ok, first let me say thanks to anyone who can help me out...
here's my deal,i wanna get into welding bike frames and fabricating tanks and fenders and such...
i have been told to use tig for my app.,do you feel this is true?
also, i am on a budget, i can't afford a $3,000 tig unit, so i was wondering what an idea amp. unit would be good...?
i really apriciate any help i can get, so i know what to purchase. i will only be useing the welder from time to time, it is gunna be a hobby. so long hrs on a unit aren't important to me...
thanks again...dave
if your gonna build bikes, welding is probably the least of your concerns. bending, rolling, forming, jigs, layout and fitment...if you don't know what welder to use, how are you at those things? I built a chrome moly frame for a friend once, and welding it was the easy part...
I have a Squarewave 175 at home in my garage. It welds very favorably against the $3500 stuff at work (just less power, but for bikes and such you won't notice). It's been replaced by the Precision TIG 185 in Lincoln's current line up. I would expect to pay about $1600 for a new one with all the goodies that you'll need. Used....maybe half of that... Not really sure about the used price, especially since I wouldn't part with mine. (Incidentally, it's the best stick welder that I've EVER used anywhere for E7018 3/32" and 1/8"--again, for bikes you wouldn't care, but my point is that it's an excellant small-size machine)
Firebird,
I'm in the market for a TIG machine, and I've narrowed it down to Lincoln, between the Precision Tig 185 and the Invertec 205. Will you email me so I can ask you a question or two?
Thanks
lrhorgan@totacc.com
it doesnt matter. you can mig or tig chromoly. tig usually looks better if done properly. however mig is just fine, especially of you plan to chrome or powder the frame, as all the welds will get sanded down anyways.
id have to say tig is the stronger weldment.
the trick is to pulse all your welds. if you mig its just a series of spot welds, that leaves the "stack of dimes" appearance. if you tig you can pulse using the machines pulser or just by working the pedal. for your app you can get a maxstar 150 for like 900 bucks i think. its not capable of doing aluminium at all however. ferrous metals only.
Tig definately is the best route. when i was messing with scrap cromo, i used mig, but has a lot of cracks, and one joint broke completely on coped tubing when i hit a table. I had to preheat and then weld and let it sit jigged unitl cool. But after i preheated, i could run straight beads, and did not have to stack dimes. this was all screwin around of course. I have never had that problem from a tig weld. I have always heard cromo has to be tiged, so i do. i have a 150A dc tig that was under 400 bucks, and it works as well as any dc i used.
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