*Tech Request* Welding Special Metals and MIG/TIG

What with all the welding/propane/etc. posts going on right now I wanted to ask something more specialized. I can o/a weld and arc weld but I have no experience with welding special metals or wire welding. I would like to know how and with what to weld aluminum and some stuff about mig/tig sorts of things.

Crux of the matter is:

If I wanted to buy a new welding rig (off in the future when I have some money), is there a setup or combination of setups that I could get that would allow me the most welding flexibility? And how does one do these types of welding?

Thanks in advance for the advice,

Big Daddy Eric

 

bttt

 

Buy an AC/DC gas mig welder. It is the most versatile machine capable of welding just about any metal on the planet. Aluminum mig welding is a different sort of animal in that you can't tell by the color of the metal as to how hot and how much the aluminum is molten. Typically its all in the technique of timing and wire feed along with machine heat settings. But not as hard as it sounds.

 

all i have is a tig and a torch....i can do everything with those 2 ...the tig will weld all the metals youd want with the same bottle of gas and it also has a stick attachment on it so if you ran out of gas you could just stick/arc weld with it...and if your electric goes out you can weld with the torch...i have a henrob torch which welds aluminum and everythging well...plus cuts great...the tig i have is called the "econotig" from miller...its not a high powered machine but it was cheap got it used for 900 and gets the job done..just bevel the edges for full penetration...my advice for learnring is to look for a book form a local college or something on welding and read it...should help steer you in the right direction and then from there you can ask specific questions
hope that helps
zach

 

I agree with kustom..... but..... I also have a stick (SMAW) welder that can also be turned into a tig welder (GTAW).... but unless you weld everyday day in and day out its not practical.... I use oxyace and tig everyday. thats really all you need.. matter of opinion i guess