Looking to buy First Tig, Portable, Looking for Advice.

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Hi Guys.- I have a whole bunch of questions that have building up for a while, so I joined your forum to hopefully meet some folks who have the wisdom to answer them.  I am a mobile field mechanic, but do alot of fabrication. Mostly Sand and Gravel operations, and some heavy equipment repair.  I Currently have a lincoln 300 Dlx.  I have put about a 1000 hrs on this machine since new, and am not very happy with it.  I have had buzz boxes that weld better than this thing.  And It certainly does not air arc worth a hoot.  I would like to upgrade to a dc machine, but at the same time, I would like to set up a portable tig unit for the few calls I get a year to repair or fab something out alu or stainless.  Plus I am at a point where I would like to expand my skills and learn to tig, but don't have a shop or access to a power company line.  So, I guess, some of my first questions are:  What does the "SAM" Stand for in "SAM400"?  If I go to a 300 or 400 dc machine, is there a way to "add on" to produce AC to run a Tig unit?.  I would like to go to a large DC machine with a CV tap  in order to use my feeder and air arc with big carbons, and I very much like the way a DC machine Sticks with 7018 and 6010.  I thought about just putting a belt driven generator head on a dc machine to produce the AC, but though I should check with the pros first.  Is there a way to have best of both worlds?  What kind of Tig setup would you recomend?  Will any or all  of the tig setups have to plug into the 220 outlet on the welder?  Is There a tig setup that "steps up" across the arc?  Thanks - Chris
Reply:Hello Chris, please don't take this wrong, but, I hope you have a thick wallet. If so, you could purchase the Miller Big 40 with all the bells and whistles and pretty much have everything that you mentioned. I just took a look on their site and they list the "Deluxe" Big 40 as having arc gouging capability up to 5/16" carbon, CC/CV output for GMAW and FCAW wire welding along with SMAW and stud welding, 1ph/3ph 12,000watt auxillary power while not welding, AC Tig(although I believe you have to buy a couple of additional items to operate it the same as an in-shop model). Problem with all of this is the price is somewhere's in the neighborhood of $15,000 or so. You could also go with a basic DC CC/CV machine that also has sufficient generation capability to allow you to power an AC/DC inverter tig, such as the Miller Dynasty 200, that you could carry on your truck, yet you will probably still be talking a lot of coin. Some thoughts for you to ponder. Best of luck and regards, Allanaevald