Tig welders
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That depends on what you want to do with the machine. Lots of alum? thick or thin? stainless, thick steel, really thin stuff? do you need pulse etc... I use a syncro 350 at my shop and I love it. Lincoln also makes a very nice unit. a precision TIG 275 and 375 I think. Make sure you get a water cooled torch and always overbuy. It's eaiser to have more than you need and not use it then less power than you need and wish you would have bought bigger.
I have also used the syncro 250 and it welds very nice. If your using it just for personal stuff and truck uses it should be an awsome machine for you. Enjoy!
I have also used the syncro 250 and it welds very nice. If your using it just for personal stuff and truck uses it should be an awsome machine for you. Enjoy!
Miller Dynasty 200 DX Hands down the machine of choice. There is nothing you need to do that this machine can't.
And I disagree, get an air cooled rig. You wont weld enough for it to get that hot. If it does you need a bigger rig. I've tigged 4 hours NONSTOP and could still hold the rig. Water cooling them just makes them bulky
And I disagree, get an air cooled rig. You wont weld enough for it to get that hot. If it does you need a bigger rig. I've tigged 4 hours NONSTOP and could still hold the rig. Water cooling them just makes them bulky
I just got my 200DX last week & it currently can do more than I can. I had just decided on one & then Turbo Buick 6 gave me a recommendation so I knew I was on the right track. I did not get water cooled (even though I had originally planned to) as I was talked out of it by a few people (including the salesman)since I will not likely weld continuously for more than 20min. at a given stretch. 1/4" steel & 1/8" aluminum is probably the thickest metal I'll typically weld. The extra $1000 looks better in my pocket anyway.
Thumb control is neat, but I keep turning it the wrong way..... clockwise has always been off to me.
With all the bells & whistles, I'm still trying to see what works best. So far I have not got the hang of high frequency welding, as I seem to weld better at 60-70 hz.... but I plan to experiment a lot more.
Practiced with the pulse function & my welds seem to have a coarser appearance, but it really helps penetration.
As for the AC balance adjustment on aluminum, that works really nice. I started out with standard AC & as soon as I moved it towards the higher numbers, I could immediately see where I will use this. Welded at 80/20 for a while & got some realy nice looking welds.
Tried some very thin metal (around 20ga) & was welding it together with about 3 amps. Only problem was, I did not have the helmet sensitivity up enough & suddenly I was staring at an unfiltered arc. After I quit seeing blue spots, I adjusted the helmet & tried again.
I'm slowly welding every scrap piece together into one big Frankenstein creation, by trying to weld different thicknesses & at multiple angles. Then I try to break it to check the penetration/stength & then I'll attach another piece. Welding 18ga to 1/4" at a 90deg joint for example took me a little while to make it look nice.
I can see my MIG will get a lot less use now.
Thumb control is neat, but I keep turning it the wrong way..... clockwise has always been off to me.
With all the bells & whistles, I'm still trying to see what works best. So far I have not got the hang of high frequency welding, as I seem to weld better at 60-70 hz.... but I plan to experiment a lot more.
Practiced with the pulse function & my welds seem to have a coarser appearance, but it really helps penetration.
As for the AC balance adjustment on aluminum, that works really nice. I started out with standard AC & as soon as I moved it towards the higher numbers, I could immediately see where I will use this. Welded at 80/20 for a while & got some realy nice looking welds.
Tried some very thin metal (around 20ga) & was welding it together with about 3 amps. Only problem was, I did not have the helmet sensitivity up enough & suddenly I was staring at an unfiltered arc. After I quit seeing blue spots, I adjusted the helmet & tried again.
I'm slowly welding every scrap piece together into one big Frankenstein creation, by trying to weld different thicknesses & at multiple angles. Then I try to break it to check the penetration/stength & then I'll attach another piece. Welding 18ga to 1/4" at a 90deg joint for example took me a little while to make it look nice.
I can see my MIG will get a lot less use now.
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For the 20g try starting at around 25 amps. About 6 hrz on the pulse (6x per sec) and about 30% background amperage. Try that and go from there. But with 20g you will prob only need to run about 15amps, but you need the extra heat for the first few secs untill the part gets hot. And use .030 filler wire. A spool of mig wire is easier to get and you can just cut pieces off and straighten them by hand
Pusle lets you run higher heat on thin material and higher heat has a more stable arc. I'm sure at 3 amps you were having a prob with the arc "wandering"
It has been fun so far. I have a lot of .023 mild steel mig wire, so I tried some of it. Seems to work well, but thicker would work much better. I only have 1/16" & 3/32" rod so they are too thick for sheetmetal. (for me anyway)
On the 20ga, I had the welder set on 25, but I kept turning it down & it ended up at 3a. (what I saw on the machine at the end on my weld)
Tried the thicker rods on some fillet welds & it seemed to deliberately try to jump onto the electrode. Got real good at resharpening the tip the first day.... belt sander came in handy.
