Tig Or Mig? Suggestions please.

[xalky]

If you've migged before, it's like riding a bicycle. You'll be rusty at first but it will come right back to you. Tig is a whole different animal, it's harder to learn but you'll be able to weld pretty with it eventually.

Migging aluminum is almost as easy as migging steel except the surface prep is a little more fussy, same for tigging aluminum.

If I were you I'd get a mig for your job, but I think you'll need a spool gun for the smaller stuff. So get a mig that is spool gun capable. Aluminum wire is not as stiff as steel and will tend to kink in a long conduit, which is why you'll need a spool gun. Mig is also much quicker than tig.



Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[youngnstudly]

I wouldn't go for TIG just yet if I was you. It's not that you can't learn TIG, or that a big project would be impossible to learn TIG welding on, but learning to TIG on a heavy (thick) aluminum project with all out of position welds will be quite a challenge.It can be very time consuming to master, it's expensive (especially when it comes to Argon and filler rod), and it's a much slower process!

Prep work isn't really different between the 2 for aluminum, but you won't be sharpening Tungsten every 10 minutes while re-learning MIG. The professional boat builders that I know of (locally) all use MIG with a spool gun, and I would tend to follow their lead. Plus, you already have nearly all of the knowledge for MIG welding, so all that's left is a slight learning curve!

You can always learn TIG later on if you still have the desire. Look at the MIG welders that are at least 200 amps (preferably more with a generous duty cycle)! I would shoot for the 250 amp machine (like zoama mentioned) since you will learn quickly and become more proficient in MIG welding aluminum. That means the machine you're using will have to be able to keep up with you! You don't want to hit the duty cycle all the time and have to stop and wait for the machine to cool.

Also, don't buy into the hype that you see with the smaller (mostly) name brand MIG welders being spool gun capable! Just because you can plug the spool gun into the machine, doesn't mean that a 180 amp machine will allow you to weld aluminum!