On Monday, November 23, 2015 at 3:20:29 PM UTC-5, rangerssuck wrote:

Nearly all the projects that I have in mind at the momet involve
welding .03" to .06" aluminum sheet to itself and to 1/8" or 3/16"
bosses, so it looks like this thing is heavy-duty enough.


A comparison video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oISSe0Itq7U

Thanks for the video link -- it's very helpful.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

And in that video, he really seems to like the AHP more. I plan on buying one of those very soon (hopefully before the end of this year). for an extra $50, I think you get a lot more. AND, you can buy it from Amazon, which gives you another layer of protection.

Looking at the specs for the AHP , it shows the minimum current as 10 amps. The rule of thumb is one amp per .001 inch of thickness. But I think that is where you set the max current. And then you use the foot pedal to get the current right. So when welding say .063 aluminum you would set the amps to about 90 amps ( 50 % more for aluminum ) , but when you are welding you may only be using 45 amps. And as you approach the end of the material , you would feather off to maybe 20 amps. So the AHP ought to be okay for 1/16 aluminum. But on .030 aluminum , you might want to feather down to ten amps. And that is as low as you can go. Anyway I would want to try the AHP on .030 aluminum before buying the machine.

If you keep looking on Ebay and Craigslist, you may find a older Tig welder for about 3 or 4 hundred. The disadvantage is they are heavy and need more power than an inverter TIG.

Dan