Best small TIG for gun plumbing

[tokguy]

Once again I find myself needing a 'Touch with a TIG'.
After visiting with my son about it... I pondered what the best small one is and how dear is it to buy.
Any thoughts or input is appreciated.
I did take welding in high school and still do a little now and then.
But I do find myself needing one a couple times a year.
Hence the query.
Regards
Tokguy

 

[guntech]

The best Tig or Mig I use is an expert welder not far away. He works every week and the 'feel' is always there.

 

[zak88]

If you are wanting to learn MIG or TIG welding. Miller all the way. With their autoset mig welders the machine sets itself up, not perfect but it gets you welding. I have a Miller Diversion 180 TIG. Poor mans Dynasty. Still about 3k but it’s the TIG equivalent of the autoset, it will get you welding. Just my $0.02 as a certified welder.

 

[375 RUM]

look up everlast

 

[45ACPKING]

Tig welding is near an art form and excellent vision and a steady hand are essential.
Like Guntech, whenever i needed to have components TIG welded, I sought out the services of an expert tig welder.
Lucky for me I know two of the best tig welders in the province so I haven't bothered to learn myself LOL

That said, if I was buying a machine for home hobby and fabrication , which I do a lot of, I would probably buy a Miller Maxstar® 161 STL 120-240 V

 

[trevj]

Once again I find myself needing a 'Touch with a TIG'.
After visiting with my son about it... I pondered what the best small one is and how dear is it to buy.
Any thoughts or input is appreciated.
I did take welding in high school and still do a little now and then.
But I do find myself needing one a couple times a year.
Hence the query.
Regards
Tokguy

If you never will need aluminum welding capability, you don't need AC TIG. The DC only machines are generally cheaper.

For only a couple times a year, look for a decent TIG welder that you can pay for his or her services. If you want the capability yourself, I would start watching the used sales local to you to see what is out there. Tough to go wrong with the big names, Lincoln, Miller, etc.

I have two different TIG rigs, one is a 250HF Miller, the other a diesel Acklands branded Miller 225 with a HF TIG starter box that came with. I just got the 250HF running on a water cooled wp-20 torch, and it's pretty sweet, but it's too big for the tweakers to pick up and carry if they break in to the shop...
Speaking of TIG starter boxes, if you have a DC capable stick welder, you can mount a starter box in line with it to power a TIG torch.

In the 'off brand' products, price seems to be directly inverse to the risk you are taking. A thousand bucks buys you an awful lot of capability but the name on the box is likely just one of many different stickers that went out the door of whatever plant made it in China..

 

[bearhunter]

Once again I find myself needing a 'Touch with a TIG'.
After visiting with my son about it... I pondered what the best small one is and how dear is it to buy.
Any thoughts or input is appreciated.
I did take welding in high school and still do a little now and then.
But I do find myself needing one a couple times a year.
Hence the query.
Regards
Tokguy

Please don't take this the wrong way.

Welders must be good artists as well as knowledgeable IMHO. Some people call it "the touch"

I have a class C welding ticket but that doesn't make me a welder and it certainly doesn't make me a ''good welder''

I can melt things together so that they will hold, not leak, but that's where it ends.

About a month ago, I had to get a trigger guard that had "lightening" cuts milled into it repaired. The best method was to get it TIG welded and then clean it up afterwards. That cost $50 but it was worth every cent. The welder was a master and very little cleanup was needed.

That particular welder was knowledgeable as well as a skilled artist. I saw some of his other work and there was a passion to it, to make it appealing to the eye, as well as strong. I find musicians often are good welders as well but you have to explain very carefully what you want done, or they will put their own slant on the project.

 

[Meroh]

I have a Century Arc 230 Inverter (A Lincoln brand made in China). Amazing as a stick welder, and a switch for TIG. Bought mine a few years ago for about $400; Tenaquip sells them now for $500.00 Add about another $150 - 200 for the torch, consumables, cable, gas adaptor, then another $200 for a regulator and small Argon cylinder. I had a bunch of stuff kicking around so it cost me a lot less... Then practice for days. Fortunately, I am an engineer with a back-ground in tool and die, and fabrication, so this is a great little home machine for me. I can weld thin gauge steel and up to about 1/4" with TIG, can do hard surface, light brazing, Stainless, but not great for aluminum since it is DC only, no High Frequency square wave. I can do structural stuff and have used rods up to 5/32 High tensile rods, and weld very smoothly with it.

