gasket999
getting there...
- Messages
- 354
- Location
- Manchester, UK
Hi guys. I finally have a justification to buy an AC tig welder (or I think I do at least!)
I have a clarke MIG, had it for years - and I’m OK with it, not good - but I can make passable welds.
I have (another) Land Rover restoration project that means I need a day of a time at the welders to do a number of small repairs - butt welds and puddle welds (spot weld replacement) in 1mm (ish) Birmabright (5251) equivalent. In the past I’ve just used rivet repairs, but lately I’ve been having tig- repairs done and am much happier. So... a few hundred quid for a pro goes some way towards an entry level tig kit.
now I’m starting from scratch from a TIG perspective - so I’ll need the machine, pedal, gloves, a new hobby weld bottle, rods and a stainless brush. I have masks, clamps, gauntlets, aprons etc from MIG.
A couple of questions for the forum:
Thank you!
I have a clarke MIG, had it for years - and I’m OK with it, not good - but I can make passable welds.
I have (another) Land Rover restoration project that means I need a day of a time at the welders to do a number of small repairs - butt welds and puddle welds (spot weld replacement) in 1mm (ish) Birmabright (5251) equivalent. In the past I’ve just used rivet repairs, but lately I’ve been having tig- repairs done and am much happier. So... a few hundred quid for a pro goes some way towards an entry level tig kit.
now I’m starting from scratch from a TIG perspective - so I’ll need the machine, pedal, gloves, a new hobby weld bottle, rods and a stainless brush. I have masks, clamps, gauntlets, aprons etc from MIG.
A couple of questions for the forum:
- Being realistic here... with a bag of scrap, the above kit, YouTube and a weekend’s practice - is it feasible to expect to be able to carry out butt welded repairs in 1mm aluminium? I’m not expecting it to be pretty and am expecting to have to do a lot of grind/dolly tidying. If I’m dreaming, then I’m perfectly happy to scrap the idea and pay a pro - but I’ll be paying out a few hundred quid that would be great to put towards a tool for myself. Future jobs are a mix of slightly thicker aluminium for racks etc. As well as modifications to castings and plenty of steel D.C. welding. I’m actually also looking at a TIG due to noise - both when welding and finishing welds - compared to MIG I think I’d be doing my neighbours a favour. For the little amount of steel welding I do, I could probably do it all in TIG.
- The machine/kit. The two I’m looking at are the R-Tech 160a ac/dc (£958) and the SWP Stealth Digi-TIG 200 AC/DC Pulse Inverter TIG Welder (£835 but you need to buy the pedal separately for £119 - so £954 and exactly the same price as the R-Tech). Any better options out there? I’m looking for hot start and goodd spares supply - beyond that I’m struggling for things to look for. If I ccould get set up and using it after a few days then I’m OK with spending around £1200 for everything inc gas.
Thank you!
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