Plasma cutter or tig welder????

Looking to add another tool to my home shop. I can only afford to buy one or the other. I have a torch,chop saw,sawzall,mig weld and arc welder. I would like a tig to be able to weld aluminum and steel, but also like the nice way a plasma cuts without alot of distortion. Which one do you think I would use more?

I'm looking to spend around 2K so any suggestions on makes and models would be appreciated. Thanks.....Mike

 

i dont know anything about makes or models, but i would rather have a tig.
i wish i could afford one for my house but i'm a poor *******.

i think i've almost got my boss talked into buying one for our shop.

later, matt

 

I use my plasma cutter a lot

but rarely use my tig.

 

my plasma cutter is handy, but a tig is near the top of " get next " list.

 

If you spend your money, right, you can get both for 2K.

I bought my Miller GoldStar for $600 and my Snap-On plasma cutter for $325... at AUCTIONS.
Neither one has skipped a beat.

If not... get the plasma cutter.
Price the consumables for each model, before you buy... some will break you.







JOE

 

I guess it really depends on the type of fabrication you do the most-frame building, body work, etc. I always wants a plasma cutter, and a year ago I finally bought one. I've probably used it a dozen times, and not for things I HAD to have a plasma to do, but just becuase I have one. For me it hasn't been a must-have tool. And by the time I drag out the 220 cord, hook up compressed air, and set it up to use I could have been done using my bandsaw.If you are looking for a cutting tool my bandsaw is my most-used tool in my shop. I can cut box tubing, angle, flat stock, miter cut box tubing perfectly etc. My chop saw hasn't been used since I got the bandsaw, that and my mig welder or the two tools I could not do without.

I would love to have a tig, but to get one heavy enough for ch***is fab and regular use is easily $4000, and not with all the bells & whistles. It is a slow, much more tedious process then mig, but the welds can be beautiful for a good weldor.

Its a tough call though, and 100 guys will have 100 different opinions. Its at least cool to know you'll soon have a new toy of some sort!

 

For 99% of people, I'd say a plasma cutter. It's just so damn versatile that I think I'd have a hard time living without it. My TIG, I also find indespensible, but only when I'm doing ch***is fabrication or detail work. So unless you plan to build a ch***is and are so **** you want to TIG in all your boxing plate, or you build loads of ladder bars/hairpins/nerfbars/stuff like that, the novelty will soon wear off a TIG.

With all that said of course, there's always some little job that pops up that having the TIG makes possible.

 

If money were no object i would go with a TIG. As for me, i rarely come across anything that a sawzall or band saw wont handle. But for $2,000, you cant get a decent TIG. I have a Miller 250 and it was about $4,000 with all the goodies that go with it. TIG welds are much cleaner and more precise than MIG welds. You have more controll over the penetration with a TIG. You can also weld stainless and aluminum as well as steel. So if you can s****e up another 2 grand, i would go with that.

 

I will sell you my Firepower plasma cutter for $600. List $1400. Made in Fort Worth. Used about 1/2 hour. Except for a smuge on cutter tip, it looks brand new.

 

Since when is a decent TIG 4 grand?? We have two Miller Synchrowave 180s, and they were like $1500 a pop. I guarantee that there is no hotrod related welding job that cannot be accomplished, and accomplished well with said $1500 machine. Sure, water cooled torches and thumb controls are great, but not really mandatory....

 

Maybe you should check into a Henrob. I have never used one but many of the guys here have and there have been threads on them or just google it and read all about them.

 

i have both and rarely use either TIG only comes out for aluminum and plasma cutter i cant remember.

 

Tig ...

 

Go to the plastic, buy both!

 

if youfind the right tig it should be able to do both with just two difrent heads on tig torch and a plazma head all you really need to turn tig in to a plaz is comressed air and a plaz head

 

Wha???

 

hahah plazhead who? hahah yeah wow...??

Plasma cutters for sure... they are the dogs bullocks... you allready have the arc welder...

 

Whats the duty cycle on those welders?? Nothings worse than having to wait for a welder.

 

Hey ThRead,

It's sure is a nasty World, would you rather cut something apart, or weld it back together/ fab a part? THe InVerteR ac/dC WELDERs ARE PRETTY Awesome, & only weigh around 40 pounds and you may even chang the hertzzzz, so you may get a finer bead.


Good Luck with your choice

pOOp

 

yeah he is right- what do you do more of? And check out auctions and (I dont know if you have it arounhd you) Craigs list. www.craigslist.org
We found stuff there -sometimes for free

 

You will save time with a plasma, more than likely spend more time welding with a TIG. If your time is valuable then the plasma will probably be the best deal .

As far as prices go ,I bought my Lincoln 250 air cooled TIG at a community College auction for $860 without bottle. My plasma was less than $1200.(cutmaster 35).

The Tig Consumables can be a factor if you are learning and screw up a lot of Tungsten.A lot of different size collets, tungsten for Aluminum and steel, filler for aluminum and steel,Bottle and gas can raise the Tig price considerably.I probably have $500 in that stuff.

Best of luck.

 

Henrob...cuts like plasma and welds like TIG.

 

If you haven't got a high production shop I would tend to agree with Johnny Fast. The Henrob will do what both of the units you are talking about and if you have basically a hobby shop it might be the way to go. If however you're a high volume metal working facility you really need both the Tig and the Plaz. Every situation calls for a differnt solution. If your having a problem deciding I'd wait and pay atention to your most urgent need, then fill it.


Frank

 

I would and did buy the TIG first.

I look at it based on the quality of your finished product. Nobody will be able to tell if you cut out a bracket with a plasma cutter or not, but they'll sure as hell be able to tell that you TIG welded that same bracket once you get good at using the TIG.

As far as brand goes...Miller all the way. Most of the time you can find a good used machine for WAY less than a new one. I have an older 250 amp water-cooled Miller (actually Miller/Airco) Dialarc...it's probably 20 yrs old, and never misses a beat.

 

i`d buy a tig and a henrob. i paid 600 for my miller 330/abp and 1000 for my used 180 sd. the henrob costs about 350 with the x-tra 0.5 tip for sheet metal it cuts great. shop around this stuff is out there. gary

 

What does something like that run Brian?

 

I've got around $1500.00 in my set-up, including the bottle, but not including the consumables like tungsten, cups, and filler rod. I bought it from a local used welding dealer/ repair. They went through it before I bought it to make sure it was OK...I've had it for about 3-4 months, and I love it so far.

The same machine would be about twice what I paid if you could still get one new. The newer (Miller) Synchrowaves are probably a better machine, but the old Dialarc can do anything I ask it to do.

 

Now I have access to a number of cutting tools and rarely find my self using the plasma anymore. When I was working out of my own garage with the borrowed plasma from my former place of employment I used it all the time.

I use the TIG for almost everything.

There have been some very good points brought up and a lot to consider. In the end you will need both anyway and you really can't go wrong with either one.

I don't know if anyone asked yet. Do you already know how to TIG weld? or are you going to need some time to learn? The plasma is almost a no brainer for opperation.

 

Not trying to **** in on B***, but I bought the exact same setup. Paid $500, hardly ever used ,leather cover for hoses, several boxes of spare parts worth couple hundred by themself.

 

If you are already set up for gas welding Eastwood sells the Cobra Henrod kit that can be used with it : http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=1269&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=1269&itemType=PRODUCT