Technical Your TIG Welder and Best Tig Weld

built elevators 25 years ago, we had an ex ironworker on the crew who did all our welding. his stick welds looked like some of the nice tigs in the se pictures.

 

While in the Navy 1968-1970, we in the shipfitter shop used 300 amp Lincoln welders, usually with 6011 rods.

 

I bought one of those in 1976, still using it also. I like the pedal better than others, soft, easy to run with your knee, or in cramped quarters.

 

This thing will bure rods like nothing I have ever used.

 

I bought mine in the mid 90s. I had to order it out of Texas from a used welding supply place. Every time one would show of in the for sale adds in the paper someone closer would get it before me. I had a small shop space on the back of my shop the I was going to set my dad up with it for him to have a welding shop. He had gone to Lincoln's welding school after he retired. Cancer got him before I could get him set up. I have been using it off and on with no schooling, just learn as I go.

 

Miller Syncrowave 250 DX, on the factory settings.

Personally I find the factory setting work better the people’s custom settings!

 

I gas, arc, and wire feed with the almost best of them but until recently never tried TIG. In preparation for my Mysterion reproduction project several years ago I knew there would be some stainless welds, so I bought a Chinese TIG for the job. I 'learned' the technique on-the-job, welding the knees in the 16ga polished stainless steel frame. Wouldn't call them welds actually, just passable joints. A lot of grinding, sanding and polishing got them to be really ok. That's the sum total of my TIG experience!

 

Started building race cars 1963. I should have purchased a TIG welder much earier than I did. I was single and spent discretionary money on partying. Purchased a DC converter in 1971 to use with my AC welder. Weld steel only. Being very profisent in both stick and gas welding I laid beautiful TIG welds right off the git go and never looked back. I don't own a MIG welder.

 

I have a Miller Maxstar 200 - just for steel and stainless. I have had it for over 10 years - have used it a lot for mostly chassis related fabrication. The high-frequency start isn't quite up to snuff anymore - so I have to scratch start it, but I'm going to either get that fixed (as it is really important for thin stuff) - or get another welder in the near future.

 

Back in 'my-other-life' I was a nuclear pipe welder. We used TIG exclusively.
I always have a plastic medicine bottle full of sharpened tungsten on hand. Sometimes I would go for several shifts with the same tungsten then.....
I would put a 'football' on the end of it several times in one shift!! grrrrr...
I would usually set aside occasionally several hours to re-sharpen my tungsten stash. NOTHING welds like a torch with clean sharp tungsten !
6sally6

 

Thanks! Sounds like the $700. Eastwood TIG could be here sooner than a $2,500. Miller that I'd really rather have. I just miss the old days when I was welding aluminum bodies and painting stuff. Bob

 

What people don't realize is that each one of those little puddles is a separate weld, I back off the heat leaving one puddle when moving my torch ahead a little then increase the heat to prepare the metal, get it to about flowing and add a little filler and back off the heat without caving in the puddle, move ahead and repeat. MIG just adds to what is already there without joining them up before adding filler, huge difference.
I was told that commercial welders estimate MIG/Stick weld in feet per-day, while TIG weld is estimated in inches per-day, i don't know if it is true but it seems reasonable to me.

 

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I was told that commercial welders estimate MIG/Stick weld in feet per-day, while TIG weld is estimated in inches per-day, i don't know if it is true but it seems reasonable to me.[/QUOTE]

How many Grinding Disks per day do MIG welders use?

 

Of all the cars I have built, this Bonneville car had the most welded joints and Dzus tabs, took a long time Tig welding.

 

Buy the best machine you can afford. If you plan on doing aluminum you will need an AC machine. Once you get the welder, practice, practice and practice some more. It's not the machine, but it's the welder behind the machine. Great example, when I took my NYC, Class One certification test, the exam was held in the Queens sanitation garage. There were 11 candidates and as we were listening to the instructions I noticed 4 brand spanking new Miller machines. I said to myself, I hope I get one of those baby's assigned to me. The instructor started pointing to each of us and assigning a machine to each of us. Well, I didn't get one of the Millers. I got a machine that was about half the size of a refrigerator and painted at least a dozen times with battleship grey paint, make and model was unknown. Well, that old timer was the most stable machine I ever used. By the way, only 5 of the 11 passed, including me!

 

The only MIG welder I ever got to use was one of the old refrigerator sized ones. NEVER saw anyone put down a bead that wasn't ground down and covered with Bondo. Some people can MIG, I've seen photos, just never meet one of them.

 

I also find TIG welding to be very relaxing. It’s quiet, clean, and fun to me. May sound odd, but I practice my beads before I ever step on the pedal. Several air passes, then weld. Breathe in…Breathe out. Repeat

 

It’s not odd. You ought to know ahead of time which way you will be twisting the torch.

