Tools & Fabrication - TIG, water cooled or not?

I am looking to purchase a tig for my garage. I am a college student and could make some money on the side with the welder as alot of my friends need fab work done. The only tig i have experience with is a Lincoln precision tig 275 with the water cooled add-on. I have never used a tig without water cooling, is it really worth the extra money. I have been looking at used welders in the $1500ish price range.

any input would be great

As a general rule, go with water cooled wherever possible. More importantly though, would be to try to find a switchable ac/dc tig with pulse function. That way, aluminum will turn out really pretty :)

For a decent "chinesium" unit....check out the Everlast 250ex. It has all the functions you'll need, no water cooling though. Good for a "non-production" environment.

Edit: Apparently, they are being advertised WITH water-cooled torch....interesting.

water cooled is the only way to go
i have a precision tig 275 and i made my own water cool system from a car rad and an RV 110V electric water pump
i can weld aluminum continuously all day long with no overheating issues
cost me about 500$ to build
Beaudacious

Unless you're doing 'production type' continuous welding all day long, a water cooled set up isn't really necessary. For the average garage, shop, or home user a standard TIG works great. I use a Miller XMT 304 for TIG & stick welding with a SuitCase 8VS attached for MIG welding.

Mike

Unless you're doing 'production type' continuous welding all day long, a water cooled set up isn't really necessary. For the average garage, shop, or home user a standard TIG works great.

x1000

Unless you're doing 'production type' continuous welding all day long, a water cooled set up isn't really necessary. For the average garage, shop, or home user a standard TIG works great. I use a Miller XMT 304 for TIG & stick welding with a SuitCase 8VS attached for MIG welding.

Mike


Agreed, unless you weld a lot of thicker aluminum. The torch can heat up in a hurry.

Another consideration: Dry torches are usually larger than water cooled. If you plan on tite area welding,[roll cages, etc], the water torch is a better choice....

if your looking in the 1500$ price range- and not looking to do giant projects with it- the hobart EZ tig you can get brand new and will do just fine. its not a top of the line machine- but for somone on a budget it works just fine

Thanks for the input guys, i am on the lookout for a used watercooled machine then. Generally how much maintenance do these things require with age? Is it worth spending alot more on a unit that didnt have much use?

As a general rule, go with water cooled wherever possible. More importantly though, would be to try to find a switchable ac/dc tig with pulse function. That way, aluminum will turn out really pretty :)

For a decent "chinesium" unit....check out the Everlast 250ex. It has all the functions you'll need, no water cooling though. Good for a "non-production" environment.

Edit: Apparently, they are being advertised WITH water-cooled torch....interesting.

Although the Everlast units arent top of the line and are reasonably priced, they do have a 5 year warantee on all of their machines. They must be pretty good or they wouldnt be able to offer that. I am thinking about one of their multiprocess units that does stick, tig, and plasma all in one machine.

You can get away with an air cooled torch, but if plan on doing anything welding above 150 amps your gonna cook a 9 series torch in a hurry. I started off with an air cooled torch and now have a water cooled setup, I would never go back. But I weld a lot of aluminum.

Sure, water cooled is the way to go if you want to spend 5,000+$ but at that point you are not just a hobby welder, well you might be...
At my shop we do not have water cooled Tig on any of the machines, we can weld stainless and aluminum for an extended time with NO problems. We just sold all of those machines and going with a couple of the new miller diversion 180.
Water cooling is if you are doing thicker material for a longer period of time, if you are only doing 3/16" an air cooled torch can do that all day from my experience.

Sure you can use an air cooled torch, but a water cooler setup usually runs around $600 - $900 depending on what you buy. You can get a weldtec cooler and 20 series torch for about $700 out the door. Personally welding started out as a hobby for me, but has turned into more of a career for me. I use my welder almost ever single day, and would never go back to an air cooled setup, unless I wanted something portable.

Buy a Longevity TIG welder. 5 year warranty and ridiculously good customer service. If you tell them that 22lambo sent you they will even give you a good discount. I have had my TIG for about 2 years and still goes like a champ. I have never used a water cooled one the air cooled is fine for me.

I use one almost everyday , go water cooled.

for what its worth, I have an older Miller syncrowave 300 w/ water cooling and pulser option that I picked up for 650 locally, might be worth looking into older water cooled, transformer machines if you don't need to move it.

Some people use a water cooled torch and just hook a hose up and run the output into a drain somewhere. At leat that way you don't spend a lot on a cooler.

Ryph

Although the Everlast units arent top of the line and are reasonably priced, they do have a 5 year warantee on all of their machines. They must be pretty good or they wouldnt be able to offer that. I am thinking about one of their multiprocess units that does stick, tig, and plasma all in one machine.

I was looking at an Everlast tig/plasma cutter. I search on the net a while and came up with too many people complaining the machines weren't working straight from the box and others who have had their machines replaced several times. I've never owned one, but it sounds like *when* the machines goes they're very willing to replace it. I believe their products are assembled in China but use name brand components. *From my experience* 'outsourced China business model' means they have little or no QC therefore it's extremely cheap to manufacture and ultimately more cost effective to replace a unit vs repairing one. When that unit is out of warranty where are you going to go to fix it? The The price is definitely right for many of us who can't afford the blue/red brands. Still I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger.

I just posted my review on the Everlast welder that I had in a new thread.

dry rig torches are usually a bit larger than water-cooled torches, keep that in mind if you get into REALLY tight places.

If you weld aluminum very much, the dry rig will get hot.....probably not burning-your-hand hot, but hot compared to the wet rig which won't hardly warm up at all.

If you weld aluminum very much, the dry rig will get hot.....probably not burning-your-hand hot, but hot compared to the wet rig which won't hardly warm up at all.

X2
Just doing my intercooler piping with my Miller Sycro 200 it gets HOT. Tubing isnt so bad because they are only short runs. I did a couple intercoolers before and it gets too hot to hold. Just have to slow down and take breaks.

I think whenever my torch lead wears out and I have to buy another, im probably going to get a cooler.

well worth it...i just bought a coolmate 1 for my dynasty. i already had a new water cooled torch that came with tha machine....it was a night and day difference. i mean, i already knew what to expect since i weld for a living, but it was a real nice change for the home/hobby welding application.

Keep you eyes on ebay for good deal. also, consider making your own cooler using a ProCon pump/motor, also found cheap on ebay. use an old heater core for a heat exchanger and make a coolant tank from a turkey pan or whatever you can engineer.

I have used both and I definitely like the water cooled torches better. You don't need a radiator and fan for a cooler. I just use a tank that holds about 15 gallons of water and even with steady welding all day the water never gets warm. The procon pumps are available on ebay for around $50 dollars so making a cooler an be pretty inexpensive.