Articles

Types of welding machines exist and which one to choose

Types of welding machines exist and which one to choose

There are many types of welding machines and to opt for one or the other, we must know the use that we are going to give it and the types of welding that we are going to do, since the work that we occasionally do at home has little to do with what professionals do.

In addition to the type of welding, it is necessary to know how many phases they work with and the power it has, since that it is rare that a professional welding machine can be used in a home, because the logical thing is that as soon as you plug it in, the differential jumps.

Types of welding machines

The different types of welding require completely different machines, so before purchasing one we must make sure that it offers us the types of electric welding that we need.

MMA welding machine

of all kinds of tools for welding is the one we know the most, the one we all have in mind when we talk about these devices.

For its operation, it is used electricity, which forms an electric arc between the metal and the electrode, so that when the electrode touches the metal it melts on the union that we want to create and producing the weld.

They are widely used in construction and in the agricultural sector, as they are effective, very economical machines and also different materials can be welded by changing the electrodes, which are very cheap.

TIG welding machines

Here we also weld using an electric arc, but the electrode is not consumed and we need gas, some thin and tall bottles that we see in butane delivery trucks.

No filler material is used to make the weld, but we can provide an extra electrode if we need the joint to be filled.

These welds are used when high quality joints are required, with stainless steels, tanks, metals from the food industry, etc.

MIG welding machine

The wire welder, which is how these devices are also known, is the most popular in workshops, since high welding performance is achieved as long as it is used indoors or in areas protected from the wind.

As in the previous case, in addition to electricity, it needs gas to work and the welding is not done by an electrode, which is covered, but rather by the inert gas that connects the pieces.

tin soldering iron

This welder is unlike any other professional welding machine.

It is the simplest, it is just a kind of pencil with a copper tip that heats up and melts the tin when it comes into contact with it.

More complex models can be found, with temperature control, and their use is exclusive to electronics, to solder cables, diodes, resistors, etc., very delicate operations that require experience and a good hand.

For professionals there are soldering stations, with different tips, a place to leave the pencil, sponges and sandpaper to clean them, etc.

Blowtorch

This welding machine is also very simple and is widely used in plumbing for the purpose of joining pipes.

It is a nozzle that is fed through a gas cylinder and with a mechanism that allows the gas output to be controlled to give more or less temperatures to the pieces.

The fusion of the pieces is caused by providing an extra material, which in plumbing is usually tin because when it melts it filters very well between the pieces that we need to join, creating an alloy.

Inverter welders

In recent years, inverter welders have appeared, which have electronics that can transform the current making it more stable.

In addition to the fact that the electrical consumption is lower, something to take into account these days, The biggest advantage of this professional welding machine is that with a single piece of equipment we can have the rest of the type of arc welding such as TIG, MIG or MMA..

It is not necessary to change the machine to weld different materials and that is something that saves money and space in the workshop, although the truth is that it is not a machine for everyone, as it has a drawback.

Maintenance and repair, due to the electronics that it carries, entails a much higher expense than "traditional" machines, so that they will only get a good performance in those workshops where it is used daily and in those that need constantly changing the type of machine, something that is avoided with the inverter welder.

We can see that there are different types of welding machines, depending on the use that we are going to give them.

You have to know what budget we have, since professional ones such as inverters can be very expensive, and what materials we are going to work with more regularly, in order to opt for one or another professional welding machine or for an economic one if it is for domestic work.