 

That is what I miss the most about welding aluminum, fun days, working on some great cars. Bob

 

Up until recently, I've only had about 3 minutes of time holding a TIG torch, and that was almost 20 years ago. I just bought a super cheap chinese DC TIG welder so I could learn the process and also fabricate my stainless exhaust on my '56 F100. I have less than $500 into everything, including purchasing a 40cf Argon cylinder, dual regulator, tungsten, and various filler rods. I only have a few hours into practicing, but it's definitely got me hooked. My first pass with filler rod on mild steel was surprisingly good looking, then I dipped the tungsten and all hell started breaking loose and I made several trips to the grinding wheel. I eventually got control of it and started making some decent welds. I then tried silicone bronze filler rod and got that down pretty easily. Then onto the stainless, it wasn't bad, but since I didn't back purge the tubing it wasn't great looking.

I didn't prep any of the metals I was welding and I know that's frowned upon, but it was already late and I wanted to play with my new toy. I basically pulled the stuff out of my scrap buckets and dusted the cobwebs off and started burning them in. I was also very uncomfortable in my seating position and had a fan moving air across the garage which surely didn't help. I know with proper prep, clean metal, being comfortable and what not, I can do much cleaner work. I've got purge plugs, and some different cups and lenses coming this week and will keep practicing until I feel I'm decent enough to actually use this welder on the truck.

 

Hard, after you start welding on clean metal the sky will turn blue, birds will sing, and all will be good in the world.

 

Yes, to properly use TIG, you should have clean metal (no mill slag on it), tight fitments and good quality tungsten. There are many different types of tungsten - I typically still use "red" on steel. I also have quite a bit of lathinated and other such stuff. Another thing to not get too hung up on is the size of the electrodes.

When I first started, I bought 1/16", 3/32", 1/8" and all the collets and associated stuff. Once I learned how to use the "accelerator pedal", I use 3/32" for everything.

Another thing you should really explore a bit are "gas lenses" for your torch. They make some really good stuff out there that can really improve the amount of "stick out" you can use and can really help weld quality in many situations.

I use a smaller gas lens on steel - for everything. I'm going to buy a bigger one for some stainless header work.

 

I have a Miller Dynasty 200DX. Its an excellent machine and I like it, but its expensive. I've decided to sell it, so I bought a Primeweld 325 which I haven't used yet Waiting to sell the Miller and want to be able to demonstrate. I like the layout of the Primeweld because it has individual controls for each setting which makes it easier to adjust...for me anyway.

So here is what I would tell you. Whether you buy a welder that has appx 200 amp capability or 300 amp capability, you need a good quality torch with it. The Primeweld has good quality torches available with it....you can pick the one you want. While Eastwood may/may not have a decent welder...I doubt they have the better torches.
What you will find is that an air cooled Tig torch will get very hot if you weld at higher amps OR for very long at medium settings. If you want to weld at higher settings that are needed for aluminum because it dissipates heat more quickly, a larger torch may be needed. The larger torch is more cumbersome when trying to make nice welds. So most people gravitate to getting a water cooled torch because it stays cool in your hand and actually is smaller and lighter than the air cooled torches. Also, if you get a 200 amp, you may find that you are limited to thinner aluminum welding.

My reccomendation is to buy a Primeweld 325 with a water cooled torch and get one of their water coolers as well. The 325 with torch will run about $1500. Might get a better deal if you buy the cooler at the same time. Get a "Clearview" type of welding helmet as that will let you see the weld MUCH MUCH better. Probably $200-$250 .

Here is the point. People always try to convince themselves not to spend the money needed to get the right stuff, so they buy somewhat less and find that there are lots of little differences that they didn't notice when buying. Bite the bullet any get what you need up front and its cheaper than replacing things later to upgrade. I've always liked Miller and Lincoln......but I feel they have somewhat priced themselves out of the average guys ability to buy them. They have some small units for hobbiests, but the stuff like I want have gotten out of hand. The Primeweld has had very good reviews and they were good to work with. Get the right stuff and you won't waste money having to upgrade later on...........

 

PrimeWeld 225 here, love it, ac/DC, pilot arc, etc.

I need to just sit down and run a bunch of weld, my ability to keep both hands and my foot moving in unison seem to allude me at times !!

Welding around tube is an adventure for me, the always changing welding plane is a challenge for me, especially on smaller tube !

 

THANK YOU! Found the Prime Weld website and called them. Off to the basement to find $1,500 worth of stuff I don't need any more.

 

I like using the clear Pyrex cups with a gas lenses it really lights up the area better than the ceramic cups and you can weld cluster joints better. I have a Lincoln 375 TIG machine that’s over 40 years old and it still does great. Before that I had a used Lincoln ideal arc 300/300 since 1966 the board inside got corroded and thats when I got 375

 

Just realized this isn't the same as plugging in a few DeWalt saws and installing crown molding in a room. How much rewiring to the basement and garage am I looking at, cost of the TIG unit or less? Can a TIG welder be running at the same time a family member is using a computer, or will it get fried?

 

30 a 220 outlet somewhere for a dryer? maybe some flex conduit

 

If you buy an inverter unit such as the Primeweld or the Eastwood, a 20 to 30 amp 220v. single phase circuit will do everything you can do with the machine. If you get one of the older transformer machines such as the Lincoln 300, you will need at least a 100 amp breaker.

 

Thanks, I just lost the enthusiasm I had about owning my own TIG, electricity is a far larger problem than I thought it was. Fun while the franticly was running.