Is it possible to get a 'starter' TIG welder for $500-1000? Brands, recommendations, costs?

I don't need a 250 amp unit. I figure a 125-150 amp welder would do anything I would need in a home garage. It can be a 220VAC unit, that fine.

I am asking about TIG because I need to be able to weld aluminum also. I don't want a MIG welder with aluminum wire feed.

 

the cheapest i have seen for a tig welder has been about 1200

if you can, go for the miller brand. at school we have a lincoln and a miller, and while the lincoln has more options for control, i like the miller unit much more.

 

also when i was practicing on aluminum, i needed to set the welder to about 130 amps. and this aluminum was about 16 guage.

i have even seen people use over 200 amps for about 3/8" thick aluminum. aluminum wicks away heat really fast so you need high amperage to compensate.

steels are easier to weld tho.

good luck

 

I'm not an expert on shop welding, so bear with me, but what i use is a good DC stick welder, with a tig rig and bottle of argon.
You pic up a brand new 220 AC/DC stick welder for around 500, then invest the rest in a TIG setup with an argon bottle.
I'm a pipefitter so everything I do is usually in the field.
These are the setup's that I'm most familiar with.

 

i just bought a 250 amp miller for about 3000. since you have the need for aluminum you'll need a machine with AC and a high frequency unit. if it wasn't for that you could buy an air cooled tig torch and run it off any old dc machine. there are several low end home use tigs. lincoln had a race day special at indy last september for 1200. i buy from BOC gases and they have coustomer apprication days once or twice a year and the prices are way better for that. personally when i look at welding machines miller is about all i'll consider.

 

Unless you come across a deal like my boss did:

cost of a custom aluminum frame canopy for a houseboat: $5000

cost of a TIG welder given away in exchange for building said canopy: $3000

 

Thanks for all the great replys.

Any advice on what to look for in a used Miller AC/DC TIG welder?

My only real requirement is under $1000 and it must be a single phase unit.

I've been looking at e-bay of course for price comparasions.
http://search.ebay.com/search/search...ery=miller+tig

 

Nothing wrong with MIG and aluminum wire feed. We have 4 MIG machines at work for doing steel and aluminum. We also have an air arc and a plasma cutter but have never needed a TIG welder. It would be nice sometimes but just isn't needed. I do all my aluminum welding with MIG. You just need to know what wire size to use for each job and make sure the aluminum is clean. I've even done aluminum stick welding but never again since I've used a MIG.

About the only time you "really" need TIG is if you're welding chromoly steel. Or maybe you want to weld up some pop cans.

As for finding a cheap TIG welder, I doubt you'll find one NEW for that price. Don't limit yourself to just Miller welders. There are many other good welders on the market.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3104655445

 

I can't argue with Stephen - don't overlook Linde/Union Carbide. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Miller either. The only brands I'm a little suspect of are the newer Lincolns and some of the Hobarts.

Ede is right (as usual) - spend a few extra bucks for a water or water/glycol cooled unit, then run a ¼" water line for the welder or plan on a closed-loop cooling system. And you WILL want at least HF start on the power supply.

The used market will probably offer the best bargains. There are a lot of used equipment brokers out there, but the smaller practical items like welders and vertical mills seem to go a lot faster than the other machine tools. For the price of a new TIG you can purchase a used Mazak or Okuma CNC vertical and make LT1 intake conversions in your sleep, as well as head porting, etc.

One of the problems you might encounter is that the larger/better TIG power supplies are going to be three-phase 208/240/480. You could use an inverter if you don't have a 3-ph service in your garage, or convert the input transformer to a lower output single-phase. Just be aware of the differences when you go shopping.