If you are not familiar with the TIG welding process, take the job to a pro.

 

[BattleRife]

Lincoln and Miller machines can reliably be found in good working order at reduced prices from Red-D-Arc, which is a welder rental company. It may take practice to get good enough to justify owning a welder, but unless you buy the welder you will never get the practice.

 

[gobigorgohome]

I'm not a gunsmith, but I do like guns. However, I am a red seal welder. It depends what all you want. If.you want a tig specific machine, the Everlast machines are hard to beat for the price. But a good well rounded all around machine is the Eaab Rebels. Multiple purpose machine, you can run mig, tig or stick, theyre easy to use, easy to learn on and all around great.

 

[tokguy]

Thanks for the input. I'm already building small parts by hand out of the parts box and otherwise.
The cautionary input... I appreciate as well. I already run a stick and torch... not expert but I get by as I enjoy what I'm doing... I like working with metal.
Been around a fairly rounded group of welders in the last 30 years or so... I'm familiar with their capabilities.
Thanks for the input all... I will take it under consideration.

 

[trevj]

Thanks for the input. I'm already building small parts by hand out of the parts box and otherwise.
The cautionary input... I appreciate as well. I already run a stick and torch... not expert but I get by as I enjoy what I'm doing... I like working with metal.
Been around a fairly rounded group of welders in the last 30 years or so... I'm familiar with their capabilities.
Thanks for the input all... I will take it under consideration.

The hand skills for TIG are a pretty close match with those for Torch welding. Make a puddle, add filler, move along.

Mainly, it's just getting used to the different heat control method, where in torch welding, you pull the torch back, TIG you either slide the Amperage control down, or back off the pedal.
And teaching yourself to hold the torch in place while the post-flow of shielding gas runs on to the part as it cools.

I bought a couple decent brand name torches off ebay. Military Surplus, if the Nato Stock Number markings are to be believed. But pretty cheap for good stuff.
I bought a bunch of consumables at the 'local' Air Liquide store, they were almost as cheap as buying direct from China, and in stock. Not much savings to be had by buying an assortment off ebay, when all is considered. Collets, cups, back caps in different sizes, etc.

I can recommend buying a couple gas lenses in the sizes that you will use. As well as a couple spare cups in appropriate sizes.

I did not bother to equip myself for low amperage work with small tungstens. Figured pretty much that I can do fine work with a sharp tip on the 3/32 tungsten just as well, and fewer parts to deal with than if I was using five different sizes of tungsten. For what I wanted, I figured 1/8 and 3/32 rods were fine.

It is worth considering, if you may want to expand or increase capability later, that your torch consumables be compatible with a water cooled torch. In my case I have both WP9 and WP20 torches, both using the same consumables, the 9 is air cooled, the 20, water cooled.

 

[DANS40X]

trevj,
I did not bother to equip myself for low amperage work with small tungstens. Figured pretty much that I can do fine work with a sharp tip on the 3/32 tungsten just as well, and fewer parts to deal with than if I was using five different sizes of tungsten. For what I wanted, I figured 1/8 and 3/32 rods were fine.

For general TIG welding your torch & tungsten diameter choices will work.

question-
which draws a finer line-
A properly prepared/sharpened draftsman's pencil or a crayon?

When one gets down to the single digit amperage ranges,the .5mm(.020") & 1.0mm(.040") tungsten will run circles around 1.5mm(.060") tungsten choices w/o arc wander.

Mate your tungsten choice to parent material & power source use.

Inverter power sources run/arc wander the least w/ Rare Earth (gray-color coded) tungsten of which is non-radioactive.
Tranformer/coil power sources run best w/ 1%-2% Thoriated (red-color coded) tungsten.
Lanthanated tungsten is not required for general TIG welding.

If more amperage is required that your power source is capable of-Helium will gain you heat @ 3X the flow rate of Argon....unless one mixes....gas'.

