A Miller Tig machine?
I started my son welding around the place at 7, he went to a technical HS and came out as a certified welder, he makes $77 a hour when they are on “rate jobs”, $117 on overtime, not bad for a 21 year old kid. He loves it but it is high rise structural welding, I could not walk those icy, snowy beams 3 stories up like he does. Once your kid gets certified a whole new world will open up for him. Welders are in very short supply these days. I too have the Miller multimatic 220, love it, fantastic machine, worth every penny.
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I’m not sure what you’re getting at please elaborate
Your comment earlier was that you ordered one today. What brand and model did you decide on?
I got the multimatic 220. It’ll pair nicely with my 211. I’ll be able to have mig steel, Tig and spool gun aluminum ready to go without any machine setup
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Very nice!! I like having machines dedicated to processes but could be changed up if really needed.
Why not Tig the aluminum instead of adding a spool gun setup to the mix?
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Spool gun = fast / Tig = slow
They both work well, but TIG lends itself to high quality, nice looking welds (weld porn)
Just my 2 cents…
Thanks. I’m less worried about the speed as getting good clean ones (that don’t require much if any post-welding cleanup). I’m not really a production shop watching every minute 
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I already owned the spoolgun so this multiproccess machine fits right into the mix. the spoolgun is interchangeable between both machines and so I have it figured out that i can have all processes ready to go at the flip of a switch or the pull of a trigger with this mix. 
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Welp…. I finally got a chance to attempt to weld with my new welder (we will call it an attempt). I’ve never actually TIG welded before. I failed miserably. Holy CRAP is it tough to TIG weld. Took me all of 30 seconds to kill the tip of the tungsten. I watched some youtube videos after nuking the tungsten and I’ve got some ideas on how to attack it better next time. It probably didn’t help that I first attempted Aluminum instead of steel. Hopefully this isn’t just going to be a high dollar stick welder / spool gun machine for me. Gotta get my welding cart finished up hopefully this weekend.
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Yep - can relate my first few weeks of practice were pretty frustrating. It’s looks easy, but it’s not. I’ve burned thru at least 2 80cf bottles of Argon just getting good enough where I didn’t want to kick the dog. Don’t give up - it will start to click soon enough - there are lots of variables to getting good welds…also don’t compare yourself to those guys that post their perfect welds online…you’ll get discouraged lol! Once you get some good beads, it will come together! AL is a whole different animal - I’d start on Mild steel for sure…AL is an exercise in frustration. Recommend Jody on Welding Tips and Tricks Youtube…weld.com YT is pretty good as well. Good luck!
Almost all problems I had with aluminum were related to cleaning. You also have to remember how quickly aluminum gets heat saturated and back off the pedal accordingly. But I love how clear you can see the puddle in aluminum. The only problem I’m still having with TIG is that it seems like the arc has a mind of it’s own sometimes. (With both steel and aluminum) I don’t know if it’s a tungsten grind thing or what. But I can’t seem to puddle in the root of the joint like I want to.
Definitely. Jody is excellent in terms of making things clear.
I ended up making a custom block for my tungsten grinding wheel (I have one grinding wheel setup that is only used for tungsten) so I get the correct angle every single time.
Also watch your stick out. Too far & it wanders. Same with distance to the material.
Also if your burning up tungsten, it sounds like you are using to much AC positive on your AC balance control. You need adjust that to where you are getting a better cleaning action, as with to much AC positive, it wants to do more penetration then cleaning
Also, I recommend just using 2% lanthanated tungsten. It has the blue stripe on it. You can use it for aluminum, mild steel, stainless, and titanium. Just make sure you have a dedicated tungsten for aluminum and a dedicated for steel
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