It's tech week , Thats AWESOME, I am finally seeing some good stuff on the HAMB again, and with all this talk about TIG welding ( which is my favorite way to weld) I am going to share some of the stuff stuff I have figured out on my own about the GTAW ( gas tungsten arc welding ) process... This is stuff I figured out, and works for me, if you take a class or something, do as the instructor says, and don't apply any of my bad habits until after you complete the course.......LUKESTER..... #1 The fit on the metal, you are welding needs to be "killer", welding crappy big old gaps means big old crappy welds........ #2 the surface you are going to weld NEEDS to be clean. You must remove "mill scale fromhot rolled steel, on BOTH sides, or it will weld and look like crap. I sandblast hot rolled steel whenever possible. Otherwise I use laquer thinner to clean , steel, aluminum, and stainless. #3 if you are welding tubing together where it will be closed off while your welding, (a roll bar for instance), you must drill a couple of 1/8th inch (or so) holes to let the gasses escape, or they will do so through your weld, (porosity) and that will suck...... #4 Red Tungsten will weld anything, even aluminum, thats all I use, and I don't ball it up for aluminum either, You are supposed to use green (pure) tungsten electrode for aluminum, and reverse the polarity of the welder for a second before you weld aluminum to ball it up, I just switch the machine to AC and let it rip. I have tried both and I don't see a difference. I use 2% Red for everything... #5 I believe you can sharpen a tungsten on a previously ground on with other stuff, grinding wheel. I was sharpening tungstens today on a sanding disc that I have been grinding wood, and aluminum on with no problems or weird contamination. BUT you should grind it the legnth of the tungsten (the long way not across it). #6 You probably don't need to wear gloves, unless its cold where your welding, or you have a bad ground, But never touch the filler rod to the tungsten electrode when you are welding without gloves, and don't rest your hand on the piece you are welding, without gloves, I pretty much NEVER wear them. #7 I use a big tungsten electrode, 3/32 " almost always. If you use too small of a tungsten it will "burn up" and create "crappy welds"... #8 Use the smallest possible filler rod. sticking an eighth inch rod into a puddle that has a sixteenth inch gap is going to make a big ugly weld. and you will have to heat the metal even more to melt that big old rod. I use .025 mig wire (when the fit is good) to tig weld sheetmetal together. I peel it off the roll and twist it a bunch of times and it straightens right out. #9 Your weld should be shiny and rainbow colored, if is is dull grey, you are too hot, Especially on stainless..... #10 when you start a weld, and get an ORANGE spot , you need to resharpen your tungsten, DO not keep welding, you will not get a nice shiny rainbow colored STRONG weld with a contaminated tungsten electrode that makes orange stuff when you strike an arc..... well thats all I have for now, They did tig weld back in the day, so it is "traditional" and in my eyes the ONLY way to weld...... Have fun..... LUKESTER (welderbater)
Good tips!! Thanks for the post. I'm a newbie "tig'er" and it's very tedious. And I can gas weld, or so I thought.
"#7 I use a big tungsten electrode, 3/32 " almost always. If you use too small of a tungsten it will "burn up" and create "crappy welds"..." They make different sizes of Tungsten for a reason.
"#6 You probably don't need to wear gloves, unless its cold where your welding, or you have a bad ground, But never touch the filler rod to the tungsten electrode when you are welding without gloves, and don't rest your hand on the piece you are welding, without gloves, I pretty much NEVER wear them." - Also for newbies, if you touch the filler rod to the tungsten - go resharpen right away - otherwise you can get some crap ass beads! Sharpen both sides of your tungsten so that you can just flip it over instead of running to the grinder all the time. The more you weld, the less you will have to do this. If you are comfortable welding without gloves, they make thinner gloves for tig welding that are much less bulky than gloves you'd use for mig or stick.
Great stuff lukester! One tip I might add that I do is that when I grind my tungsten tips... I put the tungsten in a cordless drill and then turn the drill on... it makes them perfectly conical... and the stripes that run lengthwise are pretty fine... Lukester, maybe you could give some tips on how long of a cone? I usually do a cone about 1 1/2 times the diameter of the tungsten... on this stuff... and on thick stuff I make it a little stubier... is that about right? any tips? Thanks again, Sam.
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