[jyl]

You guys who have TIG welders, what do you use?

I'm taking a TIG welding class and thinking about getting a TIG welder someday. Ideally my buddy and I could share one, i.e. the welder would ideally be reasonably portable so we could cart it between our respective places. He is mostly interested in welding mild steel for decorative projects (he's into glassblowing). I am mostly interested in welding car stuff - like, when and if I ever decide to turbo my car and need to weld stainless for headers and aluminium for the intercooler. Neither of us are interested in welding really thick metal, or long periods of continuous welding. He's already got a stick welder and an gas welder should we want to build a bridge someday.

We are trying to figure out what brand, how big, and what features we should be looking for. At the class we are using Miller Syncrowave 250 welders which seem plenty beefy but also plenty expensive and bulky. I think we want AC (for the aluminium) but do we want water-cooling, 250 amps, etc?

Browsing the web, I see so many TIG welders that I am at a loss.