A tig like this, He works @ a plaint as maintenance repair mechanic, I have seen one @ miller store ,but I have not used or check what all the function do, my square wave simple Power ,polarity ,amp adjustment and stick option with water cool
There are places, things, and reasons for every form of welding, each form has advantages and disadvantages. I much prefer smooth even flow welds, regardless of the method used. Every time I see those loved "stack of dimes" welds, it gives me the shivers. I've seen way too many fail. At my little hack welding shop, 75% of the welding I did was welding repair, much of that was re-doing failed welds, and probably nearly 1/2 of those failed welds were "stack of dimes" welds. People didn't bring stuff to me because they expected it to be pretty, they brought it because they expected the welds to actually hold the metal together. If they wanted pretty welds, they could take it back to the guy that made the pretty welds that have already failed and see if it works out any better the second time. Of course, your experience could have been different.
I have an old Miller Dialarc HF. Big machine..cheap. I'm not very good, old eyes, cheap helmet, but for patching sheet metal its the way to go. I really like when you look at the back side of the weld and its fused flush with no voids. That perfect stack of dimes above is darn pretty, but even a dope like me can do that in a vice, with perfect fitting parts, and in a comfortable position. Its the guys laying on their back welding roll bar tubes, or any tube joints for that matter, with a nonstop perfect weld that amaze me. Seen some crazy shaped aluminum air intake stuff too, how did they do that ? If you are a good Oxy Acetylene welder its very similar process.
It depends what you're working on. Are you building a chrome moly chassis/cage for a race car that needs to pass an inspection? TIG is the only way to go. Are you building really traditional old hot rods? Get out the stick welder and torch, and go to town. Are you building typical cars where you just need the parts stuck together and don't care too much how it looks, as long as it's strong enough? MIG is fine.
Tig is my favorite type of welding. Best control, best looking and strongest if done properly. I was a certified tig welder on sanitary piping for many years. I guess mig may have it’s place, but not in my shop.
What was it like making the transition to TIG welding steel from TIG welding aluminum? Was Heli Arc available long before Aluminum TIG? Never knew what the difference was, Heli Arc was in the shop and I learned how to use it.
Heli-arc welding was originally developed to weld Magnesium using of course Helium by Russel Meredith at Northrup in So-Cal in the early 40's. You can use Helium on Aluminum as well or, run a mix of Argon and Helium when welding very thick Aluminum. This increases the heat required. As we all know, a lot of Aircraft technology often crossed over to Hot Rods and Race Cars and I love all of it!
And, for the professional, after the last bead go back with your finger and push in a nice stack of dimes...to keep em guessing.
Reminds me years ago a guy had an old Mopar with a slant 6, cool old race car. Anyway, he took a piece of 3/16" plate, somewhere around 5"×5" square, glued it to the side of the slant 6 engine block. Then he took jb weld and put a bead around it and made it look like a stick weld, painted primer over it so it stuck out from the orange Mopar color of the rest of the motor. People at mokan would walk up to it and notice that plate "welded" to the side of the engine and immediately ask questions, he'd tell em he dropped a rod at 7000 rpm and welded her all back up so he could race it this weekend. Amazing how many fell for it. Another funny one, buddy had a 58' vw, he'd take it to car shows and lose to late model stuff so he stuck an old typewriter in the driver's seat with a long cable that went back to the engine compartment, people would ask and he'd tell them it was the analog computer to tune the motor and fuel system, lots walked away scratching their head.... love old ornery guys !!! .
In this instance all of those options were switched in the off position. I set the machine to the minimum amps needed to get the puddle going and hold the pedal down all of the way and have to start lifting off on it as I get closer to the end of the bead since the heat starts to really pile on the closer you get to the end of the work. I keep the tungsten practically in the puddle and dip the rod as needed. The cleanest material you can get also makes a big difference as well as the least amount of gap between the joint. The material is .125" plate for my fuel pre filter/pump mount. Made it modular so it can be dropped out easily if needed. I did not want to use the supplied mounts that came it each part so I tacked them to a scrap plate and matched all of the mounting holes up as one unit.
Those beads to me are perfect uniform!!! I was told 25 years ago in a short 20hour class to practice practice and be comfortable, Unfortunately I donot practice , pick up torch here & there when needed , and lately I have been welding in tight cramped up side down areas with no hand support & I stepped up to a flex torch which makes it a lot easier, One of mistakes I made when I purchased my Tig ( sales man encouraged bigger) I did not think I would be welding a 1/4 plus aluminum ,Should of purchased at the time, I believe the 210 230 model , So there times I cheat , pre heat with oxy torch
interesting point many overlook…. It’s not the size that matters but how you operate the tool. Depending on the area needed welded. Many times you can actually weld 1/2” up to any thickness of material “even with a little buzz box. And that trick is in preheating. If you are able to safely preheat and maintain the heat during welding…multi passes will flow like butter in any joint. Naturally it can’t be done in an assembled car or next to an area that could be damaged. But a part laying away from those type of areas can successfully be welded. We used heat sticks to check the part heat when welding on certified pressure vessel shit. 350 degrees! I welded for hours at a time snugged up beside that shit. Never again.
