Tig welders - discuss

I learned MIG and TIG at work long ago. It took a while, but I got quite proficient at both. One thing that helped with the TIG was that I learned to weld with a gas torch back in high school so I already had the hand motions down pat.

I did both mild and stainless steel at work, not much difference. Aluminum, however is totally different. With steel you start to see the color change as it heats up so you have a little idea of when it is going to be molten. Aluminum doesn't do that, it keeps it's normal appearance as it heats up, no color change, then all of a sudden it turns shiny and it's liquid and running everywhere, kind of like how solder does. I had widely varying results trying to weld aluminum, from real good to real bad.