Lincoln 225 AC question

By ReedWelding Date 10-31-2010 04:43

Ok everyone, this might be a stupid question. But I'm sure some one out there will be able to help me out with this little project that i've been wondering about. taking a normal stick welder into a cheap tig welder. Now, my question is to someone out here in welding land.... Can I use my Lincoln 225 AC welder that does not have HF do some type of crude tig welding?

I do not think it is possible, I am in a vocational school for welding and I would just like to know if someone can help me with this question.

Thanks again,

-Steve

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 10-31-2010 05:05

AC requires HF to keep the arc lit when the voltage goes to "0" as the polarity changes. This is the rule on transformer [sine wave] machines, Yours is one of these.

Some inverters [square wave] are supposed to be able to work on AC without HF, but these have a really fast transition from full voltage on one polarity to full voltage on the other, so the arc stays lit.

Having said all that, I never really tried it. I have used an old sine wave TIG machine that did TIG weld on AC, but the HF was not working wwell enough for arc starting with a cold electrode.

By JMCInc

Date 11-01-2010 18:11

I use a Miller hf box that I found on ebay with my linc. 225AC for thin aluminum up to 3/16 in the shop. It works great. Anything thicker and you will smoke your little buzz box. One thing I've noticed about aluminum is that it requires massive amounts of heat; lots of power to keep up with the heat that's being dissapated so quickly by the metal. The hf box also allows me to weld aluminum in the feild with my ranger. It has served me well on many occasions.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 11-05-2010 13:20

I have used those with old high freq boxes. It is actually amazing how well you can TIG aluminum with one. Not the choice setup for sure but it is very doable.