Don Foreman wrote:
On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:03:51 -0600, (DT)
wrote:
In article ,
says...
Hi. I recently bought a funny old TIG welder on craigslist. It is a
small AC buzzbox connected to a Power Kraft arc starter (made by 21st
Century). I tried it out, and it kind of works, but it creates a lot
of interference.
My Craftsman high frequency unit works fine. It is on all the time, not just
for starting unless you switch it off. It has the best start of any tig welder
I have used, it will light across a 1/2" gap! If you lay the torch down on the
concrete floor there is a blue glow around the electrode. I did lots of welding
with it many years ago.
The Craftsman HF unit was made by Lincoln, not Century. Big
difference! Those were pretty good units.
Ah, that explains it! The HF on my Lincoln Square-Wave TIG 300 is so
powerful you can actually weld with it! When I first got the thing, I
was poking around with it and was able to get tiny puddles to form with
the electrode way too far away for the main arc current to develop.
After fiddling for a bit, I found out what happens when you get the
electrode closer and the real welding current comes on. Anyway, my
Lincoln's HF system is quite awesome, it can create a cloud of 2"+
sparks that look a heck of a lot like those plasma globe things.
Jon