Welding Machines & What They Are Used For

A welder is the equipment used to weld. Welding is the process of joining two materials such as aluminium, steel, plastic, brass, stainless steel or polymer and fusing them together. Different welders use different kinds of energy sources can such as; gas, a laser, flame, an electric arc, friction, an electron beam, or ultra sound. These different welders not only use different energy sources but they also use different processes of welding like arc welding, MIG welding and TIG welding.

SMAW or Shield Metal Arc Welding
A SMAW also known as a Shield Metal Arc Welding is used for welding cast iron, steel, and stainless steel. The equipment that you will need for this type of welding machine are: an electrode, an electrode holder, continuous power supply, and a work clamp.

MIG welding
MIG welding stands for Metal Inert Gas welding. The MIG welding machine is used for joining aluminium with other non-ferrous metals and to join many types of alloys and metals. This welding machine is mainly used in the sheet metal industry and is thus heavily used in the automobile industry. The equipment that you will require: a wire feed unit, an electrode wire, a welding gun and a shielding gas supply.

TIG welding
TIG welding stands for Tungsten Inert Gas welding. This welding machine is used for reactive metals like magnesium and aluminium which are joined together with this process. Other metals that can be welded using this machine are alloys, steel, stainless steel, copper, brass and titanium. The TIG welder is particularly good for joining thin metals.

Figuring out which type of welding machine to use to fuse two types of materials is the first step. The second step is identifying what purpose it is going to be used for. Next identify the type of welding machine, whether it is portable, the power supply needed and finally what other tools and accessories might be needed with the welding machine. Once you have identified the above you can head to the Tru-Butt website where you will be able to find a variety of welding machines.

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