Sounds good Jon.

This is not near the machine that you have though. That sounds to be a good
price for the Squarewave although, I still don't really know prices for tig
machines.

I have soldered and brazed all of my life and hope learning tig will be
easier for me.

Say, Jon, have you thought of pumping air into your helmet for stick? You
could even rig up a small muffin fan in it to create pressure to keep out
fumes

What do you find difficult, if anything, about tig'ing aluminum?

Thanks for your help.

k


"Jon Elson" wrote in message
...


Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

"knowone" wrote in message
nk.net...

Thanks for the quick reply Harold.

This one has the water cooled torch and regulator. I don't know if it
has
the water-cooler, etc. At this point, I don't know anything else as far

as

how it is equipped.

I don't know how to tig but I really want to learn to weld alum and ss.

I don't know what the person is asking. What do you think would be a
fair
price?


I have no clue about resale values, but I can't help but think that with
the
newer solid state devices on the market, the older transformer machines
don't have nearly as much appeal, although I can't help but think that
they
are likely more reliable.

I run my water to waste, so I don't have a cooler. That works well if you
can dispose of the water easily. I installed a dedicated drain system
when
I built my shop, so in my case it works fine. I don't think I'd want an
air cooled torch----to bulky and wouldn't stay cool enough if you had lots
of work to do.

I hate to go out on a limb and make any predictions as to value, but if I
was looking at one and it wasn't trashed, I think I'd be willing to pay
up
to $600 for it. Dunno. Maybe someone with experience will chime in. I
just checked the invoice for mine, came to about $2,700 ready to
go-----base
price of the machine was $1,715, but I bought a bottle of gas,
undercarriage, torch, everything needed to get started TIG welding.
Invoice
is dated 9-11-86. Mine has the capacitors that lower current demand.

I paid about $1300 for a Lincoln square-wave TIG 300, which is a pretty
fantastic
machine. I got a new regulator/flowmeter, a good water-cooled torch and a
cooler in good working condition with the machine, as well as a HUGE steel
cart on wheels. I am VERY impressed with this machine, and it sure can
weld
aluminum. I'm still in the learning stage on the Al, but have done some
great work
on steel, and a little stainless. I got the hang of the switchover from
stick to TIG
on steel in a half hour, and may NEVER stick weld again. (I have real
problems
with the flux fumes on stick, even working outdoors. I can TIG indoors
and nobody
else in the house even knows I'm welding!)

Jon