Tumbler Build - For cleaning plasma cut parts.

looks pretty nice. wish i had the fixtures for welding and the skills to pull it off. if i started welding the first thing i would buy would be the best grinder money could buy

Yeah a good grinder is a must. I have decent 125mm and 230mm Makita units. Makes life much easier.

We use WIA welders. They are good quality and we dont have many issues with them. I changed all the handpieces to Profax brand three years ago and they just work. Had a lot of problems with other hand piece brands in the past so I have paid the extra money and brought the well made USA hand pieces.

a must for me no doubt. i would be redoing things 10 times over to make things looks half a good as what you did. it takes some skills to weld those i don't have i have always want to try TIG welding but never had the money to buy a decent unit to try on.

machinedude wrote: i have always want to try TIG welding but never had the money to buy a decent unit to try on.

I have 2 of them, both AC and DC, collecting dust together with 3 MIG's, as i use them about twice a year, MIG's, TIG's have not been used in well forever, so now the small one (200A) is complaining when striking an arc!
Hi, my name is TOM and i am a hoarder !

as so many of us do collect things never used in real live

We got 12 FULL CNC machine that only run on public open day once a year for 4hr

your only a hoarder when the you don't need the stuff. But when you get in a pinch and need it your a genius

DC units are cheaper but if you want to weld aluminum you need the AC unit. you can weld aluminum with the DC i think if you have special shield gas but i do believe it is more expensive and not very cost effective, a good TIG unit gets expensive. the better ones over here start at around $2,000 and go up from there. this is why i never got one

machinedude wrote:
DC units are cheaper but if you want to weld aluminum you need the AC unit. you can weld aluminum with the DC i think if you have special shield gas but i do believe it is more expensive and not very cost effective, a good TIG unit gets expensive. the better ones over here start at around $2,000 and go up from there. this is why i never got one

Just after I finished my apprenticeship in 2009 I brought a little inverter welder. CIG brand. It was a new thing at the time to have something so small and light that can do what a huge transformer unit could do. I brought it for the DC TIG, funny thing is I have used it twice in 2011 and not once since.
Two years later the same model came out with AC high frequency start. If it had AC it would of used it much more. And the other thing with TIG is the need for pure Argon sheilding gas. Its a pain to have to keep two types of gas. Well its not so bad these days since owning a bottle and swaping it over when its empty is common now. Back then you had to lease the bottles. When you have a bottle of Arogon, Co2/Argon/Oxygen mix for MIG, Acetylene and Oxygen the rental cost adds up!

i did come across one unit in the $750 range that was AC but is was only a 160 amp welder and the duty cycle was not that impressive. i have an argon bottle already since i tried welding aluminum with the little MIG welder i have. never did get a reliable method with that machine since i could not find a spool gun for it and it's just a little machine to begin with. but that was 10 years ago and my eyes were in much better shape then my welds would not be as good these days since i found out i'm far sighted sucks getting old

Its alive!

despite the noise of media and parts clanking around i would welcome it over doing hand work on parts without a doubt. hand work is another one of those things you learn to hate as you get older the noise is not so bad since your hearing is already half shot in the ass at my stage so it's a win win