Few pointers for potential TIG buyers.

You NEED separate TIG gas. You cant use MIG shield, you need to use pure argon. In addition you cant use TIG gas on a MIG.

I got a 200A AC/DC pulse TIG at home which I make all my manifolds, pipe works, exhausts, everything with. Its a cheap UNIMIG branded one from Nubco and it Only cost me $1500 (and it has warranty) new so I was stoked.

Heaps of grunt, I cant weld all day on it and it has a good amount of controls on it (pre/post gas, ramp down, current, pluse freq, pluse hi current, pluse low current, arc force and a few I've forgot).

On 200A You can weld 8mm Ali ok, any thicker and you need to preheat or you waste gas heating the job with the arc. Also remember, its a TIG - you dont use TIG to do gorilla jobs like 10mm plate etc. That stuff is for MIG's.

And use proper TIG gloves! So much better.

been tig welding for 22 years here's my 2 cents, combination tigs are great (mig and tig or tig and plasma) but when one breaks you lose 2 tools while it's being fixed no tig or mig to use.
I've used everything from water cooled 700 amp kempi to $10000.00 ac/dc millers.
there are a few things to consider when looking for a tig no matter what size or brand ,look at the specs in particular the duty cycle the higher the number the better( you should be looking at atleast 90%) the lower the number the worse it will perform on an extened weld eg.. the amps will slowly drop the higher the number the less drop..
the best brands are esseti, caddy ,miller and kempi , here's my rule the more nobs and the more settings you have to play with only make for a bigger headache to get it right as these machines are never very forgiving if not set quite right pulsed tig is fantastic if you use it everyday and have the time to get set it right.the tig I have at home cost 300 bucks has 2 nobs on/off and amps and it works great i grind near it I've dropped it and I don't have to worry cause it did'nt cost me 2 grand,for any alu welding I need I just take to shop to have done (on that note most people don't realise that alot of migs can weld alu with few minor changes)having said all that crap tig welding is pretty easy to learn , it's not until your under the car and that blob of hot stuff has gone down your sleve and is rolling aroung your back that you find out how much fun it is..

Token Tools

Lots of good reviews and comments of the web, and look to be reasonably priced.

Kenzi Easy TIG

Any one every heard of these guys.

Fark thats a bargain

If i could scam something like that, thats the winner right there.
The hard part for me with second hand stuff is they are all three phase, and I only have single phase...

Flebay, the quokka, auctions seem to be the go it seems.

got a 250A cig transtig paid $400 on ebay
works mint retails for about $2000 s/hand

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... DME%3AX%3ARTQ%3AUS%3A1123

you can do pretty much anything but combustion chambers with this stuff
steel, cast iron or alloy - specific rods for each purpose

Its a bugger. The more I look around, the more i realise that I am better off spending around the $2000 mark on a good sized unit, on a reasonable brand. Bugger. i w3as kinda hoping that I could get away with something cheaper.
The Boss units from Osbourne Park Welding, look intresting. Ill follow up with them once they open. They are around $600 cheaper than the equilivant Cigweld unit.

Might have to keep scouring the papers and auctions.

Stainless is so much easier to tig then ally with my experience, ally is hard cause of the heat, ends up melting real quick so you have to be fast....always have a test piece before you weld so you get used to the speed and wear sunscreen all over as you will want both hands to weld easier

I got myself a boss 200A ac/dc tig through my work for around $2200. Best money I have spent. Just don't expect to be able to weld alloy nicely straight away! Lol the pros make it look very easy