 

[trevj]

trevj,
I did not bother to equip myself for low amperage work with small tungstens. Figured pretty much that I can do fine work with a sharp tip on the 3/32 tungsten just as well, and fewer parts to deal with than if I was using five different sizes of tungsten. For what I wanted, I figured 1/8 and 3/32 rods were fine.

For general TIG welding your torch & tungsten diameter choices will work.

question-
which draws a finer line-
A properly prepared/sharpened draftsman's pencil or a crayon?

When one gets down to the single digit amperage ranges,the .5mm(.020") & 1.0mm(.040") tungsten will run circles around 1.5mm(.060") tungsten choices w/o arc wander.

Mate your tungsten choice to parent material & power source use.

Inverter power sources run/arc wander the least w/ Rare Earth (gray-color coded) tungsten of which is non-radioactive.
Tranformer/coil power sources run best w/ 1%-2% Thoriated (red-color coded) tungsten.
Lanthanated tungsten is not required for general TIG welding.

If more amperage is required that your power source is capable of-Helium will gain you heat @ 3X the flow rate of Argon....unless one mixes....gas'.

Horses for courses and all that.

The day comes I NEED single digit amperage, I will buy the machine and the appropriate parts as needed. And like as not, still end up using whatever is in the torch, if I need low amp work. As I am not welding turbine blades, I probably don't really need to know what works best on those, eh?

MY machines will do about 15 amps at minimum, neither are solid state, and my desires are not to do micro-welding or silly welder tricks like welding pop cans together, so I stated what my shopping criteria were.

Based on my experiences welding bolt handles and similar work during lunchtimes, back when I had ready access to some pretty nice machines (mostly Synchrowave 250, and up) and almost unlimited supplies of filler metals, gas, and tungstens, the stuff that fits what the OP wants to do, is going to work just fine without dicking around with yet another size electrode.

As to the pencil vs crayon thing, I thought we kept crayons away from welders. Pretty much for the same reasons given for Marines. But, to answer, they both will make the same line, if both are sharpened to the same extent. After that, it's up to the user, to provide the skilled input, which results in a satisfactory result.

For basic home shop work, I'll stick to what I bought. I know what I can do with the stuff. I know what I don't do, and don't need to do, too. As chosen, those supplies suit my needs. Like as not, they will suit the OP's needs, too, unless he has some ideas to the contrary. For which, he shall have to shop!

 

[Beater]

i have looked at them all a few years ago and finally bought a lincoln MP210 it has turned out to be an excellent mchine. i have tons of experiance welding and building all kindsa stuff, and i like this lil welder. its not industrial duty, just right for the garage. it comes set up for MIG and stick only , you have to buy the tig options extra. tig came to me very easy as when i learned to weld it was a torch and bronze. they when you mastered that torch and steel. i dont think you could go wrong with it

 

[SND]

If you're gonna get into tig, definitely get one with a pedal. Also Inverter for lower power use, compact and easy to carry, I've done onsite work with mine many times.
It's nice to have AC capability for aluminium too.
Also need a decent auto-dark helmet.

My main TIG welder is an 17-18years old Thermal Arc 185TSW AC/DC, its been an awesome little machine, put 1000's of hours on it, its really too bad they got discontinued although the Esab ET186I is probably a current comparable model ( but likely made in China now instead of Japan like before I'd guess). If/When my old TA185 one dies, it'll be between Miller or Esab I think. I've done a lot of tig welding with a Dynasty300 with water cooled torch too, they're decent but $$,$$$.
I also have an Esab Rebel multi-process, mainly using it for stick, quality is really good for that price range of machine and does a few things the Lincoln MP210 won't, has a better wire feed system/gun too(tweco)

As to learning to TIG. It helps if a decent tig welder can show you proper settings and procedure but there's really not a ton to it, mostly just practice, keep the filler in the gas shield and post flow long enough to let the weld, tungsten and filler cool before you pull away, that's where a lot of welders fail to take those extra few seconds to properly finish beads.
If you got good eye sight and a bit of hand coordination that helps, mostly for the little 5amp stuff, but that's the nice thing with Tig, no smoke, no flux, you can see exactly what you're doing and what to correct.