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Cheap-As-Dirt stick welder to TIG?

OldWorldBlues

Plastic
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Hi everyone! This is my first thread :)
I'm not a professional welder, just a hobbyist. I have some experience with MIG welding, but when the time came to get my own machine, I had to settle for a 90$ 100amp stick welder. I thought it would be good for small sheet metal jobs and repairs, but I recently looked into TIG welding and was intrigued. Could I use my AC stick welder to do scratch TIG on, say, thin aluminum and copper? Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give.
 
No advice on a conversion, but if you start hitting the industrial auctions you can find some pretty decent deals on older welding machines. I paid $25 for my mig (had to buy a new gun), and $40 for the stick welder (needed new leads) both with more capacity than I've ever need, downside is they both require a forklift to pick up:D
 
Hi everyone! This is my first thread :)
I'm not a professional welder, just a hobbyist. I have some experience with MIG welding, but when the time came to get my own machine, I had to settle for a 90$ 100amp stick welder. I thought it would be good for small sheet metal jobs and repairs, but I recently looked into TIG welding and was intrigued. Could I use my AC stick welder to do scratch TIG on, say, thin aluminum and copper? Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give.

If you know in advance.. that "thin" Aluminium and Copper.. are the task.. and are not, yourself, already an experienced all-around welding hand?

I'd suggest you will end up money ahead and with better results to set the little stick rig aside (or even peddle it..) then research and source a ready-made TiG rig suited to that tasking.

Guys that are seriously experienced welders can do most anything as has to be done with adapted substitutes, some of them from outright junk, and "antique" junk at that.

They have the knowledge. They have a "feel" for it.
Those can compensate for equipment shortcomings and still deliver good welds.
That lore was not learned in just a few weeks.

STARTING where they got to only after lots of experience is ... "optimistic"?

TiG for small, thin work is not terribly expensive these days, either. You can easily spend as much for add-ons to your stick anyway. It isn't the most expensive component.

:)
 
Your cheap-as-dirt requirement typically leads people to stick-to-tig adapters. I recently found myself looking for a cheap(ish) but effective capacity to TIG.

The need for shielding gas means at a minimum you're buying/renting an Argon tank. 80 cubic feet is basically a half-size bottle and a reasonable size to get started. You say you have MIG experience but only own stick...so I gather you'll need to factor in the bottle/gas cost. My understanding (perhaps flawed) is that the cheap-as-dirt scratch-start rigs running off stick welders are typically hooked to D/C stick welders and thus not feasible for welding aluminum. Others can correct if I'm mistaken.

The price of inverter-based multi-process welders has come down dramatically in the last several years. At least for the non-commercial versions. I purchased an AHP AlphaTig 200x for about $700. Capable of running on 110v or 220v. Capable of TIG or stick. Capable of A/C or D/C output(so capable of welding aluminum as well as steel). Have no idea about copper but I highly doubt it.

If a commercial TIG unit is out of your budget you might consider selling your cheap stick welder and replacing it with a cheap(ish) inverter-based unit capable of both. You'll get much more functionality and features out of a multi-process unit.
 
Yes, you can do a scratch start rig with a stick welder to do TIG. Some of the stick welders will have lift TIG built in. Yes, you *can* do tig for aluminum with a buzz box. However, I'd recommend investing in a machine designed for AC tig. My experience is that the high freq boxes are so expensive that you can spend just a little more to get a cheap AC TIG machine to get you up and running.
 
You need the HF box to stabilize the arc, or it goes all wonky as it passes through 0 volts.
Copper is welded on DC so you can scratch start it with what you have, but if your fairly new to TIG you might be in for a rough time...
 
No matter how cheaply the internet makes things.....you need to spend
some money to get a machine to do what you want.

You still need a TIG torch, Tungsten, and of course Argon (with a regulator)

I'm certain if you go to the Home machinist pages, you can find someone
doing this.
 
