TIG with Lincoln stick welder

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Hello all. I'm a backyard enthusiast, completely self-taught, and new to welding, so excuse any dumb questions or comments.So far I have been tinkering with small carbon steel projects only (BBQ pits, firewood racks, pipe jack stands, tables, etc.) Lately I've been wondering about using aluminum or stainless for some projects (probably nothing more than 1/8" to 1/4" thick). My welder is a Lincoln 225 AC/DC. I'm told that I can do TIG as long as I get a TIG torch with valve in the handle and use 100% argon gas. Here's my question: How does the tig torch/argon connect to my machine? Is this a better option than buying rods that are made for stick welding aluminum or stainless? Which is more cost effective? and which makes better welds? (Keep in mind that I am new to welding all together and I understand that TIG requires a lot of skill.)Thanks in advance for answers/comments/advice.
Reply:first off if the machine donesnt have an option to switch the polarity on the machine. ( not sure if the ac/dc has the straight and reverse setting) you'll have to put quick connects on both the pos and neg leads. for tigging dc you need straight polarity, or dcen. which is using the ground lead as your stinger lead. for stick dc its dcep or reverse polarity. as far as using the maching for aluminum, you'll need a high freq. unit to hook up to the machine, but you'll have to plug it in to a wall socket to power it up. i dont have a set up like this or have seen one like this, but would assume it would work. i do have the tig torch you need though, i have it to hook up to my portable. it hooks up to the quick connect and has a gas line about ten foot up from that. it has a valve on the torch head. its a lift start, or scratch start. not sure if the high freq units have a remote plug or not, but if so that would be nice for aluminum. with stainless and mild you want to use 2% thoriated tungsten with dcen and argon. the aluminum would be achf with pure tungsten and argon.
Reply:I simply use the the electrode holder (stinger) to clamp on the TIG torch's cable lug. Depending on where i am at and what I am doing, I will wrap  to insulate. In order to weld aluminum with your welder using tig, yu will need to purchase a high frequency unit, which is fairly expensive or use helium instead of argon which is fairly expensive and takes quite a bit of practice. There are aluminum electrodes for "stick" welding aluminum but they take a lot of practice. Whether you choose tig or stick for stainless will primarily depend on the thickness of the metal you wish to weld. Anything 1/16 or less, I would tig. Anything 1/4" or more and can be positioned flat or horizontal, I would stick. In between is a toss up. once you learn to tig weld, it is much easier to tig vertical and overhead than stick. Cost effective? depends on numerous factors. Quality: More dependent on your skill rather than process. Tig is requires higher skill levels because it requires both hands.
Reply:Using the AC/DC 225/125 stick welder for tig welding can be done but it's not the best choice.It will not tig weld in AC as your limited to scratch start. It will DC tig weld but your limited to 125 amps with a low duty cycle and again, scratch start. You will need a torch with a gas valve as you said. Your limited to welding steel or stainless steel with scratch start DC tig.You can purchase an adapter to combine your torch and argon suply to connect to your welding powersource. A larger stick welding power source like an Idealarc 250 AC/DC would be a much better scratch start DC tig welder. You can add the high frequency box to the Idealarc to tig weld with decent results in AC for welding aluminum. In my opinion, you'd be better off spending the $$ and buying a Lincoln 175 square wave tig machine. It will tig weld in AC or DC and is a solid stick welder that will be a superior tig welder and stick welder than the AC/DC 225/125.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:Thanks all for the tips and advice.  I initially bought a stick welder and plasma cutter so that I didn't have to mess with gas bottles and my consumables would be limited. Not ready to spend a lot of money at this point, so I may just buy some rods and give it a try.