Yes, you can still control your amps, and the rampdown will make breaking your arc to stop welding much easier.

 

We teach all our tig students using a pedal on an XMT . You can scratch start or use lift start with the pedal. It takes a little bit of time to control your timing on hitting the pedal as you lift or scratch start, but most pick it up within the 1st 30 minutes or so no problem.

As mentioned the pedal makes breaking the arc a lot easier as well as allowing you to control your amps while welding.

 

Generally speaking, (I've never used a pedal to tig so far, so this might be a bit dumb) if I've set the machine to the max power I can see myself wanting on this weld, will I start the weld with the foot on the floor, or some percentage of that?

Also, if HF start as handy as it seems?

 

I usually have the machine set slightly higher than I expect I will want on average. So if you plan to use say 125 amps, set the machine at 140 lets say. This allows you that extra 15 amps should you need it. If set like that you can usually just start with the pedal floored and back off as soon as you get the arc lit. You don't have to do this however. If you want to say start on an edge where you don't want the amps that high, you just have to have the pedal depressed enough that you get the arc to start, say maybe 50-75% down. Then you can ramp up the puddle on steel to do what you want.

HF is nice, but isn't needed for everything. It takes me a bit to get used to the XMT's at the school if I haven't used them for a bit, because my home machine is a Syncrowave. Honestly I have more trouble remembering that the gas won't flow automatically with the XMT's than I do having to remember to scratch or lift start with them. Usually after I've cursed myself 4 or 5 times for forgetting to turn on the gas, I pick it all back up after the summer.

 

Honestly I have more trouble remembering that the gas won't flow automatically with the XMT's than I do having to remember to scratch or lift start with them. Usually after I've cursed myself 4 or 5 times for forgetting to turn on the gas, I pick it all back up after the summer.

Now I'm confused, isn't that what the gas solenoid on the xmt is for?

Mine didnt come with it, but I added it in hopes of it working with the tig torch in a better way.

 

In my opinion the XMT has about the best lift arc start that I have used. I think it's a lot easier to use with an AD hood. You will see a little spark that won't trigger the arc sensors, then a slight delay and your arc will start. Your limited to DC anyway, I personally think the HF unit would be a waste of money.