I don't know how to do it, but yeah you can use a arc welder to do DC TIG for steel, stainless, etc. , but not aluminum non ferrous metals. My Dad and Gramps did that over 35 years ago, never asked how because I didn't really need to, but they welded thousands and thousands of feet of sanitary stainless tube, pipe, etc and steel, mostly stainless. Used to be something very very few knew about. I remember them being at a cosmetic or pharmaceutical plant, can't recall, but the place farmed out a lot/most of their work to the dann union shops and they really fround upon them being there. The lead guy was running his mouth about how that welder right there can't weld stainless tube/pipe, the old man pointed to hundreds of feet of TIG welded sanitary tube and pipe. I tell you what, them clowns will do some crooked shit if they don't want you in "their" place of work, definitely better watch your back.
 
Yeah people who talk negatively abot it Don't know what they're talking about, or they don't want anyone else to do it, the latter is where I fall in. That's something like I said was never/rarely heard of. Its not as simple as just plugging in a TIG torch and tank of argon to do.
 
Hi everyone! This is my first thread :)
I'm not a professional welder, just a hobbyist. I have some experience with MIG welding, but when the time came to get my own machine, I had to settle for a 90$ 100amp stick welder. I thought it would be good for small sheet metal jobs and repairs, but I recently looked into TIG welding and was intrigued. Could I use my AC stick welder to do scratch TIG on, say, thin aluminum and copper? Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give.

Yes you can, but first look at the cost of a valve type TIG torch, filler rods, gas tank and regulator. Whether or not is another matter though, and you would simply be taking a chance on that.
 
Yeah that is very true nowadays with the price of TIG welders if it would be worth it. Ages ago it was very worth it when the price of anything machinery wise was at its peak.
 
Yeah people who talk negatively abot it Don't know what they're talking about, or they don't want anyone else to do it, the latter is where I fall in. That's something like I said was never/rarely heard of. Its not as simple as just plugging in a TIG torch and tank of argon to do.

Idk....I had a consumer grade D.C. Arc welder ran through a miller hf251d. Even had it set up with an scr control at one point.

It sucked in comparison to an entry level rig machine.

Now, my tig setup now is the same hf251 ran through a miller trailblazer with remote current control. It's pretty nice.

Gotta have heat.


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Realistically, you can do scratch start tig with a 100 amp stick welder on steel. Up to maybe 3/16". But you need a DC buzz box. Which you dont have.
I have done a lot of scratch start with a wide variety of power supplies. IF you are a good tig weldor, scratch start is totally do-able, although not as convenient as a lift arc or full HF unit.
You could do it AC- I have tig welded mild steel and used silicon bronze filler rod to tig braze with an AC power supply, but its really nice to have High Frequency starting for that.

While it is technically possible to do aluminum with one, you would need a HF unit. My miller HF 251, new, cost around $1500. NOT cheap as dirt. Lincoln makes one, its about $1800.
The other problem with both aluminum and copper is they need a LOT of amps. 1/4" copper likes 300 amps. 100 amps, on aluminum, is enough for 1/8", but not much more.

So you have the problem of not having enough amps, not having DC, and not having the desire to spend 2 grand for an HF unit and a nice torch and a regulator and an argon tank- and thats for scratch start. If you want a good, user friendly tig unit, you also want a radiator, a foot pedal, and a water cooled torch. I tooled up a non-tig machine with all that stuff- it was around 3 grand for the accessories.
For me, worth it, as I use the machine all the time on paying jobs. But there is no free lunch for tig.

With a 200 or 300 amp DC welder, you can sneak by with a $120 air cooled torch, a regulator, and an argon tank, and do scratch start- about $500, total, new, at the welding supply,
But with a 100 amp buzzbox, you are looking at aggro.
 
I picked up a very clean Miller 33abp (newer black face model)
For $400 including the foot pedal control.

A Miller Dialarc 250 hf is just as nice, just smaller.

But todays invertors offer square wave, balance control,
freq. control etc. for not allot of money.
 
One can also DC TIG weld Aluminium, it involves pure helium and cleanliness that can be on par with surgical procedures. More amps will help.
Never tried it my self, more content to know that it *could* be done (as I weld away with my dynasty 350 at work...)
 








 
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