Preston, I'm with you. Only that I use a cordless drill to turn my tungsten.:D

Place I use to work had sharpener, its great tool but I'm not getting one.

I never had any problems with arg at to start of welding anyway, after couple stuck to puddle chances things quite radically.:willy:

That will work, since you are grinding (generally) longitudinally so your abrasions on the electrode will be, also.

Slightly off topic but... I finally tried to weld after my eye injury... One eyed TIG welding is NOT so easy.... After a couple rods I was doing OK but even then there are a lot of things to watch with one eye and NO depth perception.

Anyway, more on topic.... I did try different tip point angles, very interesting results. More practice it needed with that though as I was more concerned about learning to weld all over...

One other thing I tested. Turning down the argon flow. I noticed that my regulator had gotten bumped and was up at almost 20, I turned it down to 12, then 10 then 8 and had very good results. I should note that I did this with a gas lens and 1/16 tungsten on .063 3003 H14 and 1/16th 1100 series rod.

Chris

I tried to emulate Mario (Doom) trying to TIG weld - and closed one eye.... NFW you can weld like that... it would take years of practice to just get motor skills to take over. :lol:

20CFH is way too high on the gas flow - so turning it down was a good move... and a gas lens uses a lower flow to start with - so even if you were flowing 12 you'd have bumped it down to 10 or so.

Pointing makes a difference - I have a sharpener so I can set the degrees (angle) I want and have it uniform every time.... but hand sharpening is not hard.... You taper should be "back" about 2/3ds the dia of the tungsten. And again - there's video on YouTube - and at Miller and Lincoln on this process.

Glad you're getting somewhere - because TIG is fun...

I have only one good eye so, not much of an option for me, LOL. Some folks say that they can weld better using only one eye.

x2.

Somehow I manage decent depth perception despite not having steropic vison.

Well kudos to you two - because I sure had troubles trying to do it with one eye shut! The depth perception just goes away. Plus - I could see around the corners!:wow: :lol:

Thank Greg,

I know 20 was way high but I was typically running around 12 but I have it down to 8 now and it is welding nice. I like the the 2/3 angle you mentioned the best so far but each situation requires something a little different.

As for the one eye deal... I used to have two good eyes and the other day was the first time I tried since my injury... COMPLETELY different! Obviously right? Anyway, Other than some dipping for the tungsten (a no no I know) I am doing OK so far.

Chris

OK... made some huge progress in the last two weeks since I checked in... Got my red tungsten, got my fine wheel on the grinder and what a world of difference!! Much more stable arc and much better puddle control- less contamination issues since I can pull back a little further from the puddle.
This weekend I built an air intake system out of the previously mentioned Vibrant polished tubing and it turned out nice. I didn't scrub down the tubing this time as suggested and had no contamination issues with the polish... (I did verify that TIG doesn't like Sharpie marks though!! :lol:) I had an AH-HAH! moment and most of it was done without filler rod. It was so beautiful!! On these cars I grind the welds flush and the tubing gets painted so I need to be careful not to sink the weld too much- its better for me to have a little material to take off.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/v...S020/Weld2.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/v...eAirIntake.jpg

Next TIG welding question is what do you use to clean a surface that you know is contaminated? For example trying to fix a pinhole leak in an aluminum radiator that you found after it had been filled?

Thanks for all the advice! It's been a huge help!:lateral:

Looks great!

TIG is one of those "art forms" that is "fussy".... To make it look right... etc. MIG is just point and shoot.. but TIG takes some real knowledge and practice - glad it's working out for you!

No idea on the Radiator question. I don't think anyone repairs aluminum radiators...

Maybe if it's just a pinhole - some good old fashioned "stop leak" gunk... I really just don't know.

You might trying pouring DENATURED ALCOHOL in the radiator - and getting it to run out the pin hole.... and pour some more of it thru the fins in the area of need... and then clean that with some NON CHLORINATED brake cleaner... and then put some JB WELD over the pin hole. I found that info on a racing website. Never done it - but sounds like it would work.

Definately a major learning curve when compared to MIG but SOOOO worth it in the end.

FYI Jody Collier just posted another Aluminum tig welding video. I always learn something new to try out, when watching his videos. You can subscribe on his site and he will send you an email when new videos are posted.


http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/weld-aluminum.html

I think I have watched every video he has done. Very very helpful! Thanks for the heads up on the new one! You know, no one around me stocks gas lense parts. I had to order them.

Thanks for the Video! It's good to watch the technique of someone that knows what they are doing. I'll have to go back through and watch more of them when I get some time.

On another note for anyone that is thinking about upgrading tanks go to Home Depot. They did this on my MIG tank when I upsized and last night I upsized my argon tank for a rediculous price. My normal welding shop wanted $200+ to upgrade my tank so I went to HD to see what they would charge. They billed me for the large tank argon exchange and then credited me back for the medium tank argon exchange price so it cost me a whole $16.00 in American money. I even questioned the guy because I was giving him an empty medium tank and would have been paying $48 bucks if I was just exchanging the large tank straight across but he insisted that is how the exchange upgrade worked. I don't feel bad... I've paid the rent for that store several times over.

