alloy tig ac welding idiot proof !

[steve--o]

Hi Folks
im a 50 somthing fitter welder turner type,ive done plenty of stick & mig over the years but never done AC tig.

my hobby is old brit bikes and i have a few old dears on the bench needing fins & mountings welding so my question is what is the best idiot proof plant to buy secondhand for single phase upto a max thickness of around 3.5 mm.

budget is around 600 quid for a good secondhand unit ,i use an old boc transmig for my mig and its around 35 years old and never misses a beat.

all advice welcome
thanks Steve,in sunny Almeria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpT4lESEaA

 

[hotrodder]

How much and what sort of flavour electricity do you have to hand? £600 budget is probably well short for picking up a premium brand used inverter, big ol' transformer set maybe but they're usually designed with 3 phase in mind (typically using 2 phases to get a 400V single phase supply) and are VERY amperage hungry if fed with 240V

 

[steve--o]

we have abought 5 k @ standard 220/230 volts into the house ,i dont mind spending more money for a better SH unit but dont wont to blow money over engineering the job also i dont want to wast money on a 300 quid china man special ( unless there is a realy good chino man special that will do the job )
basikly i need somthing that i just switch on and it works 3 times a year as per my 30 plus year old transmig.

thanks
Steve

 

[shenion]

5K@ you mean 5KW? That is less than 25 amps @ 220.

Most old transformer machines take at least 32A @ 220 (or more).

Sounds like you will need an inverter. That means new and not cheap.

 

[steve--o]

can anybody recomend an inverter ie make & size ? and what functions i will need on the inverter to weld my old bike casings.

thanks

Steve

 

[hotrodder]

Second hand kit... can only pick and choose between the brands that are up for sale and in budget at any time. Google images 'wse200' and wse200p' and you'll see what generic cheapnese kit looks like. Typically avoid or at least ask about the name written on the side of it here. Some are 'reworked' to make 'em more reliable, two brands that often get recommended on here are TEC-ARC (see Weldequip shop) and R-Tech. The R-tech 160 AC/DC is just over your budget as a new machine. 160A is about the smallest AC/DC TIG you'll find and'll just about cope for the sort of work described. 200A machine would be my recommendation as 1) you won't be using the thing nearly flat out and 2) you WILL end up up wanting/needing to do something sooner or later that a 160A machine won't manage. Function wise it just needs to be an AC/DC TIG

Don't forget to budget for another cylinder of shielding gas too as MIG mixes will not work with TIG. You'll need pure argon

 

[dannyp]

i would suggest buying a new inverter from the likes of r tech.

a few friends have discoverd that 2nd hand inverters are very expensive, tey liked trying to wind me up as they payed much less than i did for a new machene. but i have warranty they wish they had now

 

[steve--o]

ok folks thanks for the info,looks like i will have to spend some more money,i did buy a cut40 chino man plasma cutter a couple of years ago new for 200 quid and that works great up to 3mm steel,but i dernt risk 350 plus quid on a wong fong ac plant as if it goes wrong it would probably be quicker to just throw it in the Med

cheers Steve ,in rainy spain

 

[Llundberg]

When you say 'alloy tig ac welding', assume you mean aluminium welding? Very different, an alloy is a blend of different metals - nickel, zink, iron, etc whereas aluminium is just that - aluminium.

 

[steve--o]

Yes deffinatly aluminium ie classic bike casings.