Welding kit, which one?

[Davey]

Having had a browse round these forums I gather there has been some warm debate over whether to use mig or stick welding but don't worry this is not a thread about that. I use MIG for the mild steel welding 'cos that's what I've got and its quick and simple.

My real question is this, I plan to fab my own exhaust headers and collectors in stainless and I was thinking of buying a TIG set (yes I can use one, I spent several years of my life doing specialist fab work) but if I do I'd rather get an AC/DC unit so it can do steel or ally. The other possibility is to get a portapack gas kit which is about the only type of welding I've never mastered.

My thinking is that the gas kit would be more useful around the workshop and with a cutting torch as well is an incredibly useful bit of kit and its a fair bit cheaper.

But I know how to use TIG and can really do some nice work with it whereas to use the gas system will require me to learn a new skill which is a big ask at my age:rolleyes: .

So what does anyone else think, gas or TIG? Please don't say both, I'd love to og that way but finances aren't that good even though my business would buy it.

D.

[twinturbo]

TIG is very similar to GAS, just gas useses a burning flame rather than an electic arc.

If you can tig then GAS should be fairly easy to master...

It's 20 years since I last did GAS at school.


BUT.

Tig is much safer and quicker to set up.

TT

[Davey]

Hello again TT, we must be the only two allowed near a compooter today:D :D . In general I agree with everything you say except that with gas welding the hot bit is about 10 inches from your hand but with TIG its only a couple of inches. If you have shaky hands like me this is a big issue. I know that SS and ally can be welded perfectly well with gas but I never even managed to master mild steel although I can gas cut to within 0.5mm.

D.

[Bonzo]

If memory serves me right, the gas welding of stainless is not an option.......Can't get a hot enough flame with Oxy/Accet

Then there's the heat distortion that comes from using Gas ;)

AC/DC TIG is the way to go :cool: :)

[mark]

If memory serves me right, the gas welding of stainless is not an option.......Can't get a hot enough flame with Oxy/Accet

Then there's the heat distortion that comes from using Gas ;)

AC/DC TIG is the way to go :cool: :)

As usual i cant disagree with Ronnie when it comes to fusing metals together!

You can achieve very good results with gas welding but heat distortion can be a real issue

Buy yourself a good tig set if you can stretch to it

[7ishNZ]

ac/dc tig is cheaper to run than gas and the finished result is much better. You will need a foot pedal if you are doing ali...

[Davey]

ac/dc tig is cheaper to run than gas and the finished result is much better. You will need a foot pedal if you are doing ali...

Understand your point but I beg to differ, I've done literally tonnes (and in ally that's a lot;) ) of ally work with TIG and never used a pedal control, you just move progressively faster.

I confess that I hadn't heard that SS work was not feasible with gas and seeing as that is the major reason for getting kit it looks like TIG is the way to go. Like I said earlier I've done (hundreds of ) Tonnes of stick and MIG work on mild steel (0.8mm up to 35mm thicknesses), (tens of) Tonnes of stainless and ally with MIG and TIG from 0.8 up to 5mm thickness and even some cast iron work with stick but never had enough time/opportunity to master gas welding.

Trouble is the gas kit is cheaper and overall probably more use in my workshop than the TIG set (although this iswhat I'd really prefer along with a plasma cutter:) ).

D.

[AshG]

if its just to make a stainless exhaust then just chuck a roll of stainless wire in the mig. as long as you are using some kind of argon mix you will be ok. the welds will be a bit brownish but they will go that colour from the exhaust heat anyway.

you can tig ali just fine without a pedal i put the welder on 2t and set the slope out to 4-5seconds. if the pool starts getting too hot then i just take my finger off and it slopes off the power. i have tried to use pulse but i dont get on with it too well. thebest thing you can have on a tig for ali welding is square wave control as it allows you to increase decrease the size of the weld pool vs pool depth

[twinturbo]

have you seen the price of stainless wire!!!:eek:

TT

[Davey]

I'd rather use TIG for the stainless work, it just gives a so much better finish. I haven't looked at the price if welding wire, either rolls for the MIG ir rods for the TIG but if every decision was made on cost I'd never do anything more outrageous than put me slippers on.

D.

[twinturbo]

It's about 5 times the price of mild wire.

TT

[AshG]

its all relitave as stainless tig rods are also more expensive than mild ones.

if you can afford an ac/dc tig and plan to use it for lots of jobs then go for it. i have one and use it all the time.

what i would say is dont spend loads of money on a tig welder that you only intend to make an exhaust with, then put away for ever.

at the end of the day. if you want a tig just go buy one :D remember we are not your wife you dont need a reason to have one on here. you can have one because its a cool thing to have rather than a thing to do a job with ;)

i had to have one to repair car body work wink wink.

[Davey]

Thanks Ash, I think you've just made my mind up;) . As thr business will buy it anyway I'll just have to come up with a reason:D . Its likely to be around Feb before I make the final decision as there's a tax and VAT bill to deal with at the end of Jan, ho hum, life goes on.

D.

[Davey]

Just a quick update, I've now got a gas welding and cutting set complete with portapak bottles, the smallest ones available. The reason I got this kit is it was on special at one of my local suppliers in the Christmas sale. Two stage regs for both oxy and acetylene, two 4.5 metre hoses bonded together along their length, flashback arrestors, non return valves, mixing body, cutting head with three different sized nozzles, welding torch head with three different sized nozzles, nozzle cleaning tool, sparker (crap though) all for two hundred notes. Bottles cost me another £150 ish including a years rental on the cylinders.

Made a simple plywood cabinet on castors to hold it all and set it up this morning, guess what? I can weld with gas! Looking forward to trying ally next as I have a six port manifold to make to link the CBR600 throttle bodies to the Cosworth V6 inlets, could be fun and/or expensive.

I would have loved to go the TIG route but it was just too expensive to justify at the moment and the gas kit will be soooo useful in the workshop anyway.

Cheers, D.