I just bought this one and have only used it a few times now but what a differance over my old way of sharpening. The arc was so much more stable and with the flat tip after sharpening it really did last much longer and was only about $350.
http://www.arc-zone.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=125

Kevin
LFD Inc.

I am a huge fan of tig, if I could do it all day I would but that is not possible. For those of us who aspire to be a great tig welder you might want to check out John Marcella. He is an amazing welder when it comes to aluminum. His website is marcellamanifolds.com I think. If not he has a thread over on the yellowbullet.com, I only hope to be able to weld aluminum half as well as him someday.

Think I'll have to break down and try one of those. The dedicated grinder wheel is... OK.. but still not seen the stability that I'd expect. I was doing quite a bit of TIG there for a while but haven't picked up the torch in a couple months. I have a big intercooler project coming up soon though so I think it will be worth the investment.

Htp also sells one . Slightly cheaper
http://www.usaweld.com/Adjustable-Tu...r-p/ts-adj.htm

I chuck my rods in portable drill and grind them on a dedicated grinding wheel while they are spinning (from the drill). They turn out nice.

Would this work for a budget tungsten grinder after a little McGyver modification?

http://www.harborfreight.com/120-vol...ner-96687.html

No --- just buy a cheap ass bench grinder and get a couple fine wheels and just dedicate them to tungsten only.

No need to make stuff complicated - it ain't rocket science.

duplicate due to glitch.

Understood Sir! :D The cheapest grinder is $38 plus a fine wheel.
That sharpener has a motor and diamond (possibly zirconium) wheel and it wouldn't take much to make a verticle mount and adjustable guide for the tungsten and throw the base and other crap away. ASSUMING the motor isn't a wobbler it should get the job done and not take up much space.

Fire suit on Sir. :thumbsup:

Bought one of these and have been super happy with it! And great for the price!!


****Update and suggestion for anyone fighting inconsistent TIG results****

As a follow up a month or two after starting to use the adjustable grinder its still working well but I was still fighting issues with inconsistant welds. I've moved my TIG welder away from the workshop bench where I do most of the cutting/grinding/ welding and I've started wiping down EVERYTHING I TIG with acetone and haven't had any further issues. I used to store my TIG right next to the bench and even though it was under a cover it was getting hit with grinding dust, oil overspray, and basically anything else that was going on at that bench. Rods were being stored on the back of the welder cart so I'm sure they were getting the same exposure.

Seems common sense now...

A couple things I've had success with lately -

Finally got around to buying a .040 tungsten. I am mostly welding 20 awg sheet metal and I was very surprised how big of a difference it made. So if you've been lazy like me because its hard to find at your local shop make the effort it was a 15% improvement. I'm still using .040 rod but I may have to try some MIG wire next.

I have also had succes with something else new. Guys on allmetlashaping were debating (for the 20th time) gas vs MIG vs TIG and HAZ and distortion etc. One guy piped in and said he didn't start of stop at all, just moved fast enough that distortion wasn't a problem and showed a door panel he had welded front to back nonstop. Now you know how hard a big open panel like that is to keep from shrinking away. Well I had heard people talk about fusion welding before but mostly thought it worked for the occasional tack welding god or gas welding or whatever, but after seeing his technique I started trying it more and I was like "Holy cow !" virtually no bead and pretty small HAZ and I'm still slow. Now you have to have perfect fitup, any gap at all and the rod has to come in, but I can now pull a 3-4" bead with no filler rod at all. And, in fact, my fusion weld is far superior to my "rod" welding as that still comes out lumpy and inconsistent and most importantly, slow - I am moving almost twice as fast when fusion welding so less heat, less distortion.

It probably only works on steel, haven't tried it on stainless, and I don't think you can strictly fusion weld on aluminum although I have carried the pool pretty damn far without rod before. Since I usually weld both sides of aluminum it works well for the 2nd side though.

Anyway, what works for me is come in hot (my lincon 225 machine is set to about 50 amps). So I come in full pedal and then even before the "spot" turns red I am moving forward (usually pushing the torch) and just keeping that hot red spot from melting through. If I come up to a tiny gap i might just kiss some rod in there. Also, I am moving between tacks about 2" apart so just about the time I am losing it I usually hit a tack and get some fresh pool.

I am far from an accomplished tig welder so if I can do it you can too. The bead comes out so nice and tiny you could almost planish it out (another technique I never believed in before as I always have to grind the crap out of my welds)

Also I was trying ceriated and it was crap, I hadn't tigged in a while so thought I just sucked, but switched back to thoriated and big improvement. So no matter what tungsten is recommended, keep experimenting you may hav ebetter luck with one thing or another.

I've watched friends weld up stainless exhaust parts without using any rod. Just like you said, Preston, make sure the fit is good and keep the tip moving. The welds they laid down came out very nice with small beads.

i tig welded these with a miller 250, on the ss tank and roll bar mount I used 3/32 red tungsten sharpened on a used 120 grit belt sander spinning in a drill. I always sharpen parallel to the centerline, but have only used a dedicated tungsten sharpener when I worked at Eaton Aeroquip. I might be able to help some of you with questions, but like Greg I am far from an expert. I do have some experience with rare metals, so I might be able to help there a little more. I have welded several alloys of inconel and titanium.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...00308-1136.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...00310-1356.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps3d1f388b.jpg