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Posted by Keith in Washington on Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 00:13:27 :
In Reply to: mig welders posted by jsiebert on Friday, March 27, 2009 at 08:49:54 :
I have bot a Mig and a Poor mans Tig welder.
I have a Lincoln 110V mig welder. A friend brought it by 5 years ago and unpacked it from its boxes and said I may need it once and awhile. It is still here and he has come over a couple of times to use it.
My Tig welder is is something a good friend help me put together. It is a Miller Thunderbolt 220V AC/DC welder. We bought a Tig torch and a large bottle of gas. IT works quite well. I like it better than the Mig as I have better control. The Tig welder does not have a foot control and the only setting is the crank on the welder. It also requires me to scratch start it. I know what setting I need the welder set to for most metal thickness. I can get a good bead and rarely burn any metal. The only problem I have is with old metal that has some rust I did not get off or impurities. I have been able to weld up the metal window wraps where they were either pitted or rusted away. Using a piece of smashed copper pipe behind the area being welded is the way to go. I also welded the entire mid-body seam on my carryall many other warp pone areas with only minor problems.
The difference I see between the two is that I have better control over the penetration and metal being added with the Tig. I can weld without a rod with the Tig as I use the metal itself as the rod especially if I am welding a corner. I have also cranked up the heat on the Tig and welded plate using a large diameter rod. It makes for a nice weld.
IT would be nice to have a higher end Tig but I was hard for me at the time to justify the increased cost.
