There's a few of you out there with TIG setups... I'm wondering what tig torches you guys are using and what you think of what your using. I'm mostly wondering how torch size, design and whether it's air cooled or not effects it's usefulness for working on typical hotrod/racecar projects...

What features do you like and dislike?

I used a weldcraft sr9v the other day and was thrilled about how small and easy to control it was, but the owner warned me that he was having problems with the back cap getting hot trying to weld larger then 1/4" steel and melting when trying to weld any aluminum.

 

It all depends on what you're welding. I've been using a 9 Series for most everything... It's air cooled, so on long welds, or production bench work, it will get pretty warm. I don't do enough high-amp stuff that I need a larger water cooled setup. For the aluminum (remember AC has 1/2 the cycle putting heat back into the torch), it was thin enough material (alum intercooler end tanks and piping) that it wasn't a problem. I needed to get a very small torch (no back cap) to get the top corner of the main hoop/halo/rear shock bars. I think it had an 80 amp rating... Worked well enough for the very intermittent small stuff. I like the Weldcraft brand too. FWIW, I've melted the hand grips, but never the back caps.

 

I built two cages last winter, and I plan on building one this winter or next spring (I need a new 3rd gen body first), and to be honest, I can’t see wasting my time to do it with a tig. Maybe the main hoop welds just to make things pretty where they have to be exposed. (I still believe that GOOD MIG welds are structurally as strong as TIG and that 4130 is not any stronger for cage/roll bar construction and much more dangerous in use, and I have no intensions of going faster then 7.49 )

Biggest reason that I’m messing with a tig setup is that I’ve been making a lot of smaller, custom stuff. Headers, intake parts (mustang ‘power pipes’) with assorted small flanges, a couple of custom oil pans (Cadillac rails with Pontiac and Chevy bottom halves), and from trying it the other day TIG is stupid easy to make pretty welds with (where you actually have to futz and tinker and position yourself as much as the work to get pretty welds with a MIG)

 

Andris, what’s the heaviest aluminum that you’ve tried? I didn’t get to try the 9 on aluminum, but I was told that he was having real problems with the back caps with aluminum.