tig welder or pulsed mig machine

[jedmand]

Hi guys just wondering what you would pefer to have for welding aluminium stainles and general steel fabrication looking at both avenues and wondering if anyone has had experience with both cheers

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Depends on your skill level. The thickness of material etc. Tim is slower but I would always tig stainless and ally over mig. Mild steel it is dependant on what the job is. There is a lot of other things you need to consider before deciding. Can't really advise until we know how much welding your planning on doing material thickness and welding inside or outside etc.

 

[jedmand]

Hey lawnmowerboy thanks for the reply I do a fair bit of welding actually fabricating trailers and that sought of thing mainly 3mm mild steel and do a few other general welding repairs and fabricating I am quite confident with the mig and most of my welds have to be spot on thats whats got me thinking down the road of the pulse mig but would also lile to do some stainless and ally work in near future but never used a tig but im sure I could pick it up if I had a go at it and the tig welder is near 1000 dollars cheaper than a pulse mig so yeah just after different views and opinions really

 

[jedmand]

These are the two machines I was tossing up between

http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/131102766585?nav=SEARCH

and the pulse mig is

http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/191072402967?nav=SEARCH

any views or opinions would be greatly appreciated cheers

 

[F.J.]

I have a mig pulse that I use predominantly for ally, and a bit of stainless when it comes in. Although it isn't double pulse it still give a nice looking weld on aluminium and as everyone knows it's a lot quicker than TIG. The only frustrating part about using mig for ally is the wire birds nesting around the feed rollers, it still does it even though I have a push pull torch too!

I've used a double pulse mig for ally and the look of the weld is very similar to TIG and is lovely to use.

Saying all that I have just bough a Lincoln Electric ACDC TIG set as some jobs that come in require TIG and in the past I've had to sub them out. I can't say anything about the set though as I've only played with it for about an hour taking my total time TIG welding upto.......... About an hour!

 

[jedmand]

Thanks for the comment F.J. I have heard about the double pulse migs looking alot like tig welds and yes everyone knows that m8g is alot faster wich has got me leaning towards the double pulse mig seeing as most of the work I do is mild steel and would be good for that and seeing as it can also be used for ally and stainless is awesome but yes the birdnesting is the frustrating part in saying all of that I would love to have a go at tig and even tho they are both cheap machines they would still probably be allright

 

[F.J.]

I am getting a spool gun for my pulse mig to see the difference between that and the push pull, as it only feeds for about 5-6 inches I'd hope I wouldn't have any problems with birds nesting.

 

[jedmand]

Yeah I reckon to be honest the spool gun would be better than the push pull but you wouldnt think so seeing as how much you pay for push pull guns anyway let me know how it goes cheera

 

[F.J.]

Your not wrong. It cost me £1000 for the pushpull torch and the spool gun I need is just shy of £700! I cant use universal spool guns because they wont release the pulse settings on my machine

 

[jedmand]

Ahh I see yeah that would be a problem I never thought about that haha I think all said I am probably better of with the pulse mig instead of tig for the pure fact of that the amount of ally and stainless work I do is very minimal!

 

[Jim Davey]

I have a mig pulse that I use predominantly for ally, and a bit of stainless when it comes in. Although it isn't double pulse it still give a nice looking weld on aluminium and as everyone knows it's a lot quicker than TIG. The only frustrating part about using mig for ally is the wire birds nesting around the feed rollers, it still does it even though I have a push pull torch too!

I've used a double pulse mig for ally and the look of the weld is very similar to TIG and is lovely to use.

Saying all that I have just bough a Lincoln Electric ACDC TIG set as some jobs that come in require TIG and in the past I've had to sub them out. I can't say anything about the set though as I've only played with it for about an hour taking my total time TIG welding upto.......... About an hour!

That shouldn't be happening, are your drive rolls the correct ones for aluminium? I.e. semi circular? Or are the V-groove mild steel rollers still on it? Also what grade and diameter ally wire are you using?

 

[F.J.]

That shouldn't be happening, are your drive rolls the correct ones for aluminium? I.e. semi circular? Or are the V-groove mild steel rollers still on it? Also what grade and diameter ally wire are you using?

I have the 'u' shaped rollers and im using 1mm 5356. The only thing I can assume that might be causing it then is the tip. I am just using a 1mm tip but should probably get a 1.2mm tip?

 

[jedmand]

I dint realize that yeah I would probably go with the 1.2 tip the aluminium wire expand when it gets hot thats probably why you are getting the birds besting because its getting stuck in the tip

 

[Jim Davey]

1.2 is too big for 1.0mm ally. Binzel sell ally specific tips with a higher grade of copper, slightly more clearance and a chamfer on the outlet to help eliminate the hot spot that tends to arc and stick to the wire causing jam ups.
(If you pull the wire through after a burn back on a big tip you'll often find an arc spot on the wire where it momentarily welded itself to the tip)

 

[jedmand]

Thanks for the reply jim mpre helpfull than my comment I didnt realize they sell ally specific tips thats handy to know as I plan on doing a bit more ally welding in the near future cheers