On the 20ga, I had the welder set on 25, but I kept turning it down & it ended up at 3a. (what I saw on the machine at the end on my weld)
Tried the thicker rods on some fillet welds & it seemed to deliberately try to jump onto the electrode. Got real good at resharpening the tip the first day.... belt sander came in handy.
.023 will work for 20g You don't want to use think wire because it sucks the ehat away from the weld and you wont get fulll pen, plus its super tough to make a nice looking weld thats not bumpy.
On the fillet welds, if one piece is thicker you may need more heat and focus the heat on the thick part, and then stick the wire in the puddle, not the arc. I make most of my tube to flange welds with 3/32. One of these days I take a trip over
I've been thinking about the Dynasty also. I used one a few years ago at school and really liked it. My plans don't include heavy production, just typical auto fab work.
You can actually adjust just about everything so that you can keep your tungsten pointy while welding aluminum
You can actually adjust just about everything so that you can keep your tungsten pointy while welding aluminum
Wow! thats nutz!
Once i go out and do some alum. practicing, im gonna hafta pick ur brain for help/info , as my AL welding experiance is jack sh!t :hug: So far, ive handled all other ferrous metal projects pretty damn sucsessfully! I'll see how I do!
This is a great thread as I just learned how to tig weld and have been looking to get one for the shop.
Miller!
Man I am glad my Dad does not read this site.:rofl:
Guess what color the welders are in Dads weld shop?
Hint he does teaching and consulting for some little welder company out of Cleveland.
Dynastys are very nice. Way over kill for most of us. But overkill is good.
Man if Dad reads that he is likely to flog me with the water cooled leads of his TIG.
Man I am glad my Dad does not read this site.:rofl:
Guess what color the welders are in Dads weld shop?
Hint he does teaching and consulting for some little welder company out of Cleveland.
Dynastys are very nice. Way over kill for most of us. But overkill is good.
Man if Dad reads that he is likely to flog me with the water cooled leads of his TIG.
Miller!
Man I am glad my Dad does not read this site.:rofl:
Guess what color the welders are in Dads weld shop?
Hint he does teaching and consulting for some little welder company out of Cleveland.
Dynastys are very nice. Way over kill for most of us. But overkill is good.
Man if Dad reads that he is likely to flog me with the water cooled leads of his TIG.
I used to be Lincoln all the way. I've used them all at work, even machines over 50 years old.
The conclusion I have come to is that they are both very good and far better than %99.9999 of the people that use them:baby:
Though I run Lincolns in my shop, the Miller is a very fine machine.
Some of the nice features of the recent Lincoln offerings are the Auto sensing settings. If you don't do a lot of welding, and you can't remember what the heck to set what to what to get an acceptable weld, these come in handy. Especially for pulse and the like.
IMO the Millers are keyed towards the pro who knows what he wants his settings to be. The Lincolns a bit more towards the occasional welder, though they stand up to professional use well also.
Some of the nice features of the recent Lincoln offerings are the Auto sensing settings. If you don't do a lot of welding, and you can't remember what the heck to set what to what to get an acceptable weld, these come in handy. Especially for pulse and the like.
IMO the Millers are keyed towards the pro who knows what he wants his settings to be. The Lincolns a bit more towards the occasional welder, though they stand up to professional use well also.
If it's not a bunch of aluminum than air cooled will be fine. That's why I asked what he was going to use it for. I have a miller 350 syncro and 2 dynasty's a 200 and 300. I personally don't like air cooled torches but I also do a lot of continuous and a lot of aluminum. I do like the dynasty 200 but am not a big fan of the lift arc. I see it's purpose but just like a high freq start better without touching the tungsten to the work. just my .02. Good luck with your buy and enjoy the years of service!!
Roll cage, ladder bars, compound turbo piping, and a few other projects are all things I would like to do.
The lift arc is for if you don't want to use a foot pedel. If you have the foot pedel set up and the machine set for it, it will do hi-freq starts. My Lincoln is the same way. I personaly hate lift arc as well. If there is a machine at work I'm using and it has it I will turn it off and just run scratch start....just like stick.
Air or water is a personal preference, but it is a large added cost for a beginer to add to a machine. But with a dynasty you can always add it later on for the same amount it would cost to get it with the machine.