Mig vs. tig?

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I'm considering selling my mig welder to buy a tig, and was wondering if a tig will do everything I need. I want to weld up to 3/16" steel, 1/4" aluminum, and 1/8" stainless. I'm a hobby welder, so I don't need the production capability of a mig. Any reason a tig wouldn't cover everything? What specs do I need to look for? I'll be looking for a square wave tig of some sort. Right now I have a Lincoln Idealarc SP250, and don't need it's capabilities. I have a stick welder for big stuff. Thanks in advance for your recommendations.
Reply:Keep all three!MIG is great when you need 'quick-and-dirty' repairs. As long as you set the machine close, you well get good welds.TIG is much slower, but you can get much better welds. It also takes quite a bit more skill to do TIG than MIG. I recently added TIG to my skills set. But it cannot replace fixing a cracked tractor frame and putting the machine back in service in 20 minutes.Be wary of The Numbers: Figures don't lie,. but liars can figure.Welders:2008 Lincoln 140 GMAW&FCAW2012 HF 165 'toy' GTAW&SMAW1970's Cobbled together O/A
Reply:TIG can be used for bigger stuff, but it really excels at smaller and more delicate stuff. The equipment you need to TIG thicker material starts to get prohibitive at a point. Also, TIG requires clean metal, absolutely. Stick and MIG are much more tolerant of a little paint, grease, or rust. In short, you can TIG anything you want, but it may not be worth the hassle. I wouldn't want to be limited to TIG unless I was purely a shop fabricator or something. As soon as you get to the field, TIG will drop its pants.Everlast PA160-STH... and that's about it!
Reply:Depends on what you can get for the SP250- if the market is there and you can get some coin for it, sell it. Otherwise just keep it.You are looking at  250amp Tig machine for what you want to do with the 1/4" Aluminum.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:about 4 years ago i thought i had to make that same decision.  I bought a sync 250dx with the expectation of selling my Millermatic 210.  A good TIG welder can do just about everything your mig will do and more.  However as others have mentioned a MIG is a lot easier to use and much faster.  After a few projects i realized that while my TIG could have done all of them, MIG was MUCH faster.  Needless to say i still have the Millermatic mig.
Reply:I bought a little Miller 172 MIG back around 2001.  I then built a rock crawler, expedition rig (k5 on 1 ton axles), custom gates (including a big tri-fold), parts for other folk's trucks, and countless other things.  Along the way, I had a few things to do from aluminum and stainless.  Not enough to justify a rig just to be able to do it, and I had a friend with both the machine and the skills to do what little I needed.  Life was good.  Lately I seem to be thinking more and more "I wish I could do [fill in the blank], but don't have a TIG".  So I just picked up a fully setup Syncro 351 (and selling my old no longer needed and rarely used 225 stick).  I'm planning to keep the faster and more convenient MIG for the random lot of convenient non-critical steel welding that makes up at least 90% of what I do, but I'm looking forward to the TIG for the special materials and finesse stuff.  For example, my TIG is awaiting a new torch, so not yet operable.  Last weekend, I had found damaged on a wheel I needed to use for my tractor.  The bead lip was literally ripped forming a sort of splinter about 1" long.  I hammered it back roughly in place, welded both sides attempting to minimize the bead height, and ground to fit.  This would have been SO much better with even minimal TIG skills.  Just my perspective, make of it what you will...
Reply:I have all three and don't think I would trade them for just one process.... My mig(s) great for sheet metal and building frames. Tig everything when my OCD kicks in.... Stick for when It really needs to get welded up. Its kind of like my engine drive, never knew how nice it was not to be limited to the shop or at least where my cord and leads could take me too...Asides from it is much like having a winch on your truck...I get random calls from people I know now, Uh hey man whatcha doing.....  cool cool hey could you maybe swing by my place and fix my wood trailer....lolMillermatic 30aMillermatic 210Miller thunderbolt 225 ac/dc/ccMiller HF15-1-wg tigLincoln ranger 10(honda powered)Cebora 175 mig Too damn many tools but oddly not enough......
Reply:I had the TIG first and went and bought a MIG after. Like mentioned I use the MIG for dirty fast jobs and hard to reach places. The TIG will replace the stick welder so you could sell that at least.With a TIG and MIG in the shop you should be set to weld anything coming threw the door.
Reply:If you can get big bucks then ok to sell. You can never have enough machines, that why manufactures make so many. Each machine has its place . It is better to have it when needed then selling it and wishing to still had it.
Reply:I tend to agree with what I'm reading. I have oxy/fuel, tig, mig and stick in the shop.I would not get rid of any.However, as has been mentioned, if you get a tig/stick machine you can sell your current stick.At any time you can sell your big mig and get a smaller one.Dave J.Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:Originally Posted by VPTI had the TIG first and went and bought a MIG after. Like mentioned I use the MIG for dirty fast jobs and hard to reach places. The TIG will replace the stick welder so you could sell that at least.With a TIG and MIG in the shop you should be set to weld anything coming threw the door.
Reply:If your budget is big enough ($5000~) sell the mig and get an Invertec 350. Unless you're against Lincoln. They're one of the best mutli-process machines I've ever used. Add a wire feeder to it and you can mig, tig, and stick anything.
Reply:An AC/DC Tig/Stick will do everything. In the real world, mig is nice for fast production on thin stuff.  I started fixing SCAG law mower baskets for a friend, namely welding new bottoms on.  Fit up wasn't exact because of the abuse they'd taken.  Couldn't remove every drop of dirt.  After an hour of tig and getting half of one basket done, I pulled out the mig and finished all three in about 20 minutes.  There's a reason for every process.TA Arcmaster 300CM3XMT 304S22P12 suitcase feederX-Treme 12VSOptima pulserTA161SMaxstar 150STLHypertherm PM45OP setupStihl 020AVP, 039, 066 Magnum
Reply:Next you'll be wanting a submerged arc welder, explosion welder, laser welder....it never ends. "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity...", Solomon.City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny