Well, since no expert has chimed in, I'll take a crack at answering your question.
I think that you would be very disappointed with this Tig welder. It has several major shortcomings:
a. it is a DC welder and, therefore, you'd have a great deal of difficulty welding aluminum with it. This may be unimportant to you if you only intend to use it in DCEN welding - for steel, stainless steel, etc.
b. the Tig torch has a very short, 6' cable and, therefore, you'd would only be able to weld objects close to your welder's console. Most Tig torches have 12' cables; many welders prefer 25' cables. At 9' length the stick electrode handle's cable also is very short.
c. there is no remote (foot or hand) control to regulate your arc's intensity. You would not be able to increase or decrease the arc's intensity as needed while welding. This is an extremely important feature for Tig welding. Apparently the console contains a knob to control the output voltage/arc's intensity. You could adjust the output desired before striking the arc. It would be almost impossible, however, for you to make adjustments with this knob while welding. This lack of a remote control would result in either frequently burning through the base metal or failing to maintain a molten weld pool. This might necessitate a lot of stopping to make adjustments and then starting up again.
d. there is no solenoid valve to turn on and turn off the shielding gas. You would have to remember to manually open the valve (on the torch's handle) before welding and close the valve after welding.
Any failure to turn on the gas before striking the arc would result in burning the tip of the tungsten electrode to a crisp. Forgetting to turn the valve off might cause you to lose all of the gas in your tank.
Advantages of this Tig welder:
a. it's very cheap! It may be suitable for someone who only intends to make a few welds a couple of times a year.
LarryL
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