My Newb Plasma Table Attempted Build

I wanted a way to reuse the extrusion from the OX setup. Then I saw one of Cymbaluk's designs and the lightbulb went off. Saved a lot of drilling and tapping.

What are the thickness of the upright extrusion mounting plates? Do you think you will need to gusset them to stop any lateral swaying?

They're 1/4" steel. I have them extended downward 1in onto the 2x2 square tube, all tig welded. The previous setup didn't do anything to them, but this setup will have a bit more mass. I think they should be okay.

Tig welding is something i have wanted to try for a very long time. the main turn off on the cheaper welders was they are all DC until i came across this one at grizzly.com that looks to be pretty reasonable for a AC/DC unit. seems they are on sale at the moment which is not helping my impulsive side not being a welder by trade and just wanting something to learn on seems to fit this one well for not breaking the bank.

www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-160A-AC-DC-TIG-Welder/G0883

at one point i was into welding aluminum quite a bit. so i have a full size bottle already. i had my mig set up for aluminum but with no spool gun it was more trouble than it was worth since wire jams were all to common that's why i was looking for an AC/DC unit. grizzly stuff is made in china but it is in ISO shops so they do good with quality issues you run into often with china made products. they can make good stuff if you have a baby sitter to police the quality control

ever last has a decent AC/DC unit that is cheaper than most but more than this one. but all the extras are not included. ever last does have a 5 year warranty but i have seen people having a hard time getting them to stand behind it.

all the cheaper DC units i have seen actually get pretty good reviews but i was looking for an all in one solution

Tig is my go-to process when practical, probably because in my pipe welding career it was the process I used the most. And about 95% DC welding at that. My current machine is the one I've had the longest at home, a Miller Maxstar 175 converted for single phase.

I hate welding aluminum with the tig process, a spool gun is by far the easiest. I know a lot of folks who tig aluminum all or most of the time and the prefer tig, to each their own.

Here's a pretty good deal and you get a nice spool gun with the machine...

www.ebay.com/itm/373115294144

Lincoln is a good brand, i have the weld pak 100 which i have had for 25 years or better. i think they stopped making it but still has been good to me.

the thing with mig welding aluminum is the wire speed is cranking pretty fast so you need a spool gun if you want to do it and not have problems. i think the tig process just gives you a lot of control for making nice pretty welds. so i have and idea of what mig welding aluminum would be like minus the wire jams with a spool gun.

who does not want that perfect stack of dimes weld on their projects i tend to want nice looking welds probably because of the machinist OCD i have developed over the years it's on my bucket list

I think for tig welding aluminum you're gonna want something with square wave adjustability, which will probably rule out most of the more budget-friendly machines.

When I was a pipe welder I mostly welded stainless, inconel, etc etc. Pic is my last pipe welding turnaround on my last day (sch 120 10in). Didn't quite get it all done in one 12hr shift.

machinedude wrote:

at one point i was into welding aluminum quite a bit. so i have a full size bottle already. i had my mig set up for aluminum but with no spool gun it was more trouble than it was worth since wire jams were all to common that's why i was looking for an AC/DC unit.

Did you try with a teflon liner? I've got a torch set up that way for my MIG that I bought with the machine but I can't weld for nuts so I've never even got it out of the box