[Coyotehunter7018]

Hi all, I am a stick welder trying to get into tig welding to further my welding experience. I currently have a everlast 300 st and am looking for advice on how to set it up for tig. Every video I have watched shows welders that have a gas in and gas out port built into the welder, mine does not have that. I need advice on what hookup I need to get gas and power to my tig torch. My welder accepts dinse 50 connectors and the torch I will be purchasing is the Radnor 17fv one piece. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[noddybrian]

Welcome to the forum Coyotehunter 7018.

That should be an easy one - it's just an adapter from dinse 50 > standard tig mono cable thread ( 3/8" BSP ) plus a regulator / flow meter - both easily found on Ebay or hopefully your LWS.

torch adapter.JPG (8.66 KiB) Viewed 605 times

[RamboBaby]

You'll also probably want to have a torch that has a gas valve on it:

http://www.ckworldwide.com/150-amps-ckc150.html

[Poland308]

Jody has a good video on scratch start tig that you will want to watch.

http://welding-tv.com/2016/02/02/scratch-start-tig/

[noddybrian]

OP lists #17FV as his choice of torch so he knows he needs a gas valve but I would ask why a #17 ? they're usually rated as 150amp @ 60% duty but are limited by the same size power cable as a #9 which is usually 125 @ 100% - the bit that fries is usually the transition from hose to threaded tail in the handle area - both will easily melt down if his 300 amp set is used in anger - my point being if your doing root runs on pipe then switching to 7018 fill /cap then a 26 or trimline 26 would be better suited but if your doing odd small diameter stuff that is too small to stick weld then surely the amps could be kept low enough to use a #9 torch which is so much nicer to use - the #17 never seems to serve that much purpose as the difference in amps / heat ability is out weighed by the large consumables - if you have to go large then the #26 makes more sense. - just a thought - others likely disagree.

[MosquitoMoto]

OP lists #17FV as his choice of torch so he knows he needs a gas valve but I would ask why a #17 ? they're usually rated as 150amp @ 60% duty but are limited by the same size power cable as a #9 which is usually 125 @ 100% - the bit that fries is usually the transition from hose to threaded tail in the handle area - both will easily melt down if his 300 amp set is used in anger - my point being if your doing root runs on pipe then switching to 7018 fill /cap then a 26 or trimline 26 would be better suited but if your doing odd small diameter stuff that is too small to stick weld then surely the amps could be kept low enough to use a #9 torch which is so much nicer to use - the #17 never seems to serve that much purpose as the difference in amps / heat ability is out weighed by the large consumables - if you have to go large then the #26 makes more sense. - just a thought - others likely disagree.

While I agree that if full throttle on a 300 amp welder is put into play it will promptly toast a #17 torch, if amps are usually below 175 or so and runs are not overly long, it is a great little rig.

I use a #17 flex head gas cooled torch with a stubby gas lens as my go-to rig. I often push it a little over its amp limit (but not to 300 amps...) and it holds up really well. With the stubby gas lens kit it is also fairly compact and nimble.

Just my 2 cents.



Kym

[noddybrian]

@ Kym.

I too had a couple of #17's mostly because they came as a package deal with welders - I fried one though in fairness I used it over it's intended limits a lot! I replaced it with a TL26 ( main every day torch - kinda would like water cooled but move around too much plus expense is hard to justify given how often I would really need it ) which I do often use a stubby kit on - but in truth if you take into account the reduction in capacity ( some say 30amps - some say 30% bringing the #17 down close to a #9 ) & the stupid high cost of stubby kits compared with regular consumables I doubt I will buy any more as they wear out ( which they do very quickly ) - I would sooner keep the #26 on as a general purpose torch & buy a #9 for times I need smaller size or dexterity on smaller parts - only upside I see to stubby kits on a #17 VS regular #9 is it gives greater choice in ceramics - it depends on how you use it - I imagine many people start with a #17 if that's what comes included & nothing wrong in that - my point despite the ramble was to see what the OP was going to use his rig for & what would be his best option - obviously 300 amps is too much to use air cooled on & I'm sure he does'nt intend to - mostly intrigued what he does want to tig .

[Bill Beauregard]

I've watched several people set up for TIG with a welder not designed for it. Some give up, others upgrade. Fieldres, (Travis Field) has excellent you tube videos showing the process. Several others I know of have done it. I feel it is a specialized technique. Pipeline welders use it.

TIG as I know it involves more specific machines. Steel is less machine specific, a DC TIG welder is less complex. Aluminum needs AC, and many feel numerous features are important.

My third TIG machine I can adjust frequency, chose 4 different wave patterns, balance EP against EN, pulse, and, with a card, control amplitude splitting halves of the AC cycle.

Decide what you want to weld, then decide if you want to fit your welder. For me, aluminum was important. Aluminum needs lots of power, and lots of duty cycle. My first Miller Diversion 180 lacked power, but mostly duty cycle. I replaced it with a primitive Dialarc 250, a machine producing 310 Amps at 60% duty AC. If there was a power limit, I never saw it!

My third is a Dynasty 280DX. It has features I'll never use. Those I consider important are; square wave, adjustable frequency, and most important; balance. For special applications repeatability is important.

Bill