[TheForge] tig

[James Binnion]

It is doable you just need to attach the TIG torch to your DC welder.  
I tarted out with this kind of rig on a tombstone Lincoln. The down  
side is that your current control will not be very good unless you  
have a welder with some form of remote current control (foot peddle or  
thumb control) Without the remote control it is hard to do clean TIG  
as you vary the current when starting and stopping the weld and often  
while you are running the bead. You will not be able to do AC  
(aluminum) welding without a high frequency add on device which will  
set you back close to $1000 if you buy new from Miller. You will need  
to buy a manual valve TIG torch as your welder will not have the gas  
solenoid to shut off the gas when you stop welding. A manual valve  
torch is annoying if you either forget to turn on the gas or forget to  
turn it off. In the first place you will ruin the tungsten and need to  
do a severe regrind of the tip in the second you will come back to do  
some more welding and will be out of Argon. If you do try this don't  
ever use a friends "real" TIG setup because you will never want to go  
back to your manual unit :-)

Jim
On May 31, 2008, at 2:53 PM, schade at acegroup.cc wrote:

> I think I remember reading here some time ago about a way to turn an  
> arc welder into a scratch start TIG welder.
>
> Am I dreaming or is this doable? If it is can someone point me in  
> the right direction?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bob

James Binnion
jbin at well.com