Scratch tig or cheap tig?

[Robmarks]

Hi Guys,

I need some help, basically I will be welding thin tubes mostly for bike frame would I be better of looking into getting a cheap tig or a scratch tig on a arc welder

Advice would be much appreciated

 

[justmental]

what sort of budget.
mig would be better than arc

 

[Robmarks]

At a push 300 really would rather a tig for neater welds

 

[justmental]

be hard pushed at £300. if welding tube ( bike frame's ).
a good mig can produce good welds in the hands of a good welder

 

[Robmarks]

in the hands of a good welder

might take some time

cheers anyway mate

 

[Robmarks]

Would it not be possible with a scratch or would the amps be too varied that I would either blow through or get cold welds

 

[rich r]

How proficient are you at tig welding? If you're new to it, you're probably going to blow another £300 on gas and filler learning to do decent welds on curved surfaces like a bike frame.

 

[shenion]

Something like the Parweld XTi 160 would do. That does lift-start.

It should work fine as long as you don't plan on doing aluminum.

 

[Robmarks]

I don't plan to do aluminium and im new to tig and reasonably experienced with mig

 

[shenion]

You cant do aluminum with your budget, usually £1K and up.

You will probably need to find a deal on something used to get anywhere near your budget. Then will probably be a big power hungry beast.

Scratch start only works on DC; it wont work on an AC welder without an add-on HF unit.

Edit: read your reply wrong Do vs Don't. The Parweld or one of the Chinese inverters will work. Scratch start would be difficult so one with lift-TIG or HF start would be best..

 

[Robmarks]

Has anyone got any threads or videos of mig welding bike frames?