Aldi Inverter £70

[Onoff]

You are all responsible for my lack of self control.

My punishment is not being able to use mine very well!

 

[Sean]

My punishment is not being able to use mine very well!

mine is being banished to the shed and financial penalty as i now need a "proper" bottle of Argon

 

[Moo.]

So off the back of this thread and all the raving reviews both here and on the actual aldi page, i literally did buy the last one in the shop! 2 months after they went on sale! Had to look around 4 different aldi stores to find one. But it paid off!

Never ever welded before, but really interested to get into it. I'm a civil engineer by profession and have a passion for motorbikes, so from the reviews etc.. thought this would be a relatively cheap starting point.

As all i've currently got is whats in the box, can anyone a good auto-dimming helmet to get? As it seems the one in the box is bin worthy?

Also really struggling to find any good rods on ebay. Ive searched for most of the brands mentioned in this awesome thread, but not many suppliers pop up. Can anyone recommend a decent website to get them from?

I'll make my way over to viewing all the tutorial material now...

 

[cumbriasteve]

For someone who is not welding all day you can't really go wrong with the ebay £20 helmets, I have two and they work fine, I also have a Parweld helmet that cost £52, apart from the headband appearing to be a bit better quality I notice no difference when welding with it or the ebay cheapies.

 

[DTS]

If there’s no local supplier try Screwfix for some electrodes to practice with. As good as the typical eBay non brands if not better.

 

[tom-madbiker]

i find screwfix rods next to useless i usually get mine from wasp welding cant remember the brand redline i think and nearly the same price as screwfix

 

[tom-madbiker]

i get 5 kilos at a time 2.5 mm

 

[DTS]

i find screwfix rods next to useless i usually get mine from wasp welding cant remember the brand redline i think and nearly the same price as screwfix

Why so? They do Stanley and Impax brands, all 5 star reviews. I’ll try a pack next time I’m passing as I’ve got a trade voucher to use up.

 

[tom-madbiker]

I found that they were really hard to weld with and the weld had lots of slag inclusions I thought it was me or the welder playing up then I borrowed a few rods from work same setup no probs this was a good few years ago though prob 15 so they may have improved since then I just decided for the sake of a few quid it was not worth it

 

[bigfellayork]

Hi folks. First post go easy.
I’ve got one of these welders and love it.
Going to get a tig setup running with it.
Little curious about polarity.
Not fully clued up on all aspects of welding but when I was in shop looking for a tig torch the guy was saying they make good little tig welders. Perfect for me as an intro to the art of tig.
He said remember to change leads around so torch is positive as stick is electrode negative but on the ALDI welder I’ve always used electrode holder positive. I checked booklet and it’s connected as they say. Is there a difference running torch on positive or neg on these ALDI welders. Thanks.

 

[Paul.]

Stick on DC can be electrode positive or negative depending on the type of electrode and what you are doing, DC tig is always torch negative,
Welcome to the forum

 

[bigfellayork]

Stick on DC can be electrode positive or negative depending on the type of electrode and what you are doing, DC tig is always torch negative,
Welcome to the forum

Hi thanks for the quick reply. Little more confused now lol. He did say tig torch to positive. Unless I’m understanding it wrong.
So if you were using this ALDI welder with a 6013 stick which way would you recommend. Also if setting up for tig which way for torch. Thanks

 

[Paul.]

I like to run 6013's Electrode negative also referred to as straight or DCEN, electrode positive is known as reverse polarity, but read the pack or look up the spec, some electrodes are quite fussy, others less so try it you may not even be able to tell the difference,
As I said TIG is torch negative, the bloke in the shop is wrong, connecting the tig torch to the positive will destroy your tungsten fairly quickly.

 

[bigfellayork]

I like to run 6013's Electrode negative also referred to as straight or DCEN, electrode positive is known as reverse polarity, but read the pack or look up the spec, some electrodes are quite fussy, others less so try it you may not even be able to tell the difference,
As I said TIG is torch negative, the bloke in the shop is wrong connecting the tig torch to the positive will destroy your tungsten fairly quickly.

Thank you. Plenty of food for thought here. Cheers.

 

[Sean]

Hi thanks for the quick reply. Little more confused now lol. He did say tig torch to positive. Unless I’m understanding it wrong.
So if you were using this ALDI welder with a 6013 stick which way would you recommend. Also if setting up for tig which way for torch. Thanks

Tig torch (-)

post pics Id gone off to get an Argon bottle today but they were out!
was looking forward to some shed time mig braizing, the disposable bottle didnt last long

 

[Sean]

so whos going to try this ?
(Everlast looks to be similar all the same bits just in differing locations)

 

[wookie]

As I said TIG is torch negative, the bloke in the shop is wrong, connecting the tig torch to the positive will destroy your tungsten fairly quickly.

But it's good fun when people come and lean on your bench and you have HF start....

 

[Onoff]

This cheapo Aldi inverter MMA welder...if I wanted to try TIG with mine and added a cheap torch would it be VERY wasteful on gas in that the gas flow is constant and doesn't stop / start.?

Cheers

 

[ronan]

This cheapo Aldi inverter MMA welder...if I wanted to try TIG with mine and added a cheap torch would it be VERY wasteful on gas in that the gas flow is constant and doesn't stop / start.?

Cheers

You have a little plastic knob on the back of the torch. You open it just before striking an arc to allow the gas out, and close it just after you have finished. The first place i worked with welding, it was what we had to do. I doubt its much more wasteful than the automatic system.

 

[Sean]

they dont seem to TIG terribly well there seems to be a function wherby the arc strikes ( scratch start) then instantly dies to a weedy imprecise plasma, the only way to get any heat out of it was to have the electrode quite far from the work. Dunno if it was short circuit protection ( kills power when you stick the rod) or if it was me just trying to run before i could walk but...dont waste £50 on a valved torch and another £60 odd on a bottle of Argon in the hope , learn from our mistakes!*

Just after i got mine i ended up with a ThemalArc 181i and the torch runs fine on that, doesnt have an argon solenoid either so it uses the 17(V) torch too

<EDIT> *or get a more expensive less well built one that doesn't have the anti stick function. Burns rod beatifully though!