Another interesting point that many see as acceptable….. The “fillet weld size and shape” A “concave filet weld can be weak” regardless of whether it’s as smooth as shit and shows no signs of cold lap or slag entrapment. I’ve seen many welds as being top notch but actually fall into this category. The weld configuration should not look like this. A concave weld may look pretty but could actually have a throat thats too thin.
If you want to be really good with TIG on steel or stainless, get good at aluminum 1st. Steel is slow and fun at that point, and easier to manage the all important puddle. For those in the audience picking for tips n tricks I can only give you 2. 1st, with TIG there's the appearance of a lot going on. There isnt. The puddle and fill is it, forget the torch, the arc, the part, it's all about the weld. 2nd, you're driving it, like a car, with a gas pedal, and like our cars we don't leave every stop or travel every mile at WFO. On aluminum you develop a feel of how far to back off as you go since the part heats up so fast. That heat adds to the heat of the puddle. That's all I got for tips, the rest is the tech you should know before you start playing with it. Also, while you will indeed get varied opinions on this, ER70S6 or S7 mild steel wire is a great choice for moly tube so the finished product will have extended durability. How durable? 2 words for ya, monster trucks. Moly cages, mild steel wire, and what would we guess the forces are when they jump those fuckers? Anyways, just raw thoughts from yer ol Uncle Jocko...
Worked for Babcock & Wilcox. Most of their work “was” governmental. Nuclear and power generational. They even made the carrier flight take off systems on the deck during WW2. Steam generation. They created a lot of the welding systems we use still today. Those old farts taught this hard head a lot during my formative years.
B&W, Foster-Wheeler, CE, CBI, PDM. Nukes, fossil fuel, tanks, smokestacks, water towers. All excellent places to learn better welding skills that one can use on race cars.
GENERATOR, not ground. It was the power source for the process. Probably one of those military 400HZ generators with a rectifier on it. The "-" terminal is connected to both pieces being welded, and the "+" is connected to the torch.
That would be funny. Take a glass 32 thats already chopped and put a bead on both "B" pillars so it looks like you left the weld in place and everyone thinks its a steel car............then you tell them it was done with a fiberglass welder and show them that their magnet won't stick.
because of the on the go control TIG lets you change to conditions better say if a gap needs to be filled.
As a Welding Instructor I appreciate seeing people discussing proper welding techniques and theory. The stack of dimes look has the potential to be problematic in several ways. If it’s done properly with a high energy pulse fusion can be good leaving the last issue which can be the notch effect at the edges of the weld (the toe) which under stress can lead to cracking. Those notch effects come from the points in the edges of the weld that look like scallops because the “dimes “ are spaced too widely and the edges of the weld aren’t smooth and straight and well blended into the parent metal. Every once in a while I’ll come across a little video that shows good TIG welding technique and skill which results in a professional weld without the silliness of cup walking or other odd things.
Like you Blue One, I like all the discussion about "HOW" to Tig Weld. However, that is not the question at hand in the opening post. To try and actually answer that question I thought I'd repost it and try to get a few more "OPINIONS" as to Why. I'm sure we all have our own personal answers to that as I do. Why do you Tig instead of Mig?
My first response answered that question on my personal reasons. But I will also add why it was used by manufacturing in my life experiences. Already address…it was used on thin stainless on tanker trailers to eliminate any warping and prevent any splatter. Also… It was used on the application of the root welds on X-ray quality pressure applications. The root weld has the highest chance of failure and a slow hot weld in that small groove eliminates it. Interestingly in that manufacturing setting tig wasn’t needed much and wasn’t used for a finish weld that I ever witnessed. It’s all about getting the job done fast. Also… I used tig in the automotive field. I’ve seen and used it chopping doors and cabs on car-hauler truck cabs. (The chopped cabs you see on the road hauling new cars). It was used to also eliminate the need for metal finish and warpage. A lot of this was done with a pulse and perfect joints and rarely any wire. Another bank manufacturer used it for stainless on vault doors and many repairs where little heat and little metal finish was required. The only aluminum welding I seen used in manufacturing was on truck frames. It was all done with a mig. I’m sure tig could have been used but you can imagine the time involved. Just a few personal experiences.
Tig is cleaner, safer and a better quality weld. Splatter welders (Mig, Stick) scatter hot metal debris and start anything flammable in a 10 ft area on fire . Less cleanup, no splatter on the parts or in the work area with Tig. Same reason I don't use a plasma cutter , torch or a grinder in the shop to cut or shape metal. A milling machine, bandsaw, sawzall or carbide cutters in a die grinder to cut or shape metal is cleaner, no HAZ and more accurate precise cuts. The only place to use Mig or Stick is outside on dirt . Keny
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