Recommend a Tig Welding machine for me

slow96hater said:
Honestly for home use, I'm sure someone is gonna talk crap, but the Vulcan multi process from harbor freight is a very hard mig/tig/arc to beat for the price. Very comparable to Lincolns multiprocess they offer for $500 cheaper. These welders do weld very nice if you are truly a welder and know what you are doing with, and how to identify material.
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No AC with the Vulcan Omnipro 220 for $900. Miller is supposed to be coming out with a new multiprocess welder with AC on November 9th. I have used a Vulcan, and while it is better than some things (like farm store crap from China, plenty of experience with this) it isn't anywhere near as good a Miller Multimatic 215 for $1265 after rebate. Is it worth a 50% price increase over the Vulcan... yeap. Is it worth double the price of a Vulcan... yeap. Is it worth triple the price of the Vulcan... nope. I've used a lot of crappy welders and I'm a crappy weldererer. Save a few more bucks in the piggy bank and get the Miller (or at least the ESAB 215). The Vulcan is not a bad welder by any means, but I think they missed the "should really consider it" price by about $200.

If you just want to buzz together aluminum, a good used Syncrowave is hard to beat.
 
wrath said:
No AC with the Vulcan Omnipro 220 for $900. Miller is supposed to be coming out with a new multiprocess welder with AC on November 9th. I have used a Vulcan, and while it is better than some things (like farm store crap from China, plenty of experience with this) it isn't anywhere near as good a Miller Multimatic 215 for $1265 after rebate. Is it worth a 50% price increase over the Vulcan... yeap. Is it worth double the price of a Vulcan... yeap. Is it worth triple the price of the Vulcan... nope. I've used a lot of crappy welders and I'm a crappy weldererer. Save a few more bucks in the piggy bank and get the Miller (or at least the ESAB 215). The Vulcan is not a bad welder by any means, but I think they missed the "should really consider it" price by about $200.

If you just want to buzz together aluminum, a good used Syncrowave is hard to beat.
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I've never used a esab, but they do look cool, and the one person I do know who has used one said they were alright too. I think he just used their mig machine. Don't even know which one.
 
For home use, which welder would be best bang for the buck to only do aluminum? Wouldn't be doing anything thicker than 1/2".
 
slow96hater said:
I've never used a esab, but they do look cool, and the one person I do know who has used one said they were alright too. I think he just used their mig machine. Don't even know which one.
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ESAB Rebel 215 in one of its many flavors is a fine machine. If it weren't for the fact that I could get a Miller for a couple bucks more I would have bought one. In fact, all of ESAB's machines are plenty fine. But for just a few bucks more... it comes in Blue and if I ever want to switch to something else everyone buys Blue used.

Beigg said:
For home use, which welder would be best bang for the buck to only do aluminum? Wouldn't be doing anything thicker than 1/2".
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Welding 1/2" aluminum is expensive (takes a lot more current than steel) and difficult. About 1 amp per .001" but you're just going to end up making multiple passes anyway. Probably need a 300 amp TIG welder to be happy. To do it with MIG you're probably going to want at least a machine like a 252 or an XMT and a push-pull gun. I haven't tried it with my 252 and my Alumapro (I just have the cheap $1900 air cooled one, I have no watercooler) but I should be able to do it if I don't shake too much. If I had bigger pockets I would have purchased an XMT350 and a feeder that'd drive the push-pull gun.

I have a friend that has spent a lot of time welding an aluminum jet boat together with a lot of 10mm sheet using his Lincoln Square Wave 200.

I've never tried to weld anything thicker than 5/16" aluminum with a TIG welder before (with a Syncrowave 200) and it was a bit of a stretch. Torch was so hot I had to wear my MIG gloves. But I'm not skilled.
 
wrath said:
ESAB Rebel 215 in one of its many flavors is a fine machine. If it weren't for the fact that I could get a Miller for a couple bucks more I would have bought one. In fact, all of ESAB's machines are plenty fine. But for just a few bucks more... it comes in Blue and if I ever want to switch to something else everyone buys Blue used.



