can you learn TIG by yourself on your own???

[welder00]

i wanna buy this 90A Arc/TIG Inverter Welder and start practicing TIG at home. i live in a condo.
any thoughts?

[elvis]

Sounds good. Which welder?

[welder00]

Sounds good. Which welder?

it's a Century

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/A...lder/8261877.p

[regal2800]

Does your condo have a garage suitable for welding? I wouldn't start welding in your living room

[WillieB]

Does your condo have a garage suitable for welding? I wouldn't start welding in your living room

Rough on the carpet! I believe a welder that small needs 100% duty cycle to be anything more than a paperweight. Maybe jewelry?

[BD1]

What type of material do you plan on using and thickness. Have you welded before ? What power is available ? 115/230 ?
If you just want to stick some metal together for art work and you watch some video's , you can. If you want to weld on 150# steam piping, NO.
The machine you listed does not come with tig setup. Too me a FOOT PEDAL is the only way to go. I would not buy that machine, I would stick with MILLER, LINCOLN, and HOBART. A REAL machine will cost 5 times that but you will only buy it once and if you decide to sell it you will get a return on your investment. Look on craigs list for a used one. The DIVERSION or MAXSTAR would be nice.
Here's my local suppliers website with some options on machines and prices.
http://www.weldersupply.com/C/42/TigMachines
Posting your location would help.

[USMCPOP]

The output of that welder "has been optimized for stick welding" according to the manual. It doesn't even have lift arc.

[elvis]

Thermal arc sells a 90 amp unit for the same price that will lift-arc tig better. But a little Max star is what you want. Can run 150amps of tig output on 115v.

[wb4rt]

Hello, welder00.

I think you are getting a lot of good advice about buying a machine, but your question was could you learn to TIG on your own?

The answer to that is yes, but....

You can read a lot and watch a lot of good videos, here and other sites like www.weldingtipsandtricks.com, but you will have a hard time becoming proficient without a buddy or someone who is experienced to help you really understand what to do, how it should look, and how to tell if you have penetration, etc.

I taught myself steel TIG with a scratch-start setup and after a lot of practice I was able to make acceptable welds. It took a lot of reading and hood time.

You would need an AC/DC welder to do aluminum and that is a whole other animal. I would strongly advise you to enlist the help of a proficient welder if you want to learn aluminum.

Good luck. Let us hear back from you on what you decide to do.

[stickermigtigger]

Don't know about the welder.

I do know that you CAN teach yourself how to TIG (any process) weld. I've done it and know of others who have.

I also believe that if you can get into a good curriculum program where they actually TEACH you how, you'll be better off. School plus out of class practice is the best option in my book.

I'm withdrawing from a local community college curriculum on Monday because they're wasting my time with useless class make-work, and then I might have the instructor's attention during arc time for 5 to ten minutes a night.

I've used text books, free documents on the Web, this forum, Youtube and that highly important hours upon hours of arc time in my garage and it's all been valuable.

And most of all I know that I still have a lot to learn.

But, YES, you CAN teach yourself how. (And lots of folks on this forum will help you achieve it.)

[Dobermann]

I'd say that you can probably teach yourself TIG....but

It'll be easier if you have had some experience with other forms of welding. It will be frustrating and expensive. You can expect to wreck a lot tungsten electrodes in the process. (You do have a way to grind tungstens don't you?) You'll also go through a lot of Argon since a lot of starts and stops tends to eat up the Argon.

I think you'll find resources such as "Welding Tips and Tricks" on YouTube to be helpful to you as will be a coach of some sort to give you some suggestions.

However, once accomplished, I think you'll enjoy your new hobby.

[WillieB]

I'd say that you can probably teach yourself TIG....but

It'll be easier if you have had some experience with other forms of welding. It will be frustrating and expensive. You can expect to wreck a lot tungsten electrodes in the process. (You do have a way to grind tungstens don't you?) You'll also go through a lot of Argon since a lot of starts and stops tends to eat up the Argon.

I think you'll find resources such as "Welding Tips and Tricks" on YouTube to be helpful to you as will be a coach of some sort to give you some suggestions.

However, once accomplished, I think you'll enjoy your new hobby.

I've never been in the same room with an accomplished Tig welder. I'm becoming a skilled welder, I wish I had been able to say these things 40 years ago. It wasn't possible 40 years ago. You see TIG is a skill you can't teach yourself. By the time you figure it out, you die of old age. You need to get a boost from those who know, to do it in one lifetime! That's where You tube and DVD videos make it all possible. Jody Collier, Chuck E 2009,(Lanse .....), and several others along with a multitude of generous people on this and similar forums, make it possible for an isolated woodchuck in VT to learn from the best there is worldwide without leaving home. Buy Jody's videos, go to you tube, ask stupid questions on forums, and practice! Learning will come!
That was fact. Now you get opinion: DON'T WASTE MONEY ON CHEAP WELDERS! Good welders don't require vast skill to make good welds. Jody can grab a crap welder, make allowances, and produce OK welds, I can't.

[Cgotto6]

You said it perfectly willie. Spend a little more money up front, and have a machine that can truly perform properly. A used diversion would fit your needs well.

[WillieB]

You said it perfectly willie. Spend a little more money up front, and have a machine that can truly perform properly. A used diversion would fit your needs well.

I have a Diversion 180 with accessories, a costly first step into TIG. Its duty cycle severely limits me in the mass of weldments and the length of bead. In this sense I am not a patient man. I joke that if I were a heavy smoker, or even a text er I would love the Diversion. In a few months I bought a Dialarc HF 250 Tig Runner, if it has a duty cycle I wouldn't know it. I never wait for the welder! This is a problem only with large mass aluminum pieces, steel's lower rate of heat conductivity makes the problem disappear.
Diversions ability to run on 120 volts, and more importantly, its ability to run on 200-240 volts make it wonderful on the job! I can run it on 200' of extension cord, it doesn't mind voltage drop! On steel it is more than enough welder. Portability is exceptional, and TIG with silicone bronze is spark free, an important consideration at the pellet mill where combustible dust is a factor.
I want to peddle both and move to a Dynasty 280 DX TIG Runner. If anyone has an interest in either of these, Send me a message.
The moral of this lengthy story is BUY THE BEST, SAVE TIME AND MONEY!

[H80N]

I have a Diversion 180 with accessories, a costly first step into TIG. Its duty cycle severely limits me in the mass of weldments and the length of bead. In this sense I am not a patient man. I joke that if I were a heavy smoker, or even a text er I would love the Diversion. In a few months I bought a Dialarc HF 250 Tig Runner, if it has a duty cycle I wouldn't know it. I never wait for the welder! This is a problem only with large mass aluminum pieces, steels lower rate of heat conductivity makes the problem disappear.
Diversions ability to run on 120 volts and more importantly its ability to run on 200-240 volts make it wonderful on the job! I can run it on 200' of extension cord, it doesn't mind voltage drop! On steel it is more than enough welder. Portability is exceptional, and TIG with silicone bronze is spark free, an important consideration at the pellet mill where combustible dust is a factor.
I want to peddle both and move to a Dynasty 280 DX TIG Runner. If anyone has an interest in either of these, Send me a message.
The moral of this lengthy story is BUY THE BEST, SAVE MONEY!

Well put Willie...