Harbor Freight Welder deal..?

   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #81  
Sandlot, I'ed like to hear more about that remote resester bank. Did he make it?
We used it controlling it with the welder controls. Richard

Valley,

Not sure if they were homemade or factory. They looked factory. They were about 2' long and 1' square, heavy little buggers.
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #82  
Things have changed a lot since then. You can buy a Tig Torch with a Valve on it to start and stop the Gas flow as needed. Any Stick Welder can easily be converted to a DC Tig Welder And most 115v Wire feed units can too. Most would be Scratch Start but some have Lift Start. You actually touch the work and nothing happens until you lift the Tungsten off of the material. When I used to use a Srcatch Start set up, I always had a small piece of Copper to scratch on to get the arc started. This caused much less Tungsten Contamination than Scratching it on Steel or Stainless. If you have a 115v Wire feed and want to add Tig, let me know and I will send you the info. Very Basic and easy to do. No real alterations to your welder. :thumbsup: Welder Up!!
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #83  
I would be interested in using a unit like that to adjust the Low end amps on this wire feed. I have one of the 90amp 110 units. Richard
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #84  
I've got a Lincoln AC/DC tombstone. What would it take to make up a DC tig welder for it?
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #85  
You just need the TIG torch with tungsten electrode, argon regulator and bottle of argon gas. Any welding power source can work for a TIG power supply if properly hooked up . Just hook the ground on to the TIG torch and use the electrode holder as the ground, this is called DCSP or sometimes just straight polarity. If you use the negative as a ground like when you are stick rod welding, it will just melt the tungsten electrode just like it is a welding rod. You can use AC current to weld aluminum with a tig rig even without high frequency if you use Helium for the gas rather than argon. You just have to keep it super clean.
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #86  
Not just ANY welder source will work for tig.

There is a difference in Constant Current (CC) and Contstant Voltage (CV). Constant Voltage machines are MIG and Contstant Current Machines are typically Stick and/or Tig. You have to have CC to run tig, a mig cannot be adapted (unless its is an inverter and programmed to do so) to successfully do tig. You can get an arc, but that's about it.

An AC buzzbox cannot be made into a tig unit unless you have a HF box and then it will do aluminum, but not be great for steel. The arc will self extiguish and not be stable, even with helium. The HF overlay is necessary to stabilize the arc on tranformer machines. Inverter AC units switch fast enough to keep the AC arc stable and HF is only used for starting.

A DC buzz box or any DC stick welder can be made to work on tig with a simple addtion of a gas valve torch which can be bought about any where for 80 -100 bucks.

BUT the duty cycle on the tombstone is very low on DC and the amps max out quite low. Small and light duty tig can be done, but you'd need to step up to an ideal arc, dial arc, max star or some type of inverter dc welder to get the best performance. I think Lincoln does discourage adaptation for tig on the tombstone for other reasons. I remember reading it somewhere.
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #87  
Mark, have you ever tried to use helium on a tig rig without HF box to weld aluminum. I have and it will work. You have to work it to get it to tie in since you dont have the vibration of the puddle like the Hifreq rigs do, and it has to be super clean (black sooty contamination will not weld)
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #88  
Most of the guys here just want something that thay can just pull the trigger and sit back drink a cup of coffee, glance at the weld occassionally and have a weld that will hold something together. The wire feeders meet that purpose for the most part. Many folks have multiple machines and even multiples of the same type machine with varying degrees of duty cycle. Each to his own when it comes to welding and everyone has to get the equipment that they can operate and get acceptable welds for what they are using it for. If you dont need xray quality welds, why pay $10K for a welding machine when $500 will buy you a decent rig, even less if you find a good used rig. I love my 350 amp miller CC/CV AC/DC power pack that allows me to add a LN25 or similar suitcase wire feeder, hook up a TIG rig or just do SMAW. Most of my welding is heavy stuff and I prefer using a good E-7018 stick to weld it with, but I do occassional bring out the wire feeder.
I am old school and believe that with a Victor torch, a good DC welder and a TIG rig, you can build anything that is needed on this earth.
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #89  
Mark, have you ever tried to use helium on a tig rig without HF box to weld aluminum. I have and it will work. You have to work it to get it to tie in since you dont have the vibration of the puddle like the Hifreq rigs do, and it has to be super clean (black sooty contamination will not weld)

You said it could be welded with AC buzz box, not DC.


A DC power source can weld aluminum with electrode positive, but you need large tungstens for even the lowest amperage and pure helium. But I have never found anywhere, that an AC box without HF can do a suitable job welding aluminum. With the soot issue you are talking about, and the tungsten contamination from touch/scratch starting it, you would NOT have a quality weld, and that is the point.

You can weld cast iron with about any process you want, but the weld strength and quality will vary widely. Its the same thing with Aluminum. What you can do and should do are entirely different.

I have calls frequently from customers who are frustrated because someone on the web told them they could weld aluminum with pure DC, and they bought a DC TIG from us and they can't do it. They say their electrodes are burning up. (Probably hear it from the same guys that told them that 75/25 gas should be used for tig as well). I ask them what size electrodes they are using and amps...They tell me something like 1/16 and running about 40 amps. No wonder, even to do that range, you'll need a 1/4" inch electrode to withstand the heat. It could be done with DC - as well, but with the problem of instant oxidation of aluminum, the weld will never be quality.

Yes, it can be done, but its not for some beginner, or someone without the knowledge of whats going on. And there is a practical limit to what can be done. But they think that because someone said it, its a perfectly acceptable and easy way of doing it.

So, from my standpoint, while a technical answer is yes, you can do it, the practical answer, is no, you shouldn't/can't, because of your inexperience and lack of knowledge.
 
   / Harbor Freight Welder deal..? #90  
Mark clearly you have a way with words. :D
 

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