Welding 1/2" aluminum is expensive (takes a lot more current than steel) and difficult. About 1 amp per .001" but you're just going to end up making multiple passes anyway. Probably need a 300 amp TIG welder to be happy. To do it with MIG you're probably going to want at least a machine like a 252 or an XMT and a push-pull gun. I haven't tried it with my 252 and my Alumapro (I just have the cheap $1900 air cooled one, I have no watercooler) but I should be able to do it if I don't shake too much. If I had bigger pockets I would have purchased an XMT350 and a feeder that'd drive the push-pull gun.

I have a friend that has spent a lot of time welding an aluminum jet boat together with a lot of 10mm sheet using his Lincoln Square Wave 200.

I've never tried to weld anything thicker than 5/16" aluminum with a TIG welder before (with a Syncrowave 200) and it was a bit of a stretch. Torch was so hot I had to wear my MIG gloves. But I'm not skilled.
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I figured it would be better to aim for thicker then less, but .375" is likely the most the tig would be used on with aluminum. I prefer to mig steel & SS, which that area is covered for that equipment.
 
Beigg said:
For home use, which welder would be best bang for the buck to only do aluminum? Wouldn't be doing anything thicker than 1/2".
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to weld something that thick you will need to pre heat it with a torch or heater of some sorts, oven or rod oven something like that, then you will need multiple passes. I’ve had a lot of experience with different types of welding, tig welding Pipe in a nuclear facility, steel, sheet metal etc. the better the machine the better the results for sure. Aluminum guns are nice for not so precise work.
 
mikesfastss said:
to weld something that thick you will need to pre heat it with a torch or heater of some sorts, oven or rod oven something like that, then you will need multiple passes. I’ve had a lot of experience with different types of welding, tig welding Pipe in a nuclear facility, steel, sheet metal etc. the better the machine the better the results for sure. Aluminum guns are nice for not so precise work.
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Was hoping to gear the cash towards 220V+/- tig machine since a mig is already owned, just it is not capable in doing aluminum (too low of amps & only DC). Was looking at those Forney machines.
 
I recently bought a Miller 200 amp machine from an eBay auction for $250, another $200 for a aluminum gun and I’m good now. I’m always looking along with my brother for equipment being he owns a fab shop. They pop up all the time.
 
The Lincoln Electric 180 Amp Weld-Pak 180 HD MIG might just be what I'll go for to do aluminum. Any idea on the best place for price?
 
I bought the Lincoln 180 with the aluminum spoolgun used for $500 with pretty much every consumable and PPE. I've been really happy with it. I do wish I had a TIG tho, the spoolgun works but it's not pretty.

If you want to watch some vids, look up aVe channel on YouTube. He pulls electronics apart for reviews.
 
I've determined I'd like to get a new unused unit. I think they're 800 without the spool locally.
 
Well I could either go with the offshore brand or maybe not be able to afford the US brand in my life time. I went with the AlphaTIG.

F0D15289-AA04-4D6D-B400-158855B55793.jpeg
 
my89notchback said:
$799

This is the 2018 model, so it has a lot of changes from the original. It seems to be really nice.
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If you ordered thru there distributor, you might be able to net some cost back since there site sells direct for less. The AlphaTIG 201XD is 750.00 shipped direct.
 
my89notchback said:
I got a good deal. I just added 4 years of warranty to it.
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Seeing how the manufacturer automatically covers the unit for three years from date of purchased with the exception of the secondary components, which are covered for six months from date of purchased, adding any additional coverage seemed unnecessary. After reading various reviews, the trend in failure typically are immediately identified & determined defective. I don't foresee the AHP unit being a huge hot pile of poop. lol
 
Beigg said:
Seeing how the manufacturer automatically covers the unit for three years from date of purchased with the exception of the secondary components, which are covered for six months from date of purchased, adding any additional coverage seemed unnecessary. After reading various reviews, the trend in failure typically are immediately identified & determined defective. I don't foresee the AHP unit being a huge hot pile of poop. lol
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I just figured I would be safe. I read and watched some of the reviews and there were some concerns on the torch, pedal and hoses. This one being the 2018 version seems to have corrected a lot of those concerns. The parts appear to be more robust than what I saw on YouTube. I’m happy with it.
 
my89notchback said:
I just figured I would be safe. I read and watched some of the reviews and there were some concerns on the torch, pedal and hoses. This one being the 2018 version seems to have corrected a lot of those concerns. The parts appear to be more robust than what I saw on YouTube. I’m happy with it.
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Congratulations!!
 
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