TIG Welders

That may not have much of an advantage over a MIG and certainly not oxy/acetylene and it appears to be a DC inverter with no AC which I would like for welding aluminium and necessary for it I am told. Someone may tell me differently?

Regardless of what it's being sold as, it is still a Chinese welder - apart from the colour and name it is identical to the one a mate of mine has. He's had no trouble with it and a quick google seems to confirm it as being Chinese and of passable quality.

You don't say whether you are currenly using gas or MIG to blow holes in panels and make a mess. If you're doing it with gas then forget about TIG - the technique is basically the same and the outcome will probably be too.

If you're using MIG then you shouldn't be having the issues you describe if everything is working properly. You'll never make a nice job of panel welding with gasless wire, or even using CO2 as the shielding gas

- you need BOC Blueshield Light or equivalent to get a decent result. It's not particularly cheap, but Argon for TIG use is even more expensive. Workpiece condition is also important - whilst MIG will tolerate less than perfect preparation TIG requires total cleanliness.

If you want a really well-made TIg welder and price is not really a consideration have a look at the Weco machines - my one has been used a lot over the last 6 or 7 years and given me no problems.

Thanks for the advice, I'm currently using MIG with Argoshield. It seems that regardless how much I vary the current/wire speed I either end up blowing holes in the panel I'm welding, or don't get enough penetration. This is on clean, new steel to clean new steel as well, so I can't even use preparation as an excuse!

It's not the heavy welding I have a problem with (I build 7.25" locomotives for a hobby) ,its the thin panels on the Disco and Defender I have a problem with!

More practice with the MIG I suspect!

Cheers

Peter

But are they not by definition, rusted, corroded or finished/painted?

What diameter wire are you using? If it's anything other than 0.6mm then you'll have trouble adjusting the wire speed accurately enough for welding panel steel[1]. You'll also find that a stitching technique is necessary - any MIG machine other than a fairly basic one should have a timer setting for doing this automatically.

Probably a good idea. A decent welding helmet with the correct shade of lens is a good help too - that way you can see a little more of what is actually happening without risking your eyesight.

[1] For steel I have 0.6mm, 0.9mm and 1.6mm flux cored wire in the cupboard and use the aapropriate one for the job at hand. 0.6mm will be all you need with currents up to about 160A, 0.8mm will easily run to 210A and I generally use 0.9mm above that current as the arc moves into spray transfer mode. The 1.6mm FC comes into its own above 300A or so when working on 10mm or thicker steel.

More heartache for you. Gas axe with small tips is the cheap way to good results. Personally, I find the easiest thing to use is pulse-spray transfer MIG with bronze, AKA MIG brazing. But it's right expensive - most of the pros just use small tips on the Oxy. But it needs a lot more skill than MIG brazing.

Oxy acetylene welding IS the easiest (along with TIG), and you can work and shape the metal easily, the bottle rentals are a pain for me now as I don't use it much any more but I wouldn't be without it. If you're just repairing car panels though, there's plenty of cheap inverter DC TIGs about if you're not welding aluminium, less distortion.