Welder selection

[plumber]

Hi- I wish to buy a welder but cannot decide which one best suits my needs. The majority of my work is welding sched 40 pipe 2 1/2 to 12 inch with 1/8" 6010 or 6011. (I'm tired of dragging around the big heavy transformers)I do want a machine that will weld aluminum for some marine fabrication. (1 1/2 6061 annodized tubing.) Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

[sw2x]

For schedule 40 your gonna need some amperage depending on the diameter. I have Tig welded 1.5" schedule 40 stainless with my 225LX and it does a beautiful job. Nice controllable arc, reliable arc starting. Overall a very good machine. I think the 225LX is the ideal TIG machine for most. Its got the amperage and duty cycle to do some thick materials if you need to and is also super smooth for ultra thin materials. It also doubles for SMAW although I have never used the arc welding function of mine.

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[sportbike]

I think you will be better suited to look at two machines. A small, portable smaw machine for the steel and something else for the aluminum. You will be compromising quite a bit to get both in one machine, namely portability for the stick welding of the big pipe.

[plumber]

Thank you. I kind of expected that. What machine do you like for sticking 2 1/2 to 12" sched 40 steel pipe?

[performance]

Use either the PowerArc 200 or 300 for stick applications. The TIG/Stick units are fine stick welders for g.p. use, but not designed for cellulose rods...for the rest the PowerTIG 200 DX

[sportbike]

Thank you. I kind of expected that. What machine do you like for sticking 2 1/2 to 12" sched 40 steel pipe?

I don't really know, some others will chime in with what they use. I pretty much only do lighter gauge tig work. the only time I have even used stick on my machine was to burn some 7018 to test it out initially.

[plumber]

Thank you. I ordered a PA 30 for now and will look into a tig later. maybe a 210.

[DaveO]

Welcome, Plumber! When you first posted about 6010/6011 and aluminum for a minute I thought you meant stick welding the aluminum. What kind of work are you doing?

[plumber]

Hi Dave- Thank you. I should have been more clear. At my day job we stick mostly black sched 40 gas piping. I wanted the alum tig for my own marine pipe work on my boat. I think the PA 300 will work out at work. Like I said, I'm tired of lugging around the big transformers.

I have another question: When the work is away from the electrical panel, would you run a 220 extension cord to the inverter and then have short leads, or would you leave the welder at the electrical panel and run lead to the work like I would with a transformer? I would like to keep the inverter close to the work so I can tweak the settings as the conditions change, but am unsure of how the inverter will react to this. With the transformer, I usually pick a happy medium setting and deal with it rather than running back to the welder. Will the PA 300 handle hundreds of feet of lead if need be? Thanks.