Finally bit the bullet and bought a TIG welder

I saw the eastwood unit as well, when I was shopping. Good machine!

What sold me on this model was what it had and what it didn't have.

What I wanted was a welder that could be used on 120v and 220v that had DC and AC with AC balance control and on an analog setup.

The Miller digital stuff is very controllable, but I hate jacking with pre-settings. If I was a welder, by trade, I'd be tempted, but a couple of switches and knobs get my projects dialed in.

I have yet to purchase a lens/ screen kit for my 17 torch, but I'm running a CK 10' whip off of my foot pedal, that has the heavier line running to it. I made a denim sleeve for the first 5 feet of it, so it doesn't shred the braid on the whip and I also made a yoke that I have a velcro loop running through, so I can attach the whip to my belt loop, with the whip looped on itself once to adjust length on the fly,easy like a hose reel.

This takes up any slack and it's super nice for doing tubing, because the only weight your hand is articulating is the weight of the torch and the really short length of the whip, from the torch to your hip. The CK whip is much more flexible and quite a bit lighter, with a 190amp rating. My machine goes to 185, but it can push 190 or so if I want to. I think it's limit is 1/4", but that's fine with me. If I have to make a weld any bigger, I'd likely mig weld with multiple passes, anyway, with pre-heat.

The lens is a great tool for some work. The pyrex glass ones can be seen through, so you can really shorten the length of stickout if you have to, but sometimes a #6 or #4 nozzle works better with about 15-20cfh gas flow, for inside corner or tubing joints, because you don't need as much stickout and it gets the cup closer to the work. If you can keep a steady hand, you don't need as much visual. I've found that as long as I can see the front of the puddle, I can tell how wide I'm letting it get with each bead.

I've found that if the weld looks dull, the gas flow is either too high or too low. I have a habit of running a short stickout length, so that usually doesn't need adjusting. I'm always on the conservative end with the gas flow, so I usually end up raising the flow or finding that I'm down around 12cfh at first, until the machine catches up with the gauges, once I turn it on. I always light up on scrap, first and get everything dialed in nice, before moving on to my work. That really helps.

I'll get some more pictures of the projects I'm working on, as soon as I have some more to show! I'm working on some turbocharger headers and an aluminum hat.