I am curious as to why anyone would use TIG welding when MIG is easier , quicker, and looks just as good if no? i have done TIG to weld an aluminum truck bumper about 40 years ago.
Tig is cleaner more precise and works best with small dimensional gaps and gauge material. Especially with a pulse control, you have absolutely total control of the heat. I’ve used tig to join paper thin stainless sheeting for tank trailers without the use of a filler rod in the past. Welding aluminum with any type of machine is like throwing cow shit on the side of a barn.
There are many reasons. More precise heat control which means more versatility and in a lot of cases less distortion. You can weld very thin material (.015"). Metal finishing is also much easier because the resulting weld material is softer and there's usually less to grind and finish. There is no splatter which flies around and damages paint, glass, your clothes, etc. Much cleaner process. I'll think of more later. Merry Christmas to all.
I used to Heli arch aluminum bodywork Bugatti, Ferrari and Aston Martin etc., but never got the chance to TIG steel, it is on the top of my Bucket List, and I dream of owning a Miller TIG unit. NEVER could figure out how to MIG weld, could never see the puddle, maybe it was an old machine in a friends shop years ago. STICK welding was a joy, really like that on heavy material.
Easier to metal finish. The weld is as soft as the sheet metal you’re welding. Easier to hammer/dolly and grind. A mig weld is hard. Can often crack on sheet metal when hammer and dollying. plus TIG forces you to fit things better.
Mig is used in most production welding, even aluminum. TIG is easily controlled on thinner metal but the end product is up to the welder, like most. The thing to remember with fillet welds is the weld strength is the result of the size of the weld. A lot of people like the tiny welds of TIG, but that can sacrifice strength.
MIG starts throwing metal at the push of the trigger, not always a good thing. TIG is a lot more controllable in every situation. Most of the other advantages have been mentioned. I always TIG weld chassis and roll bar stuff if I can, I have a lot more confidence in proper penetration and heat control.
To sum it up GTAW welding AKA TIG will give you the best quality of weld on any weldable metal The welds have a pure fine grain structure and are incredibly strong.
I like tig best for thin sheet metal. I have successfully used it for rust repair of a Swiss cheese holed, complex stamping without having to cut out larger pieces and make small fill pieces that are beyond my metal shaping skills.
That is art. Probably should be on FAS lol.I’ve seen tig welded stuff that is simply beautiful I welded up a SS header with MiG it looks ok and will work but I wish I had a tig for such stuff I did burn burn through a couple times ground, refitted and rewelded probably wouldn’t have burned through with a tig and the tig welds would look more sanitary.
You cant fusion weld with mig. Not every job need filler rod poured into it Also much more reliable when welding dissimilar metal thicknesses.
A good point for discussion. Take a good look at the stack of dime welds. Not the picture posted on this thread. With every “dime” you see on a weld. Instead of a constant and even flow of weld metal and heat… you are actually viewing a cold application of metal that’s not maintaining constant flow and heat. This uneven application can cause slag entrapment and possibly loss of strength. No ripples are better than small ripples, and small ripples are better than big fat dimes. One might like the appearance of "stack of dimes," and one could argue that in many cases, "stack of dimes" is "strong enough for the application." But you can't argue that it's superior, or even equal to, a smooth, fair weld in its resistance to fatigue. again…. This is not suggesting a critical view of picture shown on this thread.
I have always been more confident that the two pieces of metal are as one as soon as the filler rod fills the puddle connecting the two work pieces. I must say though, with TIG some days I'm one with the welder and some days I'm not. Lynn
If you can lay a weld like this down with a Mig my hat's off to ya. If a stacked weld is good enough for the kind of work you do that's okay. Some of it just comes down to the overall quality of what you're turning out. I couldn't imagine a big fat Mig weld done on a product like Marty's and as a customer I wouldn't consider paying for such a job. If you're working on a rotted out door skin and have the ability to roll out a correct replacement skin section with Crown and Curve you want the final product to represent that work. When you start welding the new skin on the hand built inner structure you expect a quality finish without a bunch of whiskers protruding through to the inside. Then you should be able to do a File Finish like any quality repair would be. I don't care how good you might think you are, you can't get this kind of finish from a Mig Weld! This kind of work takes a few coats of primer and some block sanding, Not Body Man in a Can to carve out a finish surface. And that's why we that can Tig Weld, Tig Weld!
On Fiberglass cars I prefer to use JB Welding................Don't have to worry about getting a good ground and lays down a nice bead everytime.
Just asking & not criticizing the welding, Is those beads ( I've aways ,was called stack of nickels) Any ways , are those beads done with dipping rod into puddle & controlling the heat with the pedal , or is it done with a pulsating controlled tig machine Feature,,, I was talking to a relative afew months ago , there was some tig welded items setting on table , I asked who welded the parts , He said he did , beads looked like pic above , A few weeks later he was @ my shop , I asked him to weld some parts , I took him over to my 20 year old square wave Miller , I was told he did not know how to use with out all fancy options, So my question is ,, does he really know how to Tig Weld ?
Lower heat (minimising shrink), matching the parent metal with the filler rod and the list goes on. There are times when TIG isn't best too horses for courses Cheers turns
Tig metal finishes pretty close to what gas welding on sheet metal does, Mig leaves a harder bead that you grind more than metal finish.
Some people will get that stack of dimes look by pulsing the pedal but personally I don't think that produces the strongest welds. Some prefer a constant current flow while dipping the rod which creates the puddle freeze lines on the surface you see. The later does not have much of an effect on the penetration. Pulse settings are for thin material where you want to minimize the affected heat zone and distortion or shrinkage. I should add there are other important indicators in a weld profile to observe like the crown, toes, and color. The old square wave Miller is more than capable as long as it is in good working condition and is set up right. Fancy options? What are those? Could he be taking credit for someone else's work? Humm..
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