[TheForge] Choosing a tig welder

[Ries Niemi]

> Hi,
>
> My  friend just bought a Miller Maxstar 150 the other day.  He bought 
> it as a package including machine, tig torch, flow guage, hose in a 
> nice plastic case for approx. $1300.  The duty cycle is 100% at 100 
> amps. The price for just the machine is something like $800-900.   
> I've been hearing the same thing as Ralph about them.  It looks like 
> something well worth considering for installs etc.
>
> Regards,
> Bill Woolley
>
>>
>>


I use Tig a lot for install, particularly indoors, but outside it comes 
in handy as well. In July, we had to install a sculpture for my wife 
that involved welding stainless steel 80 feet up in manlifts, 3 feet 
out from the brand new curtain wall of a new office building. Each 
sheet of glass would have cost us a couple of grand to replace, if we 
had gotten spatter on it. So we Tig welded it, and it was the best way 
to do it. In that case, we were using a Gas Drive Trailblazer in a 
pickup truck on the street below, with 100 feet of lead, and a scratch 
start torch and an argon bottle in the bucket.
But I have rented the 110volt Miller and Thermal Dynamics units for 
site work, and as long as you dont need more amps than they can 
provide, they are very sweet to use. We particularly like them for 
welding the nuts to stainless steel anchor bolts- to really but the 
double whammy on theft protection.

ries