With the post the other day to v6 header flanges and lots of home made turbos and pipes being made.

I wonder if anyone has looked over this item as a cheap way to a tig welder. Mig is great but tig is better. I use to do tig at a TQ shop and its so easy.



All-in-one torch comes with ceramic tip and electrode holder. Works with most "inverter" type welders.
90 amp rated
6 ft. cable and DINSE 25 connector
6 ft. hose with standard argon gas fitting



ITEM 45966-3VGA

$29.99

looks like this item will work with any welder. has the right stuff for my mig which is like them all. Not sure if it would work with a stick welder, unless it has gas options. Not sure if you can tig without gas???

For $30 it sure looks like the cheap way to tig county. espically if your just gonna use it once in a while. Why spend $500+ on just a tig machine if ya already have a nice mig???

Matt

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45966

 

You forgot the website! Harbor Freight? That reminds me; I haven't gotten a catalog from them in years. They used to send me one every other week.

Is it an adapter for a MIG? Or is it just a replacement for a tig welder's damaged torch? I don't see how it'd hook up to a mig...

 

It is kind of late..

Looks pretty universal to me. The big end would just hook to your postive or negtive cable and the other goes to the gas bottle. I do not think you would want to or need to remove your mig handle.

Course it would require riging on the power, hmm maybe it is for a stick.

even easier then as a stick is allways on. The gas would still hook up to a tank. So maybe it owuld cost about $130 for a tig system. $100 on a cheap 90 amp stick n $30 on the tig torch.

 

Sorry, wont work- not even close. They are two entirely different methods/machines. The unit you posted need to be controled by a foot pedal. MIGS don't have that capability.

 

Well a stick welder is on or off all the time, what the difference??? Both would have live juice until you striked an arch??? Sure a pedal is nice but how muh does nice equal in cash???

It is late n im just thinking...

Should work, give it juice and gas, provide a ground and the rest is science.

Matt

 

You can go this route (as I already have) however, I wouldn't start with that torch. I don't know why they give you a hose with a standard argon tank fitting on it. A full bottle of argon is a 1,500 psi. A bit more then you would put through a hose.

If you want to TIG on the cheap this is what you'll need: bottle for argon, flow meter for the argon, torch w/hose, additional hose & misc fittings to connect argon to torch, stick welder (DC required). To expand that to include aluminum a high frequency generator is required.

For the torch get an industry standard unit. This way you will be able to get parts such as the cups, collets and tungstens at any welding shop. Make sure the torch you get has a valve on the handle, as you won't have one on the rig. The argon has the highest cost among the consumables. For welding ferrous metals use the 2% thoriated tungstens.

With the stuff I've listed above (except hi-freq gen) I've been able to TIG up exhaust systems, body panels, brackets, fixtures and other misc stuff.

RBob.

 

MIG welding is very good when used with a welding gas. Hell, you can make some pretty nice welds with the flux-cored wire too.

I have my 135amp welder and i use it to weld all sorts of things, they come out nice.

Infact, the welds on most bike frames are made by computer controlled mig robots.

 

Thanks rob. I was late but there had to be a solution. a tig is just an arch with gas.

I have a nice mig and a tank and the regulator and stuff. It does and can do a nice weld with just flux but some times you don't want to add metal, just weld it.

a tig/mig would be nice. trigger controled feed only when ya need some wire but it still weld like a tig.

Matt

 

This subject has grown into this thread

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=208349

That was started about a guy on a ford site using an Alt. and a headlight dimer switch to make a really home made tig welder.

I still think the arc welder is the best route but using old cars parts is more creative.

Matt

 

LOL. Yes, I have to chuckle, these things work. Big enough alternator and a big enough motor, and it makes an awesome TIG rig. Pure RMS DC power. There are better ways to control the field (power output) then the headlight dimmer, but it still works.

The best part is that the DC is from a 3 phase generator. So very little pulsing occurs. This keeps a smoother arc for less puddle agitation. I first built one for small work, 55 amps or so. Once I started to use it a 100 amp alternator was installed. Stalled the motor, so then I needed to get a bigger motor. Of course the field control wasn't originally designed for that large an alternator so that was next to go.

If you can swing it, build one, you won't be disappointed. Just make it as big as possible from the get-go. The 'industry term' is a rotating type welding power supply.

But as you mentioned, when it comes to welding an exhaust pipe I fire up the standard AC/DC transformer P/S and TIG it. I use the motor-generator for the fine work.

RBob.

P.S. for more info on the alternator setups search the web for the off-road guys. Lots of folks add another alternator under the hood for welding stuff they break while off road.

 

http://www.readywelder.com/


Here you guys go, cheap, portable powerfull. I got one a few weeks ago. Havent welded alminum yet but Its supposed to work very well according to the local welding shop, one of the guys reccomended I get this.

