Tig welder to purchase.

[RCP57]

Something else I forgot to mention is that the transformer welders eat a lot of power. My 225 is rated to suck 60amps at full pop although I have never had it trip the 50amp breaker it runs on. I'm not sure what power you have in the garage but it is something else to think about. A good friend of mine that is a welder by trade swears by the Miller Dynasty series. They were just out of my price range when I got the Lincoln. Even if I were buying a new welder now I'm not sure I would buy one just because they are so adjustable. I prefer the KISS method.lol

[JAMMER]

Hello Cooper may I suggest Eastwood Tig 200 welder. I have one it is 110 or 220 volt welds aluminum stainless or steel. I had a guy use it that welds stainless for a living and said for light stuff it works great on 110 volt I do not have 220. It has adjustments and recommended setting on a chart on it it about $ 729.99.00 and is on sail. Eastwood is a place foe car enthusiast that want to do the repair them selves. Ed

[RCP57]

I am surprised to see that the 225 is almost the same price in Canada as it was when I got mine a few years ago. I am really happy with this one but as I said before I do not have much experience. I can say that if you want to do 1/2" with it don't expect to make long passes. It's duty cycle at full pop is not very good and it will shut of with the thermal protection. It will however weld 3/16" or less very well. One thing I should buy is a flex head 150amp torch! I have one on the 200amp torch and it is nice but the body is too large for welding small stuff. It's a money pit just like all the rest of this stuff! It's expenses like this that some people don't think about when they question the cost of our hobby! To outfit and maintain a hobby level machine shop costs tens of thousands! Pretty cool what we can build with all of it though!

[Cooper]

Originally Posted by JAMMER

Hello Cooper may I suggest Eastwood Tig 200 welder. I have one it is 110 or 220 volt welds aluminum stainless or steel. I had a guy use it that welds stainless for a living and said for light stuff it works great on 110 volt I do not have 220. It has adjustments and recommended setting on a chart on it it about $ 729.99.00 and is on sail. Eastwood is a place foe car enthusiast that want to do the repair them selves. Ed

Thanks Ed, I'll look into that one also. (Great more things to look at . ) lol!!

[Bo Wallen]

I'm on the plane back to ct I will help you the best I can later this evening

[RCP57]

In my small level of experience Aluminum takes a lot of heat! I was welding some 1/2"x2"x14" plate to some pipe for our fish boat with the 225 and it would shut down just as the bead started to flow properly. I think if you are wanting to weld heavy stuff like that you either need to buy a 300amp+ welder or plan on doing a lot of preheating. Let the moths fly from your wallet and spend big my friend!lol

[JAMMER]

Cooper That welder I told you about is a 200 Amp if you are going to do 1/2 inch you are going to need a bigger welder than 200 Amps. Ed

[9W Monighan]

I have a Lincoln Square Wave 255 I bought it new in 1997 for about $2600 at the time. I added a water cooled Tweco gun about $175 a Lincoln foot pedal about $130 and a Lincoln water cooler ~$500 . I got this right before the inverter type welders took hold. I wish I had one of the inverter type because the SW255 is big and heavy not making it too portable.
This unit works very well. I mainly use it for welding Bronze together. Sometimes Aluminum and steel.
For my every day Aluminum welding, I have two Lincoln InverTec V-350 Pro with Python push pull mig guns. These get pretty pricey I think the last one I bought was around $8000 for the whole setup.

Here's the Tig machine that I have:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lincoln-Squa...kAAOSw34FVCHZU

This is the one I should have bought but I didn't have enough $$ at the time.
The cooler and foot pedal on the top in the picture are the same as mine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lincoln-Square-Wave-350-TIG-/291673416210?hash=item43e9172212:gu0AAOSwKIpWDmX k

You may find a nice used one at HGR Industrial Surplus hgrinc.com