Welding without warping

[mitch_04]

I can't wait until I get to that level. I've been following the TIG thread, watching Jody's videos, and staring at my lonely TIG in the corner. During the day-job I can't justify spending time learning, in my part time job (restoring cars) I have to use what little extra time I have to earn money for such tools, and any other time I have goes to family. Hard to go into the shop when a 2 year old is saying "Daddy don't go to work" over and over while holding you! If only you could learn by just reading...

[SlowProgress]

I used to work with a guy that build dragster chassis. First his technique was really good so he never put too much heat into any one weld. Being consistent he just moved from side-to-side and top to bottom as he welded on the chassis. You could see tubes pull away from the table but when he went to the other side it would pull back in alignment. I suspect he occasionally had to use a torch to straighten out a little warpage, but overall his consistency and balance side-to-side was all that it took. It also helped that the fit was very good and consistent. Obviously if one tube had a large gap it would pull differently than a tube with a perfect gap.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by mitch_04

I can't wait until I get to that level. I've been following the TIG thread, watching Jody's videos, and staring at my lonely TIG in the corner. During the day-job I can't justify spending time learning, in my part time job (restoring cars) I have to use what little extra time I have to earn money for such tools, and any other time I have goes to family. Hard to go into the shop when a 2 year old is saying "Daddy don't go to work" over and over while holding you! If only you could learn by just reading...

Well in that case you will have to make one of two things, make more time learning or make more money to have someone else do it for you.

If you have a TIG welder at your disposal start burning tungsten and if your in a shop already make an excuss to use it. Fix a bumper bracket, make a transmission crossmember.

With the tips here and experience you should be able to figure it out. BTW, that picture I posted was a practice piece I had an apprentice do. It's .120 wall 2"x5" flat that he cut. It's a fabricated square tube in a square tube slip fit. That was after playing with my TIG welder for about an hour.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by SlowProgress

I used to work with a guy that build dragster chassis. First his technique was really good so he never put too much heat into any one weld. Being consistent he just moved from side-to-side and top to bottom as he welded on the chassis. You could see tubes pull away from the table but when he went to the other side it would pull back in alignment. I suspect he occasionally had to use a torch to straighten out a little warpage, but overall his consistency and balance side-to-side was all that it took. It also helped that the fit was very good and consistent. Obviously if one tube had a large gap it would pull differently than a tube with a perfect gap.

There's a time lapse video of a guy welding up a fabricated frame for a tri-5 Chevy.

Good stuff. The music is cool but it gets annoying after a few mins. Also, I hope you don't get seizures from flashing lights.

[GregWeld]

The murdercycle mechanic across the street from the shop and I have become friends... he even came over to Thunderhill to get a case of "I need one of these"... His name is Kenny.

So Kenny came over the other day and I had the TIG out and was doing something. He says "I've never TIG'd before". I said - have you gas welded? Yep... and he can MIG... I set him up -- he lays a real decent bead his first time. Gas welding teaches you how to feed filler... and of course you have to keep the bead going with the torch head... so it's two handed coordination. Some people suck at it -- some people can pick it right up.

All of the settings can be found on the internet... there's so many of them on a decent machine that unless you're a professional you'll never remember them all.

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

Well in that case you will have to make one of two things, make more time learning or make more money to have someone else do it for you.

If you have a TIG welder at your disposal start burning tungsten and if your in a shop already make an excuss to use it. Fix a bumper bracket, make a transmission crossmember.

With the tips here and experience you should be able to figure it out. BTW, that picture I posted was a practice piece I had an apprentice do. It's .120 wall 2"x5" flat that he cut. It's a fabricated square tube in a square tube slip fit. That was after playing with my TIG welder for about an hour.

[mitch_04]

I have the Miller calculators, makes it pretty easy for quick calculations. I've played with the TIG and can weld with it, but I'm just not as proficient as I am with a MIG at this point.

[Ketzer]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

That's part of the reason they use jigs....

I thought Rodger taught you better than that...



Jeff-

[mitch_04]

Saturdays I run the parts department from 7:30-12. It's slow enough that I can usually sneak in the back and work on some of my own things. I think I'm going to start trying to burn 30-60 minutes tig'n scrap together. It won't earn me any extra money....now....but I gotta learn how to do this.