My Newb Plasma Table Attempted Build

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationTig 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...

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

Finished both of the Y axis rails with the reduction drives. I just placed the gantry extrusion on top of the risers to get an idea of what it might look like. The risers are height adjustable and are not set to the correct height yet.

Tomorrow will be gantry day and hopefully I'll get the Z axis on it too.

Got the gantry mounted up proper, and the carriage for the X axis sorted with the Z mounting. Just a touch of paint on the carriage and then I'll get the gantry and Z mounted permanently. It's a bit high, but it will be fine. Gives me a bit of space for an air scribe in the future.

Also got the BRIX PC out and installed mint. Still have to install linuxcnc after I get the RT kernel in there, but it's coming along.