TIG Welding

[TomG]

(08-24-2012, 03:59 PM)EdK Wrote: It was 3/16" steel plate being T welded with little to no gap so that's probably how we got away with it.

I noticed I could see the puddle much better with TIG than I've been able to with MIG. That's why it peaked my interest. I think my dismal results with MIG so far have been due to the fact that I've been practicing on too thin of steel for a newbie. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption?

Ed

Nah, MIG is the king of welding processes for thin steel. You probably have the same problem as I do, you just can't see the puddle. I think it's a combination of not much light due to the small diameter of the wire and eyes that don't work as well in low light as they used to (at least for me). Try using an auto darkening helmet and back off the shade a bit and use lots of auxiliary lighting. Oh, and don't forget to remove your sunglasses before you start.

Tom

[f350ca]

Tig welding is nice when you don't want to build up a big weld on small parts. With a small gap and plenty of amps you can fuse the parts together to the root with a little filler to make up the gap and chamfer. With the mig I find I need too much wire feed to get the heat to get a good weld. I have an AC/DC unit, they must inject a little high frequency AC on top of the DC, no scratch starts, come close hit the pedal and the arc starts. Nothing nicer than the smell of ozone off the arc when your welding totally clean parts.
On aluminum I find you need the filler to get the two sides of the weld to flow together, I can heat it but till you bring in the rod the sides won't flow together. Didn't know about the hot short part.

[EdK]

(08-24-2012, 04:11 PM)TomG Wrote:

(08-24-2012, 03:59 PM)EdK Wrote: It was 3/16" steel plate being T welded with little to no gap so that's probably how we got away with it.

I noticed I could see the puddle much better with TIG than I've been able to with MIG. That's why it peaked my interest. I think my dismal results with MIG so far have been due to the fact that I've been practicing on too thin of steel for a newbie. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption?

Ed

Nah, MIG is the king of welding processes for thin steel. You probably have the same problem as I do, you just can't see the puddle. I think it's a combination of not much light due to the small diameter of the wire and eyes that don't work as well in low light as they used to (at least for me). Try using an auto darkening helmet and back off the shade a bit and use lots of auxiliary lighting. Oh, and don't forget to remove your sunglasses before you start.

Tom

Tom,

I do use an auto-darkening helmet but maybe I need to back it off a shade. I have very little auxiliary lighting so that might be part of the problem also. Thanks for the tips.

I thought TIG was better for thin metals.

Ed

[starlight_tools]

Ed

If you check that set of disks I sent you, you should find a folder on TIG welding with a number of TIG handbools and resources in it.

I really prefer to weld with TIG as it is so much more a "Finesse" method of welding, with so much more control of the puddle, filler and the overall weld. My next favourite is Oxy -Acet as again it has more control.

MIG, well stand back and blast away, very fast methid of filling and for larger projects is a "quicker" alternative.


Walter

[TomG]

(08-24-2012, 08:28 PM)EdK Wrote:

(08-24-2012, 04:11 PM)TomG Wrote:

(08-24-2012, 03:59 PM)EdK Wrote: It was 3/16" steel plate being T welded with little to no gap so that's probably how we got away with it.

I noticed I could see the puddle much better with TIG than I've been able to with MIG. That's why it peaked my interest. I think my dismal results with MIG so far have been due to the fact that I've been practicing on too thin of steel for a newbie. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption?

Ed

Nah, MIG is the king of welding processes for thin steel. You probably have the same problem as I do, you just can't see the puddle. I think it's a combination of not much light due to the small diameter of the wire and eyes that don't work as well in low light as they used to (at least for me). Try using an auto darkening helmet and back off the shade a bit and use lots of auxiliary lighting. Oh, and don't forget to remove your sunglasses before you start.

Tom

I thought TIG was better for thin metals.

Ed

I was thinking thin metals as in automotive sheet metal. MIG is good for that because you can stitch it together quickly. TIG will do the same thing, it's just slower and more difficult to use in all positions.

Tom

[SnailPowered]

I haven't used a welder since High School, and I think it was only Freshman year, but I loved the MIG welder and we were using flux core. I have never actually used a gas shielded welder. I found the MIG with it's wire feed to be so easy because I didn't have to worry about my stick burning down and then getting another one. I was never really very good at welding. I could get metal to stick together but certainly not going to be welding very thin metal at all.

I know that my brother was FAR more into welding than I was and he always said that TIG was the ultimate form of welding but he wasn't very good with it. When the frame on his '78 CR250R Elsinore cracked he took it to school and had the best TIG welder in the school weld the cracks up for him and they looked better than the factory welds.

[dallen]

wish I had a dollar for every inch of welding wire I've melted in to a joint

[Highpower]

(08-24-2012, 07:21 PM)f350ca Wrote: Tig welding is nice when you don't want to build up a big weld on small parts.

Sometimes it's nice when you do want to build up a big weld too.

I had to make a new feed screw for the tail stock on my lathe, and just turned down the shaft from a length of acme threaded rod. But it also needed a solid thrust collar in the middle of it all. I would not have wanted to try doing this with my Mig welder.




Works good for replacing missing crankcase lugs on chainsaw engines too. Just build up a new one!

[EdK]

Nice job on the leadscrew Willie. How hard was the build-up to turn on the lathe?

Ed

[DanH]

(08-24-2012, 11:56 PM)Highpower Wrote:

(08-24-2012, 07:21 PM)f350ca Wrote: Tig welding is nice when you don't want to build up a big weld on small parts.

Sometimes it's nice when you do want to build up a big weld too.

I had to make a new feed screw for the tail stock on my lathe, and just turned down the shaft from a length of acme threaded rod. But it also needed a solid thrust collar in the middle of it all. I would not have wanted to try doing this with my Mig welder.



Works good for replacing missing crankcase lugs on chainsaw engines too. Just build up a new one!

This is an excellant example of when to use the Tig. The control you have is needed here to do a first rate job.

I have both and the Tig is my goto process until the metal is thicker than 1/4" or I am in a big hurry. Farm equiptment gets the Mig welder and most other jobs are for the Tig