TIG welders

[Steve H]

I am toying with buying a TIG welder for making a stainless steel exhaust and frame modifications (fitting monoshock rear suspension). I am a competent MIG and Stick Welder but my experience with TIG is limited.  I know a few of you have TIG welders so may be able to help with a few questions

• I can only afford a DC welder, is the extra expense of a DC 'pulse' TIG worth it ?, if so what are the benefits
• Will the TIG kit make my MIG welder redundant, or will I still need it for bigger jobs
• One of the makes I have looked at is SIP welders, are these any good, can anyone recommend other reasonably priced sets.
• There are a number of cheap TIG sets on Ebay from China, anyone know anything about these.

[Crowman]

Likewise I've been fancying buying a TIG for a while, but they are rather pricey.  I've used them in the past (I worked for BOC back in the day, developing shielding gases). 

Pulse is worth it if you are going to be welding thin (<2mm) sections, helps stop melting holes in things and gives you more control, HF start is also very useful.

If you get good at TIG (it is a skill), then I would think you would only use MIG for quick jobs.

SIP are fairly budget, but OK.

Dunno about Chinese jobs, I'd be wary.

Hope that helps

 Jeff

[guest1154]

Hi. Rather than buy one and maybe struggle with the feel of it...why not see if you can get somebody to do the work for you? I am a coded TIG welder,and weld and fabricate in stainless steel every day for a living.I have made various  bits and pieces for bikes in full stainless steel,as I own a portable Tig welder , and sell them on ebay.
I have built my own bobber frame ,which is using an old yamaha diversion engine and kawasaki gpz forks and wheels.I am also restoring an old suzuki gs500....and giving it a bit of a cafe-racer look. I live near wolverhampton west midlands....If you live near to me,maybe we could meet up and work something out.   

[johnr]

take a look at the chinese tig kits, then go look at the ones for sale in the uk. theyre the same unit, the only difference is the badge and the price. my mate bought one about 5 years ago and still uses it almost every week, never had a problem, never gone wrong, spares are widely available if you ever need them, but thus far he hasnt. he saved nearly 400 quid by buying one direct from china, and it took about 3 weeks to get to him.