Hey guy's,
I need some help with buying a torch.I am buying a Miller Dialarc HF stick/TIG machine from a friend,but it has no leads or torch with it.He has never TIG welded so can't help me here.I have used a weldcraft 180 aircooled torch for an intercooler project with a different HF unit running it,and found it was overheating on the .25" aluminum.It was the first time trying tig,so it might have been my set up,but wondering what you guys think would work best on similar intercooler projects down to light gauge exhaust manifolds etc,and if I should try the watercooled feature on the welder with a suitable torch and cooler?
Thanks.

 

welding aluminum usually requires a lot of heat. if you plan on doing a lot of it i'd invest in a watercooled torch for sure.

 

Problem with watercooled torches is that they're usually much larger, so it's hard to weld into corners and such with them.

 

There's some nice, small water cooled torches available. I like weldcraft stuff.

Look into the WP20 torches.

You have to have the water cooler to use a water cooled torch. The coolers are not cheap, but if you look around the net, you can find options that you have as far as making something cheap yourself.

 

Got that backwards. Aircooled are bigger.

 

Yup. My watercooled torch on my syncrowave is half the size of my air cooled torch.

 

amen to that. love the watercooled unit.