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Straight answers to the questions people ask most when choosing and using professional industrial AC/DC TIG welding machines.
These machines are built for demanding, repeatable work: aluminium fabrication, stainless steel pipe and vessel work, food and chemical plant, marine and transport fabrication, and any shop where weld quality is inspected. They are designed to run for long periods at higher currents.The AC/DC capability lets one machine weld aluminium and magnesium alloys on AC, and steel, stainless, copper and titanium on DC. If most of your work is occasional or light, a smaller machine may be enough, so match the machine to your duty cycle and material thickness.
Choose a machine that comfortably covers the thickest material you weld. As a rough guide, aluminium needs noticeably more current than steel of the same thickness because it conducts heat away quickly. Do not choose a machine whose maximum is only just enough, because it will then be running near its limit.Look at the duty cycle at your working current as well as the headline figure. Heavy aluminium sections often need preheat and higher current, so allow some headroom. Our team can help you choose if you describe your materials and thicknesses.
Air-cooled torches are lighter, simpler and need no coolant, which suits intermittent welding and moderate current. Water-cooled setups add a cooling unit and a torch with a coolant circuit. They suit continuous welding at high current, where an air-cooled torch would become too hot to handle comfortably.For production work, thick aluminium or long weld runs, water cooling is generally the better option. It also allows a smaller, lighter torch at a given current. Check the cooling unit is compatible with the machine.
Higher welding currents draw a lot of power. A three-phase supply spreads the load across three lines, which gives stable output and keeps the current drawn on each line manageable. Some machines are designed for single phase or multi-voltage supplies at lower currents.Check the data plate and manual for the supply requirement of your own machine, and ask a qualified electrician to confirm the supply, fusing and cabling before installation. Do not try to modify a three-phase machine to run on a single-phase supply.
The main AC controls are balance, frequency and sometimes wave shape. Balance sets the split between oxide cleaning and penetration. Frequency changes how focused the arc is: lower is softer and wider, higher is tighter and stiffer. Wave shape changes how the current rises and falls, which affects arc smoothness, noise and bead profile.Start from the manufacturer's suggestions for your material, then adjust on offcuts. Record settings that work well so that you can repeat them.
Industrial machines commonly let you save sets of parameters for repeat jobs. This saves setup time, keeps results consistent between operators and shifts, and helps when working to a written welding procedure.The features and number of memory locations vary between machines, so check what is offered and how settings are recalled, for instance from the panel, from the torch or from a remote. Keep a written record of approved settings as well, in case a machine is reset or replaced.