doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Purchasing a tig welder for gun work ????

I saw the Tig welding post and thought I'd ask a couple of questions of my own. I have been looking at adding a tig welding outfit to my shop. It's main use will be for gun/metal work (small touch ups). Occasional work might be up to 1/4" thick material. I don't think I will see many applications that will need a lot of filler however.

I have welded before and spent a fair amount of time in the college welding shop way back when I got my engineering degree. I'm saying this only to say I am not in need of a beginner machine nor do I want one.

Do I need to get a 220V machine? Will one machine work for both applications? My last question is what welder do you guys recommend?

Trez,
All the industrial size TIG outfits will be 220 single phase. You should have that power even in a residential home. You might have to pull it from the panel if it's not already wired. Personally, I wouldn't mess with a 110v welder. There are a lot of choices and I'm not, nor never was a pro welder. My experience was just from shop classes and my friend's shop. I've owned 3 TIGs and 2 MIGs when I owned a machine shop but didn't do welding fulltime. I'd look at the Miller Syncrowave 180 amp welders. Lincoln makes some good ones too. I'd buy one with enough output for welding aluminum since sooner or later you'll have some aluminum or large steel project to weld.

Thanks,
220V doesn't create a problem for me, just thought I'd ask.

Trez:

I just went through this. After a bit of a disappointment with my first machine I sought the advice of a very good professional welder I know. He strongly recommended the Miller Maxstar 200 SD. I even drove to his shop in Ohio to try one.

Ultimately I purchased a Maxstar 200 DX. This is the same machine with a pulsed tig capability. This is some sort of magical electronic system that can automatically pulse the arc which is alleged to put less heat in the work. I have yet to play with the option, using it as a standard tig machine.

In any event, I am very pleased with the machine. It is a physically small unit, but is a real live full featured welder that will do anything I could want, except for aluminum. The whole package with the DX unit, foot control, argon flow meter and hoses and WT-9 torch was just under $2500 at a local welding supply house. I checked the internet and found that the prices were not significantly lower.

As for power supply, this machine will run on anything you have from 120 to 440 volts, single or three phase. You just plug it in and it figures out what kind of power it has and runs on it. Is this a great country or what?

Glenn

As for power supply, this machine will run on anything you have from 120 to 440 volts, single or three phase. You just plug it in and it figures out what kind of power it has and runs on it. Is this a great country or what?

Glen, you have me confused, you have to put a specific type plug on it, either a 120V or 240V for the power supply, don't you?

I bought a Miller Maxstar 151 TIG about 15 years ago when they first came out. It is a DC only, inverter machine and will sustain an arc down to 1 amp. This capability is very important in gun work because it allows fine control of the weld puddle size and also allows you to terminate a weld without leaving a crater. Of course, it is also a stick machine when you need to do some fabrication. It's only drawback is that it won't do aluminum since it is DC only.

The newer inverter machines are more capable(and cheaper) than mine and many will work both on 120 and 240 V. 150 amps is plenty for all gun work and the vast majority of general metalworking. There several good vendors out there, but Miller is hard to beat.

OB

I use a Miller Synchrowave 180 and run it on a 250/50 circuit. I really like the machine and have never found it wanting. If it were to konk out today, I would first cry and then replace it with something similer in the Miller line. I am not up on any changes made in the last couple of years, so I would look into the features Glenn mentioned. My machine is about 8 years old and I have not looked at new TIG rigs for at least 6 years.

The Synchrowave 180 had stick capability, but I have a very old Miller stick machine under my welding table that I keep hooked up for the rare times when I need to stick weld something. I usually TIG everything, even tools, jigs, fixtures, whatever, to keep less-dullon my TIGing. And of course I have to use it for anything in aluminum.

JDW:

Yes, the unit come without a plug on the input cord. I guess I oversimplified it, but you just put a plug on it to match whatever outlet you have, which are different depnding on the voltage and current, and the machine will recognize the the type of power supplied and configure itself accordingly.

Glenn

As a welder of 10+ years. Get a new Miller TIG. As far as Volts & Amps Most Welding suppliers will have a Person that will look at what type of welding you are going to do & Recomend the type of gas flow meters & what size & type welder will best suit your needs. Most of the suppliers will be honest & not sell you something you do not need becouse they want you as a customer for Gas,shields, gloves,fill rod & So forth.
Just remember Tig is a high heat type welder. Yes you can focus it very fine & you can run it "cold" but it works better at the proper settings. Be Careful not to warp your metal.

I prefer the miller Syncrowave. Bigger is better if you ever want to do aluminum or tackle larger jobs. You will still be able to turn the machine down for anything you will do on a gun. My machines are 300 amp's but that would be over-kill for your needs. I have welded beer cans together with them to prove a point to someone (no beer was wasted during that demonstration). I prefer foot pedal controls. There are trigger style controls on torches that I think are hard to control. It is to hard to operate a trigger and manipulate the torch at the same time.

Bill G.