew one day I'd get round to doing a bit of TIG welding. Since then it's been sat in a corner in my garage and it's not been touched. I'm thinking it's about time to teach myself to TIG weld, so I've dug it out of its hiding hole and had a look in detail at what I bought probably about 9 years ago!
It's one of the earlier units that looks like this, which I think might be the analogue version, although I'm not sure:
It came with a few consumables, tungstens etc and a WP26 torch.
My first question at this early stage (I suspect there might be many ) is what would be a good torch setup to go for as the WP-26 seems quite bulky to me and I suspect over-sized for what I intend to do.
I'm looking at doing some car bodywork repairs which will involve butt or lap welds on typical thickness (0.8 - 1.0mm) mild steel. I'd also like to try and replicate a spot weld look on say an outer sill, where one panel has punched holes in it. I've used a MIG in the past to do these successfully, but it's almost too quick at doing the job and not easy to tell if I've penetrated properly to the lower panel or just filled the hole on the top panel without actually welding them together. I'm thinking TIG would be better for this as it's a slower process and I'd get more time to see what's going on?
So, expected current range is on the low side; sub 50 amps I would guess? Does anyone have recommendations on a torch size and make that would be a good fit for my intended work?
Going back a few years I picked up a used R-Tech TIG-201 AC/DC unit as I knew one day I'd get round to doing a bit of TIG welding. Since then it's been sat in a corner in my garage and it's not been touched. I'm thinking it's about time to teach myself to TIG weld, so I've dug it out of its hiding hole and had a look in detail at what I bought probably about 9 years ago!
It's one of the earlier units that looks like this, which I think might be the analogue version, although I'm not sure:
It came with a few consumables, tungstens etc and a WP26 torch.
My first question at this early stage (I suspect there might be many ) is what would be a good torch setup to go for as the WP-26 seems quite bulky to me and I suspect over-sized for what I intend to do.
I'm looking at doing some car bodywork repairs which will involve butt or lap welds on typical thickness (0.8 - 1.0mm) mild steel. I'd also like to try and replicate a spot weld look on say an outer sill, where one panel has punched holes in it. I've used a MIG in the past to do these successfully, but it's almost too quick at doing the job and not easy to tell if I've penetrated properly to the lower panel or just filled the hole on the top panel without actually welding them together. I'm thinking TIG would be better for this as it's a slower process and I'd get more time to see what's going on?
So, expected current range is on the low side; sub 50 amps I would guess? Does anyone have recommendations on a torch size and make that would be a good fit for my intended work?