Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Tig...

Welding that is.

I've an itch to try it but have no idea where to start.

I've a decent semi-pro mig that I can use pretty well. But I'm drawn to the finesse offered by TIG welding especially after watching last nights restoration programme where a chap was welding up a wheel full of holes on a toy train. The MIG would have blown it to vapour.

Anyone with some pointers? What to buy, what to avoid, etc?

Ta

Parweld are a good company whose products are value for money professional quality, ideally avoid internet only sellers, find a real tool shop.
Expect around £500 upwards; avoid anything which doesn’t have high frequency, this is the feature which provides the initiating spark to begin the weld, without it you have to make then quickly break contact with your electrode to get a the weld going.

Funnily enough I have just started the TIG welding journey. I need to learn it ( or at least the very basics ) for the next big build. Its in aluminium, so an absolute nightmare by all accounts !
I bought a used welder and the rest of the gear last week and have done some test runs. Not great. lol

Forgot to add, if you want to do aluminium, you’ll need AC/DC which will cost you roughly double.

Getting the gear is cheap enough, its the shielding gases which can be the real expensive part.

Looked into it a couple years ago but for the limited stainless/alloy welding its cheaper to send it to my mate in Denbigh!!

Arwyn

Yep. The shielding gas ( pure Argon ) cost me £202 for 10L bottle. Thats deposit and gas. Swapping over once empty the gas/bottle is 65 quid I think he said. You get the deposit back on the bottle when you give up and take it back. Lol

Do I need to run a workshop?

If you are good at gas welding and have nice steady hands you should be OK. But if like me you shake a lot you’ll be dipping the tip and need to take frequent trips to the grinder.
Don’t forget that alloy needs much more heat than steel of the same thickness. Also cleanliness is king when welding alloy.
Yes the price of argon in small bottles is a killer too.
cheers
John.

A TIG workshop?….Yes yes yes!😃

+1