MIG WELDER QUESTIONS ---

I am building a three wheel trike with v8 engine with auto.tranny....the body will require me to hand build parts of the body with 16 ga. sheet metal....interior panels will be 1/8 -- 1/4" aluminum.....

welders I have:
#1 Acet./Oxy. small, with lg. tanks.

#2 Acet./ Oxy.large, with lg. tanks.

#3 Lincon - 225 AC stick.

#4 Miller - 250 Mig.

I woulden'tneed a Tig muct but This caught my eye--- Harbor Freight Tig #91811.
220 volt 130 TIG / 90 ARC...18 amps.singlephase,DC output amperage: 130 TIG 90 ARC...electrodes: 1/8" tungsten.....Rated duty cycle:35% @ 130 amps....Shows a gas hose but does not talk about it....what gas would that be? How large a bottle...what would a bottle its self cost me?...How much to fill it?

What do you think? thanks Don S. W. OHIO

#91811 appears to be a invertor DC machine with supposedly 130a Tig. I'll call BS on that spec with only 90a stick available. This is nothing more than a scratch start DCEN process machine for Tig. You can use scratch start Tig on any DC or DC/AC machine.

Your also getting into the wet Tig tourch area as dry Tig at 130a is about maximum for the torch and the torch will be hot at that many amps. 1/8"AL will need about 130a and 1/4"AL will need 180a Tig on a multi-pass weldment.

Since you already have the Miller 250, I would tend to buy the spool gun and go that route for heavy AL welding. For the thinner metals I would consider gas welding with Oxy/Acet.

Can't beat 100%AR for a 1cyl all around cover gas. I bought a 220cft cyl of AR for $68 last summer, no discounts. Seams like cyl excange is popular is most areas.

I written a couple articles on using scratch start Tig and welding Alumimum that can be located in the archives on this forum. If you can't find them let me know and I'll hunt them down.

T_Bone

Anyway, Weldmaster and Rod are right. Millermatic 250 with hand spool gun works well. Keep it clean, weld out of the wind, point the gun in the direction of travel.

A friend of mine runs big spools of Al wire, but it is on a dedicated machine with a special set up- not worth it if you don't weld Al all the time.

The spool gun is a bit awkward in tight spaces, just take you time and plan your welds.

Then again, the little tig might be worth having anyway, even if not for this project.

Just my $.02, not a pro welder, Grant

I think it could be OK for the sheet steel. There is no indication that it has an AC capability. AC is needed for TIG welding aluminum so if it doesn't have that capability, you'll be limited in that respect. In addition, 130 amp TIG is too little for 1/4" aluminum and marginal for 1/8" aluminum. You'd want pure argon for the shielding gas for TIG of both aluminum and steel. Argon is not cheap but I don't have a current cost.

Rod

Wayne