remote delete?

[Slowpoke]

Hello all. I just bought a Thermal Arc 201ts and I have a couple of questions if anyone can help. The machine welds great but the controls on the torch are killing me. I very much prefer a simple lift tig with a gas valve but I don't know if I could hook one up and it work without some kind of remote. I believe I could use a foot pedal but I would rather keep it as simple as possible and at $200+ for a pedal I was hoping there is another way. I thought about direct wiring the pins to a switch but I don't know if the gas would come on correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Donoharm]

You could build a foot switch instead of an amptrol, the torch switch/cable is not connected to the gas line so no problem there.

The easiest/cheapest route is to learn to use the torch switch or close the high freq(then you have scratch start )

[Slowpoke]

Hey thanks for such a quick reply. The torch that came with the machine has a current control and an on/off button, when the button is pressed (in t2 or t4) is when the gas comes on. If I built a foot control for the on off what would start the gas? The reason learning to use this torch is not an option that I want to persue is I bought the machine to practice for a combo pipe welding test. I have a good friend who is a combo welder and he says that what I have and what I will use on the job is much different. So I am trying to get a rig that is as close to what I will use for testing and work. I was thinking about getting a foot pedal and just a flex neck torch, he has told me that the pedal can be pushed to the floor and held and then its like your basically not using it for anything but to turn it on.

[74hotrod]

Hey Slowpoke Welcome to the site. I'm a combo welder which in the construction industry is tig and stick process. If that is the field your going to be using a arc welder for power to both process and not a tig machine. You have to reverse the polarity on the arc welder and you will have the scratch start you are looking for. Your tig setup is simple, bottle to argon hose to power cable to tig head.If I can help anymore let me know. There are alot of wonderful people on here with tons of info.

[Donoharm]

Originally Posted by Slowpoke

Hey thanks for such a quick reply. The torch that came with the machine has a current control and an on/off button, when the button is pressed (in t2 or t4) is when the gas comes on. If I built a foot control for the on off what would start the gas? The reason learning to use this torch is not an option that I want to persue is I bought the machine to practice for a combo pipe welding test. I have a good friend who is a combo welder and he says that what I have and what I will use on the job is much different. So I am trying to get a rig that is as close to what I will use for testing and work. I was thinking about getting a foot pedal and just a flex neck torch, he has told me that the pedal can be pushed to the floor and held and then its like your basically not using it for anything but to turn it on.

Ok, it's clear now, all you have to do is switch off the High freq start, I'm not familiar with your machine but most tig machines have this option.

Once the HF is switched off your machine is scratch start mode and it will start the gas automatically (after you scratch it )

You don't need to modify the torch or buy a pedal.

Just put the switch (no4 in Lift Tig)