I have always wanted to buy a welder that could do aluminum. Not a mig but a tig. What is the minimum amperage required and do I need something special besides aluminum rod to weld (i.e. foot pedal).

The fluxcore has served me well and i can make nice beads on mild steal but i want to step it up a bit and use stainless/aluminum materials instead.

 

You MUST have a machine that can weld AC...unless you want to weld it DC with helium gas. Most people prefer AC.

 

so any ac machine can weld aluminum?
what amps am I looking at here

 

you can run aluminum with the mig

 

The amperage you need depends on the thickness of metal you plan to weld. You don't really want to go buy some buzzbox stick ac/dc machine and run AC tig on it though...it's REALLY ghetto and doesn't work nearly as well as a tig machine will. Typically, the Miller econotig, Lincoln PT185 (I don't like it), or the Thermal Arc TA185 are enough for most people. Look into those machines. They will have most of the ability you should need. Should you decide to go with some cheapo machine, look for one with the abilities of these.