Tig welding sheet metal with 50amps??

J

Jim_cellarshop

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Hi, I need to buy a generator soon and would like to be able to TIG weld. Note that I have a MIG and I have never TIG welded. Wife says some of the larger units are out of budget and I can not really fit one or move it to the back where it will be stored. So I was looking at the Miller Wildcat 200 which is about at the top of my size budget range, but it says welding amps is 50-200, 50 on the low end sounds way too much to TIG weld 20ga sheet metal. I have had some small alloy parts in the past that are just too small to weld with MIG that a Friend TIG welded for me (he has a diff job, is busey & I hate to keep bugging him). At one place the guy recommeded ether a Trailblazer 250 (way too much $$ & too big) or a Honda gen and a Maxstar 200, but that's a bit over budget. And I would most likely have to put off the welder for years. I would like to TIG weld 10ga wire (stainless & carbon) chain mail also (think small steel O-ring looking things). Thanks for any help/advise you can give. Jim
 
We have been running an older Miller 250 syncrowave off a 50 amp breaker, we also have Thermodynamic 185 we run off a generator, the strange part is we need to run a fan to put a load on the generator to settle down the generator as the circuit board in T/D does not like the voltage.
 
Why not just buy a generator and then a Lincoln 225 TIG?
 
This is somewhat of an ambiguous question.

What thickness of sheet metal are you talking about? 10 gauge sheet metal is almost 1/8" and 50 amps might about right and you may need more if it is aluminum but then you'll want AC with an arc stabilizer of sorts such as a high frequency unit.

What wattage of generator do you need? Perhaps you can find you a generator and a seperate TIG machine that fits both of your needs and fits into your budget. Keep in mind that MIG, TIG, Stick are all "arc" welding and much of this can be done with the same "power source". A engine powered generator/welder can do all of this with the proper attachments but then it is all about how much do you want to spend verses what you already have available. You can TIG weld with two 12 volt car batteries rigged up parallel with some large resistors to choke the current, and this is the purest DC you will get but it does'nt last all that long.
 
I would like to be able to go down to 20ga steel & maybe stainless. I have not ever welded alum but if I wanted to I could set up my MIG for it. I need about 4500watts for house backup, so I am going to get a gen about 5000-6000w continuous just to be safe. I do not want to get any larger, to get better fuel run time. I have to get it down a steep slope & into my basement & then back out into the back yard to run it so the 500lbs Trailblazers are just too big. And my wife has to be able to handle it in case I am away. I was hoping to save some money by combining the generator and expand my welding cap at the same time (& get a welder in under the house budget). I need the generator to be very reliable, but I could get a used welder later.. Any other advise? Thanks guys!! Jim.
 
this is something to think about, military surplus, you can get a 40k for about 800.00 1500.00 most are mounted to skids are trailor and then get you a spool gun setup to run aluminum or steel, i bought one of these back in the early 80s when we had our cabin back in the hills of tennesee and had a small arc welder hooked to it, then the neighbors found out i had it from 10 miles away and seemed i was doing more welding on vacation than i did at home lol, and they last forever if you pull regular maintance on them, just a thought. mac:thinking:
 
Thin section tig on mild and stainless is probably going to be way less than the 50 amp Minimum. Also a motor drive is way expensive when you consider that they come bare and have to be equiped with leads and everything to do the process you are looking for. I personally would opt for comething like a miller Diversion 180 with multi voltage, and a good solid house gen seperate and under some kind of cover where the wife could get access to it if needed. Lugging up and down a set of stairs even with a couple hundred pounds is gonna get old fast. The diversions are relatively inexpensive new, and that will leave you enough to get a fairly large gen set and still be in budget. Just my .02.
Bob
 
Thanks for all the info. Yes it looks like I will just buy a generator now and save up for a TIG unit. Thanks for the idea about a surplus gen, but we moved from the country to a development & I don't have the space. I have a walk out basement, so once I get a gen down the steep side yard it can go in the basement & just get rolled a few feet out back. I have already set up an outside power inlet & have a manual swtich gear with 6 circuits on it. Thanks! Jim.
 
Jim,
Another alternative to stay in budget and keep the wife happy would be looking at one of the Hobart 10K gen/welders and just running the leads and other connections as you save up. It will be very heavy (not a one man lift), but is already set up for use and storage outside. Once you get the genset hooked up and have Momma taken care of you can save up and get any number of attatchments that will enable you to do just about any process you would like. Hobart is tha same company as Miller and makes an outstanding product that will give good service for both uses. The add on boxes and attatchments can be bought seperately and you could do stick, tig, mig, and arc gouging very easily and do a very nice job too. The Hobart 10K set ups are available at Tractor Supply and various other retailers and do go on sale from time to time. Northern tool and a lot of vendors who are close by and in your town can sell you a nice set up and the warranty is good too. Just a thought.
Bob
 
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