In January I purchased my first TIG welder...a new Thermal Arc 186 AC/DC inverter machine. I have had a Hobart 140 MIG for 5 or so years now, but I was really ready to get serious about fabrication at home with welding stainless and aluminum so I bit the bullet and picked up a tig unit. Here's a crappy picture of the welder itself...



So I have a lot of things planned for my tig welder...my downpipe/wastegate plumbing, custom oil catch can, custom fuel surge tank, custom oil filler neck, etc etc...but first I had to learn how to use my new welder. I designed a welding cart (the obvious first project) that includes many types of welds to get a lot of practice. It is composed primarly of 1/16" wall, 1" square plain steel tubing. There are many outside corner joints, butt joints, fillet welds, out of position welds, welds between different thickness plates, etc. Here is an image of the initial design...



It has taken several months of cutting, fitting, grinding, and welding, but the fabrication side is finally finished, so I wanted to share it here.





Just cleaned it up and primed it yesterday and will be finish painting it today. Final assembly will probably be next week once everything is good and cured.

 

I want a tig soooo bad.... I am like you, using a harbor freight MIG for like 5 years now, it does what it should do, but not being able to weld alum sucks!

 

And it's complete .

 

Im about to bite the bullet myself and buy a tig. I have a Solar mig and had a Lincoln mig, sold the Lincoln to fund the Tig as the Solar is light years nicer. The tig I am set on is the HTP 221. I was looking at a Thermal Arc but personally have never seen one or played with one. I like the cart you made. I will be making one as well. Post beginner Tig pics!

Invertig 221 TIG Welders, Invertig 221 TIG Welding Machine | USAWeld.com

 

Awesome! The HTP 221 is the welder that I wanted to buy (and I really wish I could have), but it was out of my budget. I told myself I had a hard stop at $2000, but if I could get a quality machine for less then I would. Ended up spending $1625 shipped and feel I got my money's worth. Now that I am used to it and getting better at TIG, I think I'm in the market for a new WP17 torch .

 

Nice Job

A lot of satisfaction from somthing you have built yourself.

 

nice cart!

 

I too picked up a thermal arc 186 unit. I love it! Great arc control and with the new ck9 torch im in love all over again since the stock TA torch is ungodly big.
Here is my cart i built when i first set it up. I have a differemt grinder now and larger tanks but the cart works well.