I'm a graduate student beginning research on aluminum welding. We have adequate resources but I would like an equipment setup to be as versatile as possible. I know I would like the capability to do autogenous welds however, in the future I may want to do MIG welding as a comparison.

1) Is there equipment out there that will do AC/DC , MIG/TIG welding? or is that just asking too much.

2) I know AC output is needed for Aluminum TIG welding but as far as I have read you can use DC to MIG aluminum. Can anyone explain that for me?


Thanks in advance.