[TigTag]

I agree, and a big thank you to all who contributed. I got answers to my specific question and great bonus tips. I ordered the welder yesterday, already have 2 argon tanks and 4 sensor helmet. Went with Yeswelder because it checked most of my boxes, has great reviews, and I had 10% off coupon so ended up at $675 shipped. Also, over the past month I've seen a handful of brands getting sold out. Most recent was Primeweld - they upped their price to 825 and hopefully start shipping a week out.

Cheers!

[bplayer405]

I received my first tig welder just yesterday and got the chance today to run my first beads this afternoon. I got the first welder in your original post, the Weldpro Tig ACDC200GD. My main reason for getting a tig welder is to weld aluminum, jon boats specifically. I'm just a hobbyist and have ran mig for the past year or so, even aluminum with a spool gun. Mig is too fast and furious for some things though, especiallyon thin aluminum. Tig is supposed to be easier to control, thus my purchase.

My first beads were on 5000 series aluminum .072" scrap from a boat, using 5356 filler. My starting setup was 100hz and 120 amps which I dropped to 80 amps. Balance was 30 positive, but cleaned better at 35. The weldpro drops down to 10 amps and I can see the puddle freeze before stopping the arc. If I get a pinhole I can reheat it and move the arc around to remove it. Gonna take me a while to get anything resembling a "pretty" weld, but I can at least make it work. Second pic I had trouble contaminating my tungsten and the weld looked like Swiss cheese. Once reground, I was able to fill the holes. Should work good for my needs working on boats...

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[TigTag]

My first beads were on 5000 series aluminum .072" scrap from a boat, using 5356 filler. My starting setup was 100hz and 120 amps which I dropped to 80 amps. Balance was 30 positive, but cleaned better at 35. The weldpro drops down to 10 amps and I can see the puddle freeze before stopping the arc. If I get a pinhole I can reheat it and move the arc around to remove it.
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Thank you so much for sharing! This is the very specific type of info I was initially looking for.

I received my Yeswelder but had no time to take it out of the box yet because I've been traveling for work quite a bit... but hopefully soon I'll have some photos of my first runs.

Really appreciate your input!

Cheers!

[alexweeks1996]

For anyone else who may be wondering, I'll say that yes, there is absolutely a difference from machine to machine in low end performance. However, I don't know of any machine under $3,500 or so that has great low end performance. With that said, my machine does not shine when it comes to starting or arc characteristics at the low end, but I can still easily weld small sections of .039" Wall titanium round tubing with .035" filler wire with it. I can certainly weld .0625" aluminum with absolutely no difficulty, even with 3/32 filler wire and 3/32 tungsten. I could also go much thinner if I had the material. The difference is that with the machines that really perform well on the lower end, it's just more pleasant and maybe just slightly less challenging, but that difference will not bar you from welding very thin materials or from growing your skill-set and comfort level in doing that. You'll just find very minor inconveniences and at worst, you may find that you'll have to do little work arounds when you drop below 60 amps or so. For instance, when welding .039" wall titanium, at 40A or even a little less, I wasn't getting the arc stability I wanted, so I just turned it up to 90A and turned on pulse, then it was fine. So does a Dynasty DX give you a better arc on the low end? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean you can't do it with some of the cheaper machines, it just won't feel as nice as a Dynasty, but it doesn't actually do much to limit how thin you can effectively weld. Hope this helps.

[Oscar]

However, I don't know of any machine under $3,500 or so that has great low end performance.

I do know of one, and it's $900 less than your threshold. HTP's Invertig 221 is $2600 and goes down to 4A in DC and 10A in AC. Stellar performance for the money.

[G-ManBart]

However, I don't know of any machine under $3,500 or so that has great low end performance.

I do know of one, and it's $900 less than your threshold. HTP's Invertig 221 is $2600 and goes down to 4A in DC and 10A in AC. Stellar performance for the money.

Heck, I can go $1K lower

I know lots of folks hate Everlast welders, but my PowerTIG 210EXT goes down to 3A on DC and 5A on AC. It's shockingly good on the low end for a cheap ($1,600) machine. My Syncrowave is listed as 3A on the low end (they don't state AC or DC) and I'd say the Everlast hangs with it...I'm probably not good enough to notice an amp or two.