Welding Tips and Tricks

Attached is two sections I cropped from the machines user manual. The first part describes lift start, as does all the information I can find about the machine across the 3 names it's sold under. The instructions clearly paint a different picture though. From the user reviews I've read of people trying to TIG with it, describe exactly the problems one would have trying to scratch start a lift start machine. If it wasn't well below freezing right now I'd go outside and destroy some tungsten figuring it out. In my experience in the field, no TIG function is scratch start, TIG/stick function switch is lift start.

I see most people commonly use Sratch Start and Lift Arc interchangeably. Both rely on tungsten contacting the work to initiate the arc, where High Frequency start requires no contact, or use of a pedal to get the arc started. They all have their advantages under different circumstances.