Lets talk Tig welders

[Redd]

Miller ...

MillerKiller

[turbostang]

Very good post and its much appreciated!! My uncle is a mrg at air gas, but even with a good deal price, miller or lincoln welders are just out of the budget. I would like to keep the price around 1k or less would be best... What tungsten would you recommend for aluminum? I have been using red for both steel and aluminum. That pipe is literally my second attempt at welding aluminum, so before I went back over the welds, it looked pretty terrible, strong but ugly. With it being up top and in plain sight, i had to clean it up. I do not plan to ever do it on a critical part like control arm. Right now I am only building pipes, modifying valve covers, etc..




thanks man!

for some reason I never got the email notification to this thread - but in reference to price, the everlast line still has a TIG welder only that's closer to your budget, but I don't know the model number off the top of my head.

Most people don't learn the right way first, and the scapegoat is the cleanup pass after the fact. It's a hard habbit to get out of - but my best suggestion is to practice, practice, practice. Also, when you get ready to weld, before strike an arc, plan your path out where your hands, cables, and head have to go in order for you to weld your immediate path complete. In other words, make it where you don't have to stop till your part is done, or at the very least, that particular segment. If you watch the weldingtipsandtricks videos on youtube, you'll see Jody do that on EVERY part he's welding.

Lately I've been using blue tungsten for just about everything - aluminum, steel and stainless. works great.

[naynay]

question, when you do have to stop do you always grind back through the "keyhole" to get back in your weld? this small shit is tough for my because i work on big pipe 4" and up to 24" sometimes. I just fit it up, but thats what we deal with, and everything is beveled and a 3 pass weld. when you do manifolds and such do you really just do it in one pass?

[turbostang]

question, when you do have to stop do you always grind back through the "keyhole" to get back in your weld? this small shit is tough for my because i work on big pipe 4" and up to 24" sometimes. I just fit it up, but thats what we deal with, and everything is beveled and a 3 pass weld. when you do manifolds and such do you really just do it in one pass?

There's a joke in there somewhere!

I try really hard to weld a tube as far as I can, and I start and stop at a point which can't be seen from standing above the part in most cases.Rarely can you weld a header tube in one shot.

When you weld thin tubing, you don't have to focus on the keyhole when it's not the end of the weld - as merely starting at that point will burn all the way through it and it will disappear. The last keyhole is the one you want gone. Usually, when you get to the end, you drop the amperage back via the footpedal and start backtracking a bit - the puddle solidifies and the keyhole disappears.

[Blackpony]

for some reason I never got the email notification to this thread - but in reference to price, the everlast line still has a TIG welder only that's closer to your budget, but I don't know the model number off the top of my head.

Most people don't learn the right way first, and the scapegoat is the cleanup pass after the fact. It's a hard habbit to get out of - but my best suggestion is to practice, practice, practice. Also, when you get ready to weld, before strike an arc, plan your path out where your hands, cables, and head have to go in order for you to weld your immediate path complete. In other words, make it where you don't have to stop till your part is done, or at the very least, that particular segment. If you watch the weldingtipsandtricks videos on youtube, you'll see Jody do that on EVERY part he's welding.

Lately I've been using blue tungsten for just about everything - aluminum, steel and stainless. works great.

Kool, I have been using red tungsten and have noticed it dulls very quickly. I am currently looking at the miller diversion 185 welder. My uncle manages an air gas and has given me a really good price on it. Hoping withing the next mo.th or so I can snatch it up and really begin to practice. Mostly I have been welding charge pipes and small bracketry. I'm getting really good with steel at making a strong and good looking weld, but still struggling with aluminum. It takes time and I am in no rush. I appreciate your comments and advice!

[racrguy]

for some reason I never got the email notification to this thread - but in reference to price, the everlast line still has a TIG welder only that's closer to your budget, but I don't know the model number off the top of my head.

Most people don't learn the right way first, and the scapegoat is the cleanup pass after the fact. It's a hard habbit to get out of - but my best suggestion is to practice, practice, practice. Also, when you get ready to weld, before strike an arc, plan your path out where your hands, cables, and head have to go in order for you to weld your immediate path complete. In other words, make it where you don't have to stop till your part is done, or at the very least, that particular segment. If you watch the weldingtipsandtricks videos on youtube, you'll see Jody do that on EVERY part he's welding.

Lately I've been using blue tungsten for just about everything - aluminum, steel and stainless. works great.

I don't even own a welder and I watch Jody's videos. That cat can weld fuckin' ANYTHING.

[Coupe81]

Lately I've been using blue tungsten for just about everything - aluminum, steel and stainless. works great.

How does it compare to the orange tungsten? That's what I've been using from the beginning on dc and ac.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

[turbostang]

Kool, I have been using red tungsten and have noticed it dulls very quickly. I am currently looking at the miller diversion 185 welder. My uncle manages an air gas and has given me a really good price on it. Hoping withing the next mo.th or so I can snatch it up and really begin to practice. Mostly I have been welding charge pipes and small bracketry. I'm getting really good with steel at making a strong and good looking weld, but still struggling with aluminum. It takes time and I am in no rush. I appreciate your comments and advice!

Aluminum is tough to learn, some people never get it and some people are even intimidated by it. The part to remember is that it holds and transfers heat VERY well. For example, welding a 4" 16ga aluminum tube you'd weld somewhere around 70-80A. When you start out, it will act like it's cold and take a minute or so to get good heat into the part. A few inches worth of welding and it looks like it's on 100A. This is where you earn your stripes, you have to be able to modulate the pedal enough to lower the heat and keep the weld consistent looking.

I don't even own a welder and I watch Jody's videos. That cat can weld fuckin' ANYTHING.

He's a great asset to the welding/fabricating community. It's easy to get lost in what he talks about as he uses a lot of industry jargon - some of which doesn't apply to car stuff, or it's 'heavy line' type welding. Either way, even I learn stuff from him regularly.

How does it compare to the orange tungsten? That's what I've been using from the beginning on dc and ac.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

I haven't used them much, but they're supposed to be a good replacement for the thoriated (red) tungsten which has a low level of radioactivity because of the cerium content.

I've been meaning to try them (orange) out again, as I'm not 100% happy with the blue tungsten. It seems to contaminate the weld easier.

[Lason]

I don't even own a welder and I watch Jody's videos. That cat can weld fuckin' ANYTHING.

Me too. I I haven't welded in a couple years but I still watch his weekly videos.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Mach1]

I have a Thermal Arc 185 and it has been wonderful, it's an inverter machine.

[turbostang]

I have a Thermal Arc 185 and it has been wonderful, it's an inverter machine.

This brings up a good point. My Dynasty 200 is an inverter machine, my synchrowave 200 was not.

The main difference is the demand on the circuit that it's plugged into can be a LOT lower amperage. Synchrowave calls for 60A, the Dynasty calls for 34A.

[Phuck Phace]

Nice tube bro.

[Mach1]

Nice tube bro.

you want his tube?

[Blackpony]

Nice tube bro.

you want his tube?

How you doin???

[Blackpony]

ended up ordering the everlast 200dx. should see it in a few days, pretty excited to get started with a good welder!