Help, uneducated buyer here...

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I'm at the point of needing a tig welder. I've been shopping around and getting a feel for price. This thing came up recently but I'm pretty leary about it.Please let me know what I am looking at here and if it will be a good first welder for a guy.I need to be able to weld aluminum and chrome moly steel for my new dragster chassis. The tubing is usually about .090" thick.The asking price for the welder is 650 bucks which, if it can tig, is a pretty good deal. but to me it looks like an old stick with an attachment to make it weld tig. I've seen these old units before but have never used on.Please let me know what you guys think before I make a crappy purchase.I attempted to import a couple of pics of the machine but I'm not sure if it worked. If not, please email me so I can send them out via email.Thanks,Wayne Attached Images
Reply:An old Idealarc, which is what that looks like, will handle the moly tubing just fine with the freq box sitting on it. As for the aluminum, I'll leave that to the non-ferrous experts to comment on.Anything worth doing is worth doing RIGHT
Reply:You can do both, but it will not be the best setup for it.  Does that machine accomodate a remote foot pedal?  I used a dialarc (very similar machine, but miller) to do aluminum without any remote amp control...it's tough...but doable...if you are learning to tig aluminum, this might be pretty frustrating.  The addition of a foot pedal made things much easier...Check around ebay for older tig machines to measure this against in terms of price.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:This one evidently has a foot control.What do you think about this one? It's a 250 amp machine.$850 bucks. Wayne Attached Images
Reply:That Miller looks good, make sure it's single phase. Also make sure you can dedicate a 75 - 100 amp breaker for it, it'll be a power hungry beast. The data plates should tell you just how much power it needs to function correctly.Anything worth doing is worth doing RIGHT
Reply:The manual shows the Dialarc HF is a single phase machine.http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o315u_mil.pdfLooks like a good machine.
Reply:The Miller gets my vote. Keep in mind if your doing much aluminum you will want to consider a water cooler for the tig torch.
Reply:I bought the miller machine. I still need to get an argon bottle and flow meter. I have a question, Being that it is water cooled, can any welding be done without water hooked up? Wayne
Reply:I have an identical machine . it's a good one . you can stick weld with regular stinger without water . do not tig, with a water cooled torch ,unless water is flowing through torch , otherwise , it'll burn out ,pronto ................... As to breakers, i had ,at first ,a 70 amp breaker , it kept blowing . then , i gave it a 100 amp circuit, (it's just 3 feet from 200 amp breaker box) and NO more problems .Last edited by Roy Hodges; 09-27-2007 at 04:09 PM.[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:As to a flow meter , try to get a KOIKE . has no balls, don't need one . IT is PRECISION calibrated , the best . ![SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:You can use house (tap water) for the torch but you should filter it with a decent filter before it goes into the torch.  Then just let it drain outside or into a drain.  If you have it darning outside and you are in a cold climate MAKE SURE the drain line does not freeze! (heat tape).Me!
