Can I TIG with this

[woodlandfarms]

OK, I get new welding gear, Ain't nothing better.. but I have a wife who does occassionally look at the big spends.

So, my questions is this. I am saving for a Plasma, but I am wanting to work with some aluminum (and maybe stainless one day). I have a Lincoln 180C and a Lincoln ACDC tombstone (and an Oxy Acet).

I have put up to Santa for a spoolgun for the Lincoln, but was wondering if I should get (and would it work well enough for a beginner welder with no career aspirations) a TIG torch to attach to the Tombstone.

Finally, do I want to tig or will a spoolgun do the trick well enough?

 

[Shield Arc]

Not that I really know, but I'd be surprised if you can run a spool gun on your Lincoln Tombstone. For Tig welding aluminum on AC you'll need a high frequency box and a foot pedal. You can do it on DC with an air cooled Tig rig and helium, but it is not fun at all. Again not that I really know, but I don't think you can get there with the equipment you have. Maybe some one can enlighten both of us!:confused3:

 

[k0ua]

I don't see why the Lincoln 100 spoolgun would not work on the Lincoln 180C MIG. They sell it for that purpose. As for scratch start TIG it will work on your tombstone, but you will not like the fact you have taps to control the heat and is not continuously adjustable. Of course a footpedal would be nice too, but I would not know about that

 

[Shield Arc]

I didn't realize the 180C was a Mig machine. That is probably the cheapest way to weld aluminum. For stainless steel Mig welding you would need a tri-mix gas.

Here is a 16-GA corner joint on aluminum, and a fillet weld on 3/8-inch thick aluminum I did when I first got my spool gun.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Sorry guys, I should have been more specific on my machines.

So Shield you have a aluminum spool and are happy enough with the results? I keep getting lots of different opinions on the process...

 

[Shield Arc]

Yeah I'm happy with the results! Until buying my own spool gun last year, the last time I touched one was in the mid 1970's. The 16-GA corner joint was done with .030 wire, where as the 3/8-inch fillet was done with 3/64-inch wire. For production work a spool gun is the only way to go. But my Dynasty 300 isn't going anywhere soon. It almost made a Tig weldor out of me!

 

[ericher69]

You CAN weld stainless with 75/25 gas (google building/welding of the St-Louis arch)

Don't know how the results will be compared to tri-mix

I for one am looking at a spoolgun for my Miller 252 as I really have no use for TIG although I would love a dynasty 200 DX...

 

[Stimw]

Back in the low 70's I worked for Fruehauf Trailer. We would reline the floors in 38' aluminum dump trailers. (worn out from gravel hauling)
They had 4' X 12' X 1/4" aluminum plate with the sides rolled like a "U" to fit part way up the sides of the trailer.
We had to weld the plates in all the way around leaving a small gap where they butted to weld to the trailer.
We did all this welding with spool guns and 250 class machines.
That was a LONG 8 hour shift!!! My knees still hurt too!
But who complained when you were making $2.50 and hour!

 

[rankrank1]

The spool gun for your 180C will be the cheapest way to properly weld aluminum.

But to answer your thread title question: A tig torch connected to the AC/DC tombstone would work for welding steel, but the tapped settings would be less than ideal - but it would work.

Homemade Tig Welder - Tig Welding Old School with Scratch Start - YouTube

If you are in to improvising, there is a guy on youtube that has had good luck using a DC scratch tig rig on aluminum. The supposed secret is that he uses stick electrodes for the filler rods. The premise is that the flux in the stick rod improvises for the cleaning action that would normally be provided by AC Hi Frequency on a proper aluminum tig welding rig. Of course this level of improvising would not be for pretty work or code level work, but if you simply need backyard serviceable then possibly worth a shot. I have been going to try this but have yet to do it. (While the video shows a fancy inverter,; all the fancy options are turned off and any DC output stick welder like your tombstone could serve as the power source).

TIG Welding of aluminum with a DC inverter .THAT'S HOW I DO IT .wmv - YouTube

 

[yomax4]

You can put a tig torch on the 180C as well. Wont do aluminum but it will do steel and stainless if you need to. Un hook the trigger wires from the mig gun, run a jumper across those 2 pins,( closes contactor but feed rolls will turn ) turn wire speed to zero. Take a 10" piece of #4 cable and install a lug on both ends. one end goes to the neg post on the welder and the ground gets put on the pos side. Buy a 105Z57 power block and attach to the other end of the cable. Gas hose goes in one end of the block and the tig torch in the other. Adjust amperage on the panel and Walla scratch start tig..