Tombstone tig ????

There is no current control and no way to turn current on and off, otherwise you are great,.

Aw poo. I forgot about the fine current control. Well I have two 50' lengths of 1/0 welding lead to sell. So that should get me into a home type TIG inverter machine. . . .thanks Iggy.

You can, it probably won't have the high voltage start or any good way to control current but I ran one for a while welding irrigation pipe in the field with a Briggs & Stratton generator to power it. You can scratch start on a piece of copper and then slide over to the work without the high voltage.

You don't even need a gas control, as such. The first machines I used had a valve on the regulator output that you hung your torch on when you weren't using it. The weight of the torch turned the gas off. Pick up the torch and Viola! gas.

I once bought two Syncrowave 250s for $150 each. So I would say, two

How much do you want for your 50' leads?

You can scratch start TIG with any DC machine. You will just leave marks, so make them in a place that you will cover up. The Tombstones have amperage jumps, so you won't be able to fine tune it much. You may have to put some sort of gas switch on your torch so you don't use a lot of gas. A twist knob works. It is slightly crude when compared to a soft start with a pedal and a gas solenoid, but yes, it will work. You may run into torch temperature issues if you use it to weld anything that is very thick. But then, you could rig up a water cooled torch without much fuss. But by the time you get all that done, a used TIG with all those features is only a little more money. If you just want to get started and that's all you have to work with, go for it.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend. Download the book.

If you scratch start you don't need high frequency?

jsw

If you scratch start you don't need high frequency?

jsw

If you can live with the tracks it leaves, and get the hang of it so you don't stick the expensive electrodes. You can also use a copper plate to start on and then move quickly to the intended puddle starting point. But, it is sooooooooo much easier to just put it where you want it and squeeze the trigger. Then there's the times of accidental contact in compliance with Murphy's law. Then you combine an autodark with soft start, and you feel like you've moved from a cranky clutch stick shift beater truck to a new Cadillac.

Steve

I've used only machines with HF, big ones in questionable condition at school and my Lincoln 175. Does anything other than starting degrade if the spark gap needs adjustment?

jsw

I've used only machines with HF, big ones in questionable condition at school and my Lincoln 175. Does anything other than starting degrade if the spark gap needs adjustment?

jsw

That would be an Ernie question.

Steve

The big, heavy transformer based machines like the Syncrowaves are solid and reliable, most issues are things like the spark gap, or the AC/DCEN/DCEP selector switch. Some of the smaller, lighter inverter based machines are known to be problematical, and all are very expensive to repair if something fails.

(...)

My Miller Maxstar 150 has performed flawlessly.

...and all are very expensive to repair if something fails.

--Winston

Jim Wilkins wrote in sci.engr.joining.welding on Tue, 8 Feb 2011 06:44:23 -0800 (PST):

The HF current is used to do two things:

That second part comes in when using AC current to weld aluminum. The arc zone can act as a rectifier, cutting off half of the AC cycle. The constant HF current allows the arc to restart. Newer welders use square wave AC current that changes direction so fast that you no longer need to have the HF current on all the time.

I don't recall the specific model since I have a Syncrowave 250, but there was at least one inverter model that was known to be problematic. In any event, if something does happen to an inverter machine, it tends to be catastrophic cost wise and you essentially need to get a new machine.

Just now I DIGS on 'Maxstar 150 "repair cost"' of the 20 (twenty!) responses, most were not related to my question. The remainder had the character of old wife's tales rather than specific examples of 'defects in materials or workmanship' issues.

I'm willing to be convinced there is a quality issue, provided significant numbers of case studies. Right now, I just don't see the data to support the conclusion. :)

--Winston

Nope. The high freq is used to start the arc while you're in DC mode. This gives you a cleaner start since there is little to no risk of contaminating the weld with tungsten.

If your machine has a pulsing function, the high freq can be set to deliver your pulses per second after it starts the arc.

If you run AC, the high freq will start the arc and then switch over to whatever balance you are running (percent positive vs. negative current) for the cleaning / welding action on aluminum.

Anyone know if a pulsing tig machine exists that does not have high- freq? Does the pulser and high-freq use the same doohickeys to do their different jobs?

Tin Lizzie DL wrote in sci.engr.joining.welding on Wed, 9 Feb 2011 18:13:39 -0800:

I got to call shenanigans on this.

The HF function and the pulser and balance control are separate.