 

you don't need a foot pedal for GTAW (tig). all you need is an air cooled torch and a dc welder, or even a ac/dc welder. run tig on DCPG (straight polarity) wire welding with fluxed wire isn't mig or more correctly GMAW it would be FCAW. GMAW would be done with solid wire and a shielding gas

 

Being a welder i've used something like that in the pics but if you really want to get good at tig and make nice welds(which is what tig is for) you need a good machine. They are pricey but when a welder is designed to do one thing it does that one thing the best. As for the cheapy harbor freight welders stay away from em if you want a low end mig i'd have to go with the craftsman one my dad payed about 600 bucks for it a few years ago and i played with that until i got a better one but they're nice for all around stuff. Remeber gtaw is designed to make a perfect looking weld more for appearance than anything and although the welder needs an idea of what he's doing the machine needs to be a good one and alot of the time that means cash. My personal preference is the lincoln electric Power Mig 300. It does stick, mig and tig, and it can do mig shielded or flux core. It's all computerised and seems a little intimidating at first but it is THE best machine i've ever worked with. The shop i'm at has a few of em but the problem is they run about $3300. but if i had that cash i'd buy one!

 

Back from the dead. But thought of this thread.

Harborfreight.com no longer sells that tig torch adapter for a stick welder.


THey now sell a 220v 130amp TIG / 90amp ARC welder for $220

Lot number 91811

Says its designed for Tig and Arc

Which is like the proof int he pudding.
An Arc and Tig are the same thing.

220v is no big deal, You can buy or make your own plug so it plugs into 2 110 outlets right. No special line runs needed.

 

I'm gonna to try and get one for an early christmas Bday thing from Texas Granny. [unless anyone has ap roblem with it?]
Sounds dumb but doesn't matter how old I get, Granny still send me money but I rather get a gift then a check.
I have a hard time parting with cash once its in my hands.

 

I bought one about two months back and returned it- It was a piece of crap.

I have a 175 pro Lincoln MIG (220v)welder that I have had for a few years that works 10 times better then that crappy little TIG.
Besides, its only DC polarity and you need AC for aluminum work even in the littleist form.

 

I don't want it for aluminum, just mild steel.
Sometime Id like to weld, without adding metal.

I have a good mig that can do aluminum.


Though I don't have a spool attachment yet. Best aluminum job are done when the spool is on the handle. Don't know why, it sort of looks cheap, but some reason all the pro's use the spool on the gun for aluminum.

 

It is difficult to push the aluminum wire from the cart all the way to the gun with any consistency. It is soft and tends to deform and the feed varies.

A spool on the gun alleviates this issue.

RBob.

 

Makes sense now that I think.

 

Isn’t it about time that you were banned again???

Anyway, as always… WRONG.

Aluminum can be welded DCEN with a little He added to the Ar shielding gas. AAMOF, that is the only way to do it to meet certain standards, and often the only way to weld thick aluminum sections with many welders. This is also the reason why it used to be called “heliarc.”

the 2 outlets have to be on separate legs of the breaker box, which has to have a 220VAC feed. If your breaker box is setup that way it’s probably just as easy and safer to just run yourself a proper 220VAC outlet.

Pushing aluminum… it depends on the grade and the gun liner. They make Teflon gun liners especially for aluminum wire, but in a pinch I’ve gotten away with using a normal gun liner and just being extra careful to keep the torch wire as straight as possible.

What I would suggest getting would strongly depend on what you really want to end up doing with it and how much you (your grandma?) can reasonably spend on it.

 

I have a good mig rated for aluminum, I just don't have the spool on the gun that I see the big dogs use.

I just want a tig for mild steel so I can weld or fix a weld without adding wire. I worked in a torque convertor shop once and one of my job was leak testing after the auto mig machine had at it.
It worked so well as you had plenty of metal already on the part. You just needed to move some around.


If you get a goof or the odd bubble in mig, I gotta grind them weld again then grind. I could turn on the mig for 30 sec and fix it as is.

Plus the stick part can be used for heavier stuff.

 

If that's all you need get yourself a tig torch with a gas valve on ebay for $20-30, and any DC welding power supply (a cheap arc welder, 2 12V car batteries, an alternator, anything that can give you something in the 100A range at about 20VDC +/- a little bit), hook up the torch to it, hook up a bottle of argon and go to town.

I’ve welded a set of headers using a tig torch with a manual trigger and gas valve powered off of an alternator driven by a compressor motor, it works much better then you’d expect, the alternator actually adds a little high frequency noise to the output that acts a lot like a high frequency arc stablilizer. Makes a cool sound while you’re going also.