Builders Tools & Equipment

Machine Plasma Cutter Welder Machine question?

What is the difference between a TIG welder and a MIG welder and a ARC welder and Torch welder and plasma cutter, why are their different types of welders and which is the best one for most welds done for building stuff and and repairing stuff. Is their welders that run off electric.

First, TIG and MIG welders are types of ARC welders. They both get the job done using an electrical arc to heat the target metal to fuse it together.

Some people refer to a “stick welder” as an arc welder, which, it is, just makes it harder to differentiate. A stick welder holds a metal rod, usually reffered to as an electrode, which arcs against the metal to be welded. When the rod is spent, you change it out.

MIG – Metal Inert Gas. Most MIG welders use a torch that has a spool of metal being fed through the center of it. The metal being fed through the torch is electrified, and welds to the metal that is being welded on contact. As long as there is a spool of wire being fed through the torch, the welder will arc to the metal being welded. This is the most common form of welding today. The “inert gas” part of the name is there because when the welder supplies wirre thorugh the torch, it also shoots a stream of gas around the metal being welded, to keep the weld hot, and clean. This gas is usually a carbon dioxide something or another, which is not “inert” s to speak, but when MIG was developed, they used inert gas for it, such as argon, etc, and still do today, but CO2 is more common. MIG is also reffered to as GMAW(Gas Metal Arc Welding). This would probably be your best all around welder to have around.

TIG – Tungsten inert gas. Uses a tungsten rod in the torch head to pass the electric current to the metal being welded. This process is also reffered to as “gas tungsten arc welding” (GTAW) because the gas used in the process surrounds the electrical arc, sheilding it from contamination. The gas is usually argon. TIG produces stronger welds than MIG, and is also used on lighter metals like aluminum and stainless steel. It also differs from MIG in the fact that it uses a filler rod which the operater manipulates by hand, instead of an automatically fed spool, making it a little harder.

Torch Welder: Uses a flame to get two pieces of metal hot enough that they “melt” together. Torch Cutters cut the metal by getting it hot enough, and then using a high presssure stream of air to blow the metal off of the piece being cut. These are usually accomplished using a mixture of acetylene and oxygen, and the process is reffered to as “oxyacetylene”.

Plasma cutters accomplish cutting metal by using an electrical arc to heat the target peice of metal, then a high pressure stream of air to “blow” it out of the way so to speak. This is often preffered to oxyacetylene when the cut needs to be more finite.