Welding Tips and Tricks

I am looking for a reliable tig welder that will be the center piece to a new company. So far I have
seen an Airco 225 tig welder, a l-tec 225 migmaster welder, and a miller 320 a/? Tig welder. Aluminum
will be fabricated almost exclusively. Any and all opinions on these, or any welder, as an option will be
greatly appreciated and heeded.

A bit more information would help...

What thicknesses will be welded, and to what specification/code? What positions? What alloys (may matter depending on thickness and code)?

The first thing I'm getting at is whether the newer technologies would be of any benefit to you (if not, why spend the $). Second is the power requirements and duty-cycle.

I'm not familiar with the I-tec, but you called it a "migmaster", so I'd automatically question it for TIG without some serious review (unless you're going to incorporate some MIG work in the mix).

Every tool to it's task...

Steve S

Thanks for the response, first of all. As to fleshing out the question...Aluminum will be the primary
medium of construction. Up to1/4 inch thick should work for all fabrications. 90 degree angles with some
reinforcing 45 degree straping will be used as well. The device being made will be free standing, so access
to all welding joints will be very easy. One welder that is interesting is an Airco 250 tig welder with a
cooling unit. I would have to buy a torch. Can a pedal be attached to this unit? The asking price is
$500.00. Does that sound decent, or should running the other direction seem like good advice?

If I were doing fillets all day on 1/4" aluminum, I'd want 40% duty-cycle at 250A.

I don't think the Airco will handle that, but it would be a start if you kept duty cycles short.

If you can find a Miller 250DX, it will have a peak of 310A at 20%, and do 250A at 40%. With water-cooling, it'll do everything you want. On the red side, the Lincoln PrecisionTig 375 will also serve.

My range of experience in machines of this range is somewhat limited, so hopefully others will chime in.

Steve S

Unless you are welding a known set of parameters that calls for an occasional maximum thickness of 1/4", you're going to be pissing into the wind with any less than a 250 amp machine in any type of production setting, and that would be minimum. If I was going to be fabricating aluminum exclusively, I would opt for a 300 amp as a minimum and preferably a 350 and have a 300 amp torch setup on hand. The owners of my company were told by the rep that they needed a 250 for welding 1/4". Get a busy fabricator on the business end of that machine and they will push it to it's limit every day, especially if there is any bulk to the weldments.

I have been welding 1/4 thick ali for the last 3 days....each component is 30 mins of non stop welding ( apart from a couple of repositions and picking up new rods )...Plant set at around 210 amps using a 50/50 Argon Helium mix , this is on a Murex 353is Transtig ...I would not attempt the same job with a 250 amp plant as it would be too close to it's limit to be safe..

Thank you all for your excellent advice. Based on your information my search for the correct welder
has been dramatically changed. You all have saved me a lot of money even before a purchase has been
made.

Gratefully,

Chip A.

Dynasty350 with awater cooler. Its expensive but well worth it for the reliability. At my work we do about 90 percent aluminum anything from .030 all the way up to 1 inch. All the machones run 24 hours a day usually 6 days a week. We do have a 700 I use for the 1 inch jobs but the 350 handle everything else all day and we hardly ever have issues.

ajlskater1 wrote:Dynasty350 with awater cooler. Its expensive but well worth it for the reliability. At my work we do about 90 percent aluminum anything from .030 all the way up to 1 inch. All the machones run 24 hours a day usually 6 days a week. We do have a 700 I use for the 1 inch jobs but the 350 handle everything else all day and we hardly ever have issues.

If i was setting up my own business this would be my choice of machine ..

The only I don't really care fot is the miller water coolers. I have had some issues with thr filters plugging up with this white sludge. If I was going going to set up a shop I would builf my own cooling system and have it plumbed throughout the shop. I work at place that did this and did a lot of thivk stainless and nickel pipe and pressure vessles on a turn table. They had dynadty 350s as well, you could do a 40 inch pipe to a flange at 350 amps continous all the way around with a3/32 tungsten abd the tungsten wouldn't erode at all plus you could hold the torch barehanded as soon you were done welding. Wish I had thst now lol.