Most places Ive been too buy nice torches, with expensive long leads. They next to never get hooked through the welder for a solenoid. A solenoid isn't going to save you much on cheap gas at the end of the day. It doesn't know how long you currently NEED pre/post flows. Most of the good torches and leads just have a small ball flow **** near/on the torch so you can cut it on & off at will.

50lbs of copper welding leads running to huge air cooled torches FTMFW!

 

Yip, you get a torch that has a valve on the handle.

Notice the **** on the torch on the right in this pic.



The advantage of a solenoid is that you can't forget to turn your gas on or off each time you start to weld.

 

if you had something all tacked together, i would guess you could just let it run the whole time you are welding. probably wouldnt waste that much if you are kind of efficient and dont spend a lot of time moving the part around and getting yourself situated.

 

thats how most people do em. let that bitch run, quicker cool down and way better coverage before/after

 

as soon as i get to utah im building one. ill post pics in a month or so. hahah.

 

another question on the subject:

i was thinking about trying to build a pedal for this setup to adjust the amperage.
any ideas.

 

you'd need more than just a stick welder and a tig torch unless it's a slide style field coil, or inverter