Reply:I shouldn't have any problem building a tank to hold water. Would it need to recirculate? In other words, how much water will it use? If I were to put a 5 gallon bucket full or water on top and gravity feed it to the inlet of the welder, how long before the bucket would be empty? Wow Roy, 100 amp? I had assumed I'd need about a 50 amp breaker. Do you think I should start there or maybe start with a 70 like you did?Thanks,Wayne
Reply:The owner's manual is for a Dialarc HF and a Dialarc HF-P.What is the difference? How can I tell which one I have?Wayne
Reply:If a unit is water cooled, does that mean it has a pump in the welding unit to circulate the water? Or does it just have a valve in the unit and the pump is in the coolant unit?Wayne
Reply:Originally Posted by jaded13640I shouldn't have any problem building a tank to hold water. Would it need to recirculate? In other words, how much water will it use? If I were to put a 5 gallon bucket full or water on top and gravity feed it to the inlet of the welder, how long before the bucket would be empty? Wow Roy, 100 amp? I had assumed I'd need about a 50 amp breaker. Do you think I should start there or maybe start with a 70 like you did?Thanks,Wayne
Reply:Thanks Rojodiablow. I was reading over the parts list and didn't find a listing for a pump. Is there a valve that opens when the pedal is pushed or does the water run continously when the machine is running? I guess that would mean that there would be a valve that opened once the machine is turned on. Yes?You mention the house water line. I'm thinking about running a garden hose out to the shop and see if I can cool the torch by feeding it that way. It only has to be a temporary fix until I gather the stuff to build a proper cooling system. Have any of you done this? Can you tell me what I need besides a garden hose? Such as a ball valve maybe?Speaking of home built cooling systems...have any of you built your own system? If so I'd love to get a copy of your parts list. More specifically the specs of the pump and valve and diameter of tubing and such. I would guess an automotive heater core would work nicely for a radiator.Oh, one more thing. I have a regulator on my Mig welder. I'm pretty flat azz broke at the moment and would love to try to use that regulator rather than buy a flow meter right now. Is this a reasonable idea? Does the welder "mind" being fed gas through a regulator as opposed to a flow meter?Thanks,Wayne
Reply:Well, lots of guys have used the hose method for water cooling their tig guns. Find an adapter to fit up to the inlet line, and then run another hose from the outlet line outside, or into a sink/ floor drain. As for a regulator VS a flow rater, regulators guage on PSI. Flow raters measure by cubic ft. an hour. So, that is why many weld at 10-18 CFH. Not PSI. I built my water cooler using a small tank(1-1/2 gallon) and in it is a submerged fountain pump. I had to use the biggest pump available; it was about $75 for the pump. I necked down the outlet from 1/2" to the 1/4" for the welding torch, and the outlet dumps back into the tank. I think most setups just run the pump full time. Hope this helps, good luck. And its' Rojodiablo. ROJODIABLOW was fired.... she forgot the last part of her name.And then, after so much work...... you have it in your hand, and you look over to your side...... and the runner has run off. Leaving you holding the prize, wondering when the runner will return.
Reply:So it sounds like if use a regulator intead of a flow meter it's just a matter of getting the right about of gas flowing. It sounds more like a preferance than a requirement. Other than prefering to run the gas in CFH than PSI, is there a benifeit to using the flow meter?I like the idea of the submersable pump. No fittings required in the tank. Just a bucket of water to set the pump in. Now if I only had a pump. The only pump I have is a 1" clear water pump from Harbor Freight.http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=1479It has a half horsepower motor, flows a max of 330 GPH. My guess is that it's about 3 times the pump I would need for the job. Does anyone have any experience using one of these pumps. It woudn't have any problem moving the water. I'm just afraid it would move it way too fast. And if I'm not mistaken, these things don't like being regulated with a valve. If I could get away with this pump, I have everything I need to build a system. Let me know what you think.Oh, sorry about the blow thing. That's why I like it when people put their first name in the post. I always screw up typing their screen name. Besides, it seems so impersonal to communicate that way. But in the mean time, No BLOW. LOLThanks for the help and let me know what you think about my questions,Wayne
Reply:The "regulator" on your MiG gun should be a flow meter anyway. You can not accurately control the volume of gas released with a pressure regulator.Last edited by mooseye; 09-29-2007 at 09:46 PM.
Reply:The Mig came from Miller with the regulator. Maybe that's why I always have a problem getting started on a job. What is a good starting point to welde mild steel header pipe with about a .040"" diameter in psi?Anybody got any info on the pump necessary for the cooling system? Will my clear water pump work?Wayne
Reply:Originally Posted by jaded13640The owner's manual is for a Dialarc HF and a Dialarc HF-P.What is the difference? How can I tell which one I have?Wayne
Reply:Thanks Roy. Anyone got any input about my cooling system question? Wayne
Reply:Wayne,Grainger has a submersible pump that might work for a cooling system.  http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/3CB58Doug