i am a small business just starting and am in need of a small tig or tig/stick outfit. i cannot afford much at all, i tried to get leasing but was just below the cutoff for qualifying. at this point my credit is maxed and i find i am very limited on what i can do. i provide small welding and fabricating for parts that someone cannot afford to pay a big price for at a machine shop or welding shop. i have a mig which does a wonderful job but need a tig for small detailed welding which is difficult with mig. if anyone knows of a unit they could unload cheap or donate i would much appreciate it. i would pay for shipping if needed. my local dealer cannot help me and i have exhausted all my resources.

I have a Hobart TigMate for sale, $750, plus I can help with shipping from Ohio if I can figure out how to get it on a truck (commercial carrier), too heavy for UPS. But it kicks on at 28 amps, it has a foot pedal amptrol, but makes welding 18ga. difficult, better suited for 16ga and thicker. And it does have AC, but aluminum welding with this machine is a struggle at best.

What kind of budget do you have? Would it be worth your while to buy one of the cheap imports until you make enough money to get a Syncrowave or something better?

well its a bit out of my budget right now. i was thinking of an option and have been looking all over wondering if there is a way to make a pencil type tip for my mig that i could do precise welds with, perhaps an attachment with a flexible shaft to attach to the end of my existing mig which would allow me to hold the gun in my left hand and control the tip with my right for more precise welding and a tapered tip and nozzle. i know they make tapered nozzles for mig for pipe welding, but thought perhaps an extension of this sort as long as i could keep the wire flowing through without kinking might work. it is difficult to say the least to hold the gun and weld a real fine piece and hold it steady. or does someone make such a gun? right now i can only afford a couple hundred at the most which is why i was looking at the lincoln invertec lease program but they said i was just below the cutoff for being qualified.

Thank our economy for the financial crisis, they aren't lending money to anyone without perfect credit and 3x the equity in realestate for the loan or lease they are applying for.

AFAIK, MIG is a Constant Voltage power supply, TIG is a Constant Current power supply, I have never tried it, but I don't think it will work, and probably not worth trying on customer parts.

But, you can use a tig torch on a DC arc welder and I'm sure someone sells a small torch with a manual on/off valve for the gas flow. Just hook up the torch lead to the welder ground and positive lead to your workpiece, scratch start but no amptrol. It takes some getting used to, but I have done it. Actually just sold a torch and regulator for this purpose on ebay a couple of months ago, I think I got $75 for both of them, new collet, tungstens, ceramic cups and the regulator was never taken out of the box.

If you can get an inverter type arc welder power supply, that is the way to go! Usually you can find those cheap. Other than that, even cheap and or old TIG outfits are expensive. Amazes me how much money the surpluss shops want for 25 year old machines.

perhaps though you misunderstood, i wasnt talking about using the mig as a tig but in running an extension from the mig gun so i can hold it like a pencil with a smaller cone and tapered contact tip so that i squeeze the trigger with my left but control the tip with my right in such a manner that i could obtain a little more control over the wire and the weld for small items. seems to me it would work if the gas flow is good and the wire doesnt get kinked. in this respect you would hold the end of the mig like a pencil and the extension could be a little flexible allowing better control. i can do wonderful welds at full power on a big joint but doing a very small bead on a small item with the traditional gun is tricky to say the least. this way i could eliminate the need for tig altogether. i may try turning down a contact tip and make a nozzle for it and run an extension with a liner in the middle for the wire that just screws in where the tip would normally. cant hurt to try. then it would only be a matter of unscrewing it to go back to normal mig.

Yep, I misunderstood you.

I think it's a good idea, but I have never seen anything of the sort. Let us know if you find anything, or come up with your own design, I would be personally interested in seeing your idea at work!

MC

You can pick up a 140 amp CC machine from one of the chinese importers for less than $200.00. You then just need a gas bottle and air cooled tig rig. You could probably get into the whole setup for $300.00 ish excluding your argon or helium bottle.

This will not help you with AC aluminum however swapping gas to helium and some good precleaning and you can weld aluminum using GTAW and a CC machine.

I have setup tig on the 80 amp inverters from Harbor freight and they work fine. Just a little cold and low on the duty cycle.

I have already built a prototype and am filing a patent so far seems to work but have a few modifications to make as weather here is cold and don't have garage yet haven't been able to fully test it

I have already built a prototype and am filing a patent so far seems to work but have a few modifications to make as weather here is cold and don't have garage yet haven't been able to fully test it

No basement? No friends garage? This is what makes america great! 18,000 patents in 2006 vs China's 700! I'm rooting for you!

i have a basement but between storage and stairs don't like dragging the welder down there, and my friends garage is ten miles away, im usually so busy don't have time to run all over the place. but i get by.