TIG aluminum -- how much does machine quality matter to a beginner?

J

j-becker

H-M Supporter - Silver Member
H-M Supporter - Silver Member
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I am a hobbyist and thinking about getting into AC TIG for welding aluminum on some upcoming projects. I already own a MIG machine (Miller 215) for several years and have used this for steel fabrication. I did get a few weeks of TIG instruction on welding stainless steel during an internship several decades ago so I have an idea that the learning curve is steep (I assume I have to start over). I don't want to shell out top dollar and have been looking at the Hobbyist Primeweld/AHP vs. pro-level HTP Invertig 221 machines (the HTP is considerably more, of course). The HTP is clearly the much nicer pro-level machine and certainly not required for what I am doing. At least for people who already can TIG weld (my observation is that the better you are, the more you may be able to compensate for sub-optimal tools -- but when you start out good tools can help you by taking out some unwanted variation).

Here are my questions: does investing into a higher level machine like the HTP make getting into TIG easier than for example a Primeweld/AHP? Does the "better arc quality" (or low-amp / arc-start / ... capability) that some HTP users highlight make a difference or is it something merely an experienced welder would notice? Can a higher quality machine shorten my learning curve meaningfully?
 
There are others that are far more experienced than myself on this subforum that will advise you. If you think you will want to weld "thin small stuff" a better machine is for you. Low amp control is important for the little stuff. If you are only welding thicker stuff, it might not matter as much.

I'm a little biased as I have an older HTP Invertig. Think it is the Invertig 200. I love it. Doesn't make me a better welder, that requires lots more arc time. But it is a nice machine and easy to set up, dial in and use. I went for a water cooled setup. That helped a lot. Air cooled torches always seemed to get too hot too fast for me. Now I can just wear the nice thin leather gloves and not worry about heat.

BTW, if you are going to do stainless, I'd recommend getting a dual flow meter. One is for the torch, and the other is for the back purge. Makes for much nicer welds. When welding most everything else, I just turn off the back purge meter. A dual flow meter wasn't much more expensive than a single (at least when I bought it 10 years ago).
 
I can't speak for those particular machines, but generally the fancier machine would be better for aluminum because you have control over various waveform parameters. Welding with a pure sine wave is fine and good, but being able to control the balance does improve the quality of the weld. There are microprocessors in new machines that can do some wonderful algorithmic parameter setting based on arc sensing and other fancy stuff. Some of it may be a crutch for skill development avoidance, but hey, it's the year 2021. I still use a very heavy, very rudimentary Miller Dialarc HF for TIG. It's fabulous for stainless, and functional for aluminum. To that end, I do more aluminum with a spool gun on my more modern MIG machine these days. The spool gun isn't as versatile as TIG, but it works really well on the most common things I do.
 
Thanks for your comments! As far as I can see, the three machines have a similar level of control over AC balance and parameters. From a spec perspective, the HTP has more think material capability as Wobblyhand pointed out and better duty cycles. I have some grasp of what that means for my applications but they would not get me to spend the money on the HTP at this point. My question is really whether there are some qualities in the better tool that is not just captured in the numbers -- and especially something that is useful to the beginner as opposed to experienced welder.
 
You're right about not too much difference on paper, very similar. Internal components are the big difference, as is the low-amp start capability in favor of the HTP. I wish I had a PW 225 to do a comparison.
 
I have an older HTP 220 Invertig but still have difficulty welding aluminum, but I don't do it that often. If you are doing any thickness (say >= 3/16") you might want to step up to something in the 350 amp range as aluminum seems to need much more heat than steel to weld. There is definitely a learning curve with AL, and really need to put the hours in with it.
 
machPete99 said:
I have an older HTP 220 Invertig but still have difficulty welding aluminum, but I don't do it that often. If you are doing any thickness (say >= 3/16") you might want to step up to something in the 350 amp range as aluminum seems to need much more heat than steel to weld. There is definitely a learning curve with AL, and really need to put the hours in with it.
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Only time I made nice Al welds was under the hands of an instructor! Sure made it seem easy then. Practice is essential.

If you haven't done it before, enrolling in a vocational tech night course in welding is amazing. Cost is pretty low and you get lots of hours on machines, not to mention all the free coupons to practice on. I did it, even though I knew how to weld. Very worthwhile experience.
 
The vocational tech course sounds like a good suggestion. In briefly looked into this and only found full-time training courses here that were clearly aimed at career welders. I need to have another look whether there are night courses around here. How long did the course run? Was that specific TIG or covered all different kinds of welding?
 
Hmm, think the course was 12 weeks. It was for all processes. Spent more time on stick welding than I wanted, but did learn some out of position techniques, so it was good. If you finished your assignment quickly you could work on other things, including your own projects. Really depends on the instructor, I'd imagine. Learned a lot, even though I could weld before starting. Obviously, TIG was at the end of the course, but there was more than adequate time working on it.

Cost was pretty low, only around $300, and that included all supplies. Only thing that the student needed to supply was their own hood. Was a great experience.
 
A lot of those trade oriented classes are fairly regimented. Make sure that you can get a lot of arc time. The first course I took, there were a huge number of students. You got in a long line and tried your hand. The first time you dipped the tungsten, you were out...for the remainder of the course, but you could watch everyone else weld. I lasted about 1 inch. I complained to the instructor and he said sign up for the same course the next quarter and you will get more freedom. There were some second quarter students floating around, and they seemed to be able to get more arc time. Unfortunately, the course got discontinued. Make sure you get some time in, not just instruction and stick welding. I have a neighbor who took a job at a local fab shop paying peanuts. They told him that they would train him on TIG real good. He ended up just carrying around a lot of steel.
 
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