Best tig welder for starting out and for aluminum

[JohnDeereJimOhio]

I would like to buy a tig welder. I can weld with a stick and a mig
but have never messed with a tig welder. I would like to spend this
winter making some things out of aluminum. What is the most
affordable best unit for this?
 

[old]

Tig takes costly stuff if you want something that is worth having. Years ago I could cut a beer can in half and weld it back together and hold liquid but then the unit I was using was not a cheap unit as in a factory unit in Tracker Marine where I worked. If I had to guess at the cost of it well I would say $2000 and that was back in the late 80s and that did not include the tank for the argon
 

[wisbaker]

Do you have an Oxy-Acetylene torch? Is their any reason you wouldn't want to gas weld what ever you are building? Tin man tech on you tube can give you the details and their business will sell you the flux and proper glasses to gas weld Aluminium. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) teaches both methods in their welding seminars and at the yearly convention in July. I have attended both seminars, For the TIG seminar they were using the same welder that was selling in the Lincoln Electric booth for $1,700- $1,800 without the peripherals, peripherals being the tank regulator, tig torch and cart/tank holder. For gas welding you'll need the flux and goggles/lenses that eliminate the sodium flares from the weld. For both processes you'll need cleaners and abrasives and compatible rod/filler. Some of the EAA seminar presenters claim TIG welding is a young man's game and advise us old folks to use gas welding. Presenters at EAA are Lincoln reps and other experts from industry. The guy that taught me oxy-acetylene welding was a metallurgist/welding engineer for Mercury Marine
 

[Stick welding]

Most affordable and best aren't usually in the same sentence but for aluminum you need AC current and high frequency. There are inverter based units and conventional transformer/rectifier machines which require a little different set up from one another. In a new machine, you're looking around $1800 to about $2500 for a basic AC/DC TIG set up. The price can go up substantially depending on how much capacity you need and other features.

Inverters use a lot less power. Miller has a TIG only Diversion 180 inverter for around $1800 and if you want a TIG and stick machine you could up to a Syncrowave 200 or something like a Lincoln Precision TIG 225 for around $2500. Lanse in the tool talk forum has a precision TIG 225. You could also go to a Dynasty 200 Miller inverter for a little more. There are a lot of good older TIG welders too you could consider. If you see something, post it on here in the tool talk forum and there are several welders that can advice you if it's worth considering. TIG aluminum takes a lot of practice but if you can master it, it will make beautiful looking welds.
 

[gene bender]

I would go to a dealer who sells MILLER then Lincoln then Hobart and comapre what they tell you and then make a buy. MILLER is pretty much #1 hard to beat. I assume you have proper electrical circut to cover the load.
 

[Eldo case]

My suggestion is before you do anything look at this web site!

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

He has some very good information and knows what is going on with welding.
 

[old popper]

I lucked out a little over a year ago and bought a Miller Synchrowave 250 used for $1400 and got the 300 size argon tank with it. Also has "thumbwheel" remote. This is a "Cadillac" of welders for work on aluminum. Shop around. Oh yeah, priced a new synchrowave 250 just this morning for my employer, $5000 through Airgas.
 

[Stick welding]

A Syncrowave 250 is a very good machine but far from the Cadillac of TIG welders. The Miller rep here doesn't know why they even make the Syncrowaves anymore when you can get a Dynasty that is a bid step above of a Syncrowave. Ask Puddles he has an earlier Dynasty 300 and the new 350's are even better. Some people still like a conventional TIG machine though. I think the Dynasty's are descendents of the Aerowave that was only on the market for a short time. Apparently it was designed for Boeing but the new Dynasty's come real close. Miller even makes a Dynasty 700 if you want to TIG weld 1" thick aluminum. Had a customer buy one a couple month's ago with water cooler and all the bells and whistles. It was around 16 or $17,000 if I remember right. A big feature of an inverter is that they use a fraction of the power a transformer/rectifier uses.