Sorry if this has been hashed to death, but even after Googling the subject, I seem to be more confused than resolved as to which TIG rig to consider.
I'm looking at TIG primarily for one project - to build an aluminum dock approximately 40' long and 4-5' wide. I'm going to use 1x3x.125 6061 box channel for the framing members, and 3/4" solid rod and box for the strut supports.
I will probably find all kinds of things to weld with TIG once I have it, but for now, the savings on the dock will more than pay for most AC TIG units I've seen out there.
Portability is probably a good thing, but I can hoist a heavy rig into my pickup if I need to.
1/4" is probably the max I'll need to weld, but more likely it will be 3/16 and less. Or, I can do the 1/4 in more than one pass if need be.Most of my welding today is done with an HTP 160 unit, and that has served me quite well, even when I needed to weld 3/8" plate.
I don't want to sell myself short, but I don't want to waste the savings on machine settings I'll never use. I have about $2000 to spend, give or take a couple hundred.
As always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.