I would like to buy a new welder. I have an old Lincoln 225 Stick welder. I would like to get something with a little more finesse. I'm thinking a TIG machine would be the most beneficial compared to a MIG. What do you welder think? It kind of appeals to me to be able to hand feed a rod much like brazing.

Tig welding comes into its own for materials other then plane Jane steel and thin materials. More so if you have a machine that does AC and DC . That gives you the ability to weld a whole bunch of different stuff. My bread and butter here is stainless and Aluminium. And If i have to rough stuff, I take of the TIG torch and weld good old fashioned stick.

TIG makes some beautiful welds! I never had opportunity to use one, just a MIG. I hope you find one you like. I suggest sticking with a popular name brand is all, to get parts and repairs down the road should you need them.

https://www.bakersgas.com/TWEW1004401.html
I bought on of these.havent got into the tig yet,still playing with mig!

Make sure if you want to weld aluminum to buy a ac/dc machine like Scuba said , otherwise if you aren’t going to want to tig aluminum the multi purpose inverter machines are great units , this is the one I have https://www.weldersupply.com/P/552/ThermalArcW1004401Fabric

The learning curve on tig work is a bit steeper than some of the other types of welding. You will struggle starting out with contaminating the electrode, and even after you get good at it, you still have a bad day once in awhile. Lots of welding is that way though, back when I was pipelining, the welders had a saying. Some days ya just can't weld a lick! And it is the truth!

An AC\DC machine that does stick and TIG 110-220 gives best flexibility. I am no champ welder, so don't go looking at my stuff. But it is the best available.

Suppose it depends what you plan on welding. TIG isn’t an “all purpose” weld. Its really good at what it does, but its uses are really limited for most of us.

I would recommend a mig welder for more universal welding and easier learning.

The two top brands for mig and tig in this area would be Miller or Lincoln. Really they both are great machines. Do you like blue or red? Lol

The Lincoln are usually cheaper.

Some areas push the Miller for popularity and other areas push the Lincoln.

I have all Lincoln for arch, mig and tig and my next purchase is a plasma cutter.

I would second the MIG choice, it's a lot more useful for more welding than the TIG would be for most back yarders.

You can buy a nice Lincoln or Miller MIG for 110 power at around 4 to 5 hundred new, less if you find one used, get a bottle for it and a set of wheels for 0.23 to 0.35 and a set for .045 wire and you can do just as much or more light and heavy welding than you ever would care to do !

Tig has it's place, but your areas to weld have to be a lot cleaner, it's more labor intensive and you have a steep learning curve if you have never used one before. Most of the gas you use for it is Argon and that cost more than the 75/25 mix you can get by with on the MIG, with most carbon being just CO2 on the MIG.

If you have the bottle set up you can get a small diameter dual shield wire which will let you weld much heavier stuff even with the 110 duty cycle,

Being a welder I have all of them but only use the TIG for light gauge and pretty work, the other work I use either stick or the MIG.

If you step up to a larger 220 machine you can get one machine for all three process, but you still going to need a wire feeder and gas bottle set, up but you would need the bottle and TIG torch as well if you went the other way, positive about the 220 is the duty cycle will hardly ever get hot enough to turn the fan on, which means lots more welding and a job quickly done.

Just go to a welding store and tell them you wish to cost each out and decide what your really going to need.

OK, Thanks for all the input!

Miller has a rebate going on for their Syncrowave 210 right now. It also comes with a Spoolmatic gun so you are set up for Mig, Tig, and stick welding. Just need to get the shielding gas and you are good to go. Runs on 110 and 220 also which can be an advantage, just plug in to what you have available!

I found mine on craigslist.600 with the gas and a new 20#spool on it.

There are a lot of good points being made on here. The biggest thing that was said and it still sticks true is you need to buy a welder that matches your needs and your budget. If all your doing is sticking two pieces of thicker (.25 and up) metal together then the GMAW (MIG) process is the best choice because of its ease of use and versatility, you can weld most any metal with this process. While I am not saying that you cannot use GTAW (TIG) to weld up thicker material it really shines through on thinner, small and detailed projects. However, with my comment on budget, if you do not have a set budget and are willing to spend a little extra there are several power sources that can be used to do all three of the common welding practices i.e. stick, mig, and tig by just switching out the "whip" and adjusting your machine. Don't know if this helps your decision but hopefully it does.

Lincoln square wave tig 200.

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