I've got a mig welder and want to convert it into a tig welder so i can weld aluminium. How can i do this? What parts do i need etc

 

Not going to happen. You cannot make a mig welder into a tig welder. What kind of welder do you have? You could run a spool matic on your mig welder, but its not a very artistic weld.

The only way a mig welder could be turned into mig is if your running a invertor with a seperate wire feeder. Like the 3000 dollar miller line inverters. You can turn the **** to do mig, stick, tig pulse, tig scratch, tig hf, etc.

 

There is a Snap on MIG at the shop I do work for and it can be run as a lift start TIG.

 

you cant do it. unless you have a welder that compatible, and they use different gases. and currents i believe

 

more info?

 

for one thing to weld aluminum you need A/C power, second a mig uses constant current and just increases voltage while a tig uses a constant voltage and varies the amps. way different. you can get a stick welder and put the tig torch on the ground clamp side and then switch the stinger to the ground clamp and you have DCEN lift arc with no way to adjust amps on the go.

 

you can weld aluminum in either polarity without a/c. a/c is simply easier for people. when we learned it they ahd use learn dcep on thin, then dcen on some 1/2 thick aluminum plate. then we did a/c. a/c is alot more convienant tho.




dude quit messing with your welder and just go buy a good tig unit. you're ------- yourself by not keeping your MIG for quick projects and tack welding. since my wire welder broke i swear to god i do ALL my tack welding stick welding, then go back and tig it. it takes too long to tack weld any descent work with tig. bah. time = money

 

Ok, a GTAW (TIG) welder is CC (constant current). Which means, the welders electronics will maintain the same amperage through the work by varying the voltage. A GMAW (MIG) is CV (constant voltage) which maintains the same voltage across the arc by varying the current. A CC power source will work as a GMAW machine, provided you have a voltage sensing wire feeder, which is expensive and with the affordability of modern CV power sources is unnecessary. If you want to weld aluminum with a MIG you can do it using pure argon and aluminum wire. If your gun has a short enough cable (<3ft) a spool gun is unnecessary, however a machine with a gun that short typically wont weld much over 1/8" aluminum. A better option is to TIG it or use a spool gun or push/pull gun on a larger MIG.

 

If you wanna weld aluminum and don't really care too much, just get a spool gun for your mig and the appropriate gas cylinder. (100% Argon IIRC)