Thanks! It's an air cooled unit.

 

forbidden top with carbon sides. hopefully they release their new oem style latches before mine ships.

you got me all interested in getting a nice welding setup now. might try and work on the bay this winter!

 

Nice choice!

 

I love having a tig welder at my disposal all the custom brackets that can be made. I also have a metal cutting band saw hoping next year to get a mill/lathe with a 7'' cut area. I would like to get a newer welder with the square wave technology so I can have narrower aluminum welds and the cleaning action of the higher frequency wave form makes starting a weld back up much easier. I have to clean the area or scratch start but my welder came from a surplus sale built one from two and it weighs 950lbs. I have thought about a small portable air cooled unit but I have needed that 200 plus amp level when working with thick aluminum what welder did you get and what is the max amp output I know they have come along way thanks

 

I'd love to have the space for more equipment. Hopefully, I will with the next house (current garage is a 19x19). The Eastwood TIG (AC/DC) is good to 200 amps. How thick is the aluminum that you're using? 950-lbs is crazy! Must be a monster.

 

I have made some swing arms for drag bikes and doing custom jeep long arm suspension takes a lot of current to weld a track bar to a dana 60 axle here is a pic of the beast aka big blue aka uglytron 3000 sorry for the mess just got through making some brackets and working on a friends s

 

Wow that thing is archaic! As long as it gets the job done, I guess it doesn't matter right?

 

the good dead reliable can put out 400 amps if I feed it 780vac can do arc welds can weld all day and night it came out of a Cessna factory I was told. the bad you cant move it more than 15 feet as that is how long the power whip is it only puts out a 60hz sine wave so the ac welds are wide and things have to be better prepped before welding starts I guess it gives good habits not being remotely portable is a huge draw back I have a small mig and it gets me by but its useless on aluminum I hope to get something like yours in the next couple of years as I have decided I will go drag racing in my 40's with a worn out ap1 and make all the stuff myself. have you taken classes or learn as you go?

 

Everything looks really good so far.

If you end up doing some stainless exhaust stuff (~.065 / 16ga.) get some small filler rod. 1/16th is too big for me, so I use stainless wire (.035) for a mig machine. Just seems better with dipping/melting. Also another tank or a dual regulator would be good for adding gas to the backside of the weld (mainly for stainless/ti).

 

when I weld stainless I also like to use 316 or 321 1/16th filler rod makes for a prettier weld and I purge the pipe with my torch I just tap the pedal a few times and repeat as I weld though I do have dual regulators I don't like to buy that much argon . now with titanium I have used an old fish tank and some old mud flaps as a gas chamber I am not a great titanium welder the stuff is hard to work with stainless is a butch to cut/drill but it is the only way to make the exhaust headers manifolds not the ductile cast iron is bad but it has its own set of problems I use nickel alloy rods and acetylene torch to keep the work at an even temp it can be like juggling, being able to do some of your own fab work is very rewarding.