Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi All,

I'm a new member from down under - Chile that is. I've used a Lincoln buzz box for hobby welding for 30 years. Now I am in Chile without it and need something to replace it. The stores here carry the Indura brand welders plus a few others.

Is there any advantage to using a high frequency welder designed for TIG that also does stick? I would like to try TIG ultimately for aluminum, but is there any benefit on stick performance (like striking an arc, welding sheet metal) over an inverter welder designed for stick only? I have been researching welders and it looks like inverter welders have new features that will make welding easier than with my old Lincoln. But are there any HF features that help further?

Thanks in advance for any input.

There is no advantage that I know of to have HF start on a machine you will use mostly for stick welding for the simple reason when you select stick / MMA on it's controls the HF will be turned off - it only operates in Tig mode - there is some advantage to having a more than basic model inverter as these will usually have arc force / dig function that will allow you to adjust the arc to suit different rods like 6010 / 7018 & help get a good start without sticking - some basic models don't do that - also look at open circuit voltage - "old school sets & buzz boxes were typically 50 volts - some were even down in the 40's - this was insufficient to run many specialty rods - 70 >80 volts is more common now & good for all rods.

Noddybrian is quite correct... The HF features of the TIG/Stick machines are not enabled in Stick mode.

There is a device called the "Arc Pig" made for DC stick welders that gives you HF Start (only!) for stick-rod. It's a wonder for both starting and restarting the rod. Anyone who's repeatedly scraped the glass off a half-burned 7018 to restart it would appreciate it.

I think the link is:

http://www.arcpig.com

Edit... Yep, that's the link. It'll also change a scratch-start DC TIG to HF start. Not needed with the TIG maching you're looking at.

Steve S

Thanks Otto / noddybrian,

To be honest it was the Arc Pig that got me looking at the TIG machines. It looks great in its promo video. I especially liked the little girl welding on the sheet steel. Has anyone had personal experience with it? Does it live up to its hype?

I have not.

The Arc Pig is sound in theory, but I've not seen it reviewed impartially.

Steve S

Hey,

If you leave your welder in tig mode and put a stick electode in the holder, you can use the hf start. Handy for a quick weld and invaluable in a tight space where you cannot risk a stray arc. Im not taking the piss , im serious.

Mick

How much that pig costs?

It is $495 from the manufacturer, but I've seen it for $400 new on ebay.

Man thats waaay to moch for a tesla coil thing. The welder I am using telwin made in italia was abouth 80 buck that means I could buy 4 welders of that kind for one that tesla coil pig...and its an nice welder...goes from 55 to 160 amps, has fan that works all the time...

Maybe people should just practise litle bit more arc starting to avoid rod sticking...beeing thats a realy big sum of money...


One thing I do nou understan,,,and ofcourse my electric knowlege is poor...is how that thing affects welding qualiti.

A welder is a simple transformer that reduces high voltage input(low amps) and produces low voltage 15 to 40 and pimps the amperage from 50 to 160, 200, 300 amps depending on the welder.

What basicli that arc pig does is a work of tesla coil and tesla coil as I know reverses that proces wich welder has done. Making that for example 30 volts 160 amps curent go to eaven 12000 volts.

Buth if you pimp the volts up you reduce amperage(if I am not wrong)...and that means that arc is easy to strike...like in that arc pig video...buth you do not have high amps anny more....

for example if welder output was 30 volts 160 amps afther tesla coil it would be maybe 12000 volts buth only 100 amps...


and that means that you must increase welders amperage.

Its good to have an easy arc start buth what then...if your amperage is lowered you wont be able to melt welding metal so good...and penetration will be week. So on smal welders you will get eaven less penetration(meaning that pig is useless)...and for those big amps welders...well....you will be able to incrase welders amps...buth with high amps eaven without that pig arc is always easy to strike(again meaning that pig is useless)


On TIG welding it does maybe a good Job because I do not know annything about tig, buth as I understand it that pig is totaly useless on arc welder.

Ofcourse...maybe I am totaly wrong...buth again...practise makes arc start lot more easyer than 400bucks gadget

The Arc Pig supposedly super-imposes its own high voltage-low amp current on top of the welders low volt-high amps. Thus it starts the welders amps flowing basically by creating what amounts to a static electric arc. At least that's what I got out of their info.

The essence, as I understand it, is the arc pig's tesla coil only functions when the resistance at the arc is very high, producing the HF arc for startup. (The pig, I believe, has a separate ground clamp, so power from your weld lead travels to ground to power the tesla coil) As you close the gap and the resistance drops, and you establish a low-resistence shielded arc, the pig is no longer the path of least resistance, and stops working until you break the arc.

Steve S

Chileman,
as the others have mentioned the HF gets turned off in stick mode.
However if the machine you are looking at is an inverter type, from my limited personal experience these start a rod a lot easier than the old buzz box's. I base this on a comparison I did between an old CIG weldmate 140 and a new inverter tig / stick I bought to replace it.
Cheers

The ease of starting is because of the dc current instead of ac. Start easier than a blue in a pub that just ran out of beer in the middle of summer.

Mick