I added TIG welding accessories to my stick Arc Welder

[EtownAndrew]

On Friday evening I got the last part I needed and finished putting together the accessories that would allow me to do scratch start TIG welding using my stick welder. I was relieved to see that it seems to work since by that point I had spent $410. So this is probably only worth doing if you already have an old stick welder. I see that harbor freight sells a comparable TIG/stick unit minus the gas equipment for $400 on sale. So with adding $200 for the Argon, regulator, and some consumables I could have gone with all new equipment and spent only a couple hundred dollars more.

 

I had done a fair amount of thinking about what welding I wanted to do prior to buying the stick welder a couple years ago. I don't think I made a wrong decision but I have struggled some welding 14 ga metal and I have also fought the slag that stick welding produces. So I think that I will hopefully reduce those issues with the TIG.

 

Anyway I did a small repair job this afternoon using it. I'm can see that I am going to have to retrain myself to not pull all the way away from the weld. I kept on welding and pulling away and then wondering why the puddle was doing some funny bubbling I would then remember to put the gas shield back onto the puddle for a few seconds. I'm also going to have to do some playing around to get a better feel for the right amp setting. 

Tig conversion cost - Final.pdf

[DSW]

That kind of rig only works on DC stick units. Looks like an Ac only Lincoln, but I see in your PDF you added a rectifier to go to DC.

 

 

I hate to tell you, but for $400, plus the cost of the welder, you probably could have found a dedicated tig and had more output and more control. Down side of those stick machines is that they are tapped units. You only get a fixed amperage. "Better" machines like Dialarcs and Idealarcs are infinitely variable units and give you more control over your amps. Most dedicated tigs also allow you to use a remote like  a pedal to vary the amperage while welding. With fixed amperage units  like you have, your only control over heat is to increase/decrease arc length, change travel speed, or use the filler to chill the puddle.

 

 

Don't get me wrong adding a tig torch to a DC stick machine is a good way to get into tig relatively inexpensively. Basic rigs like this are used daily in the field to make code quality welds. However converting an AC unit to DC, then going with a heavy tig torch is an expensive way to end up with a 2nd rate tig unit.

 

 

 

As far as amps with what you have, use the 1 amp per .001" rule to get you close, then go with the closest tap below that number. It's a lot easier to "add" head than to subtract it with fixed amperage tigs. If you increase your arc length and slow your travel speed, you will effectively increase the heat you are adding to the piece. This allows you to "back off" if need be by decreasing the arc length and speeding up. If your amps are too high however, you are much more limited in how you can cool things down. You can only decrease your arc length so much, and most newer tig welders have issues when you strat trying to go faster and faster. Jumping up to oversized filler to help chill the puddle often ends up with problems where you get the weld too cold and simply melt the filler with the arc vs melting it with the puddle.

[DSW]

You can also simplify your wiring nightmare.  get yourself an old soda bottle or oil container and route the tig torch cable thru the neck. Then simply reach in with the stinger and clamp to the power block. I'll try and dig up a pict to make it clearer. As far as the ground, you can simply attach that to to work and skip the extra connection.

 

 

Edit: Ah I now see your wiring nightmare is where you added the rectifiers...

 

 

This thread here covers all the basics for this sort of rig....

 

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=38106

[EtownAndrew]

Yes, I was realizing as I tallied up the cost that my best plan would have been to sell my stick welder for $100 and put the money into a regular stick/TIG machine.

[jeremy k]

Andrew can you explain the cluster mount better. I'm assuming the group of 4 are not all connected to each other as a whole. Unless you needed the extra length of cables - you don't need that type of cluster. Clamp the stinger to the gas tig power lug for the tig torch and just use the ground from the machine, no need for the second tig ground clamp. Adjust the machine to amperage needed (yes its full power once the arc is started up to the setting you have it set on).

[DSW]

His machine is AC only. That "cluster" is a DC rectifier to chop the AC current so the machine produces DC vs AC. It had me going too at 1st until I spotted the caption in his 1st pict with the machine.  Most conversions I've seen, the user mounts the rectifier  inside the case vs on a separate "panel".

[EtownAndrew]

DSW is correct. My Lincoln AC stick machine does not have any way of detaching the normal AC stinger and ground cables. So I clamped them to the input on the rectifier. I then needed a ground cable to go from the rectifier to whatever I am welding. 

[MLMartin]

I have a simple AC/DC miller stick welder and have used it to scratch start tig a hand full of times. My welder has a crank to adjust the Amps. I would clamp the negative ground to the tig line, and the positive to the welding table. It worked well.

 

After I got a Dynasty tig welder I stopped using the little stick machine. 

Took a little while for me to stop phantom turning on and off the gas flow at the torch handle. haha

[DSW]

Andrew it's not hard to add quick connects to machines like that. You can buy tweeco connectors that allow you to add cable or connect a tig torch if need be. I added a set to my old Miller Thunderbolt so I could use any of the extra leads from my other stick welders if I had to.