High Quality TIG Accessories

[digr]

I use a belt sander, just hold it vertical with the belt

[greywynd]

I usually use a green wheel on a bench grinder.


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[CaddmannQ]

Well I did buy a diamond wheel but in the end I may end up using a regular wheel on the bench grinder. People say it doesn’t seem to matter.

Anyhow I haven’t tested anything yet except to turn it on and off one time, but I have everything set up now on a new cart from Harbor freight.

Now it’s past 10 PM on the West Coast so it’s too late to start welding things.

It took me 45 years to get a nice welder, so the first test can and will wait for tomorrow.

[CaddmannQ]

. . . or the next day. I had a lot of steel to clean up in the boatyard before I could get to the welding table. (buried)

I also had to buy wire and a plug and receptacle to make up a heavy extension cord for the welder, to get 240 power the last 20 feet. Now I can weld in the garage, driveway, workshed, or anywhere in my boatyard.

In theory. So far I only turned it on to test power and leak checked the argon.

I have everything set up for my first test weld, but it's almost bedtime. I'm to pooped to pulse.

[LKeithR]

Originally Posted by greywynd

I usually use a green wheel on a bench grinder.

Yup, green wheels (silicon carbide) is all my brother ever used for grinding tungstens. I've got one in the shop right now that has groove half an inch deep. Never heard of using diamond wheels--certainly not necessary...

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by LKeithR

Yup, green wheels (silicon carbide) is all my brother ever used for grinding tungstens. I've got one in the shop right now that has groove half an inch deep. Never heard of using diamond wheels--certainly not necessary...

I have used AlOx wheels, silicon carbide wheels and diamond wheels. They all
work fine. But if you are grinding tungsten everyday the diamond wheel will
save you money in the long run. I have burned through a number of AlOx
wheels and even on SiC wheel, but even when I was running the biz, I never
tigged enough to justify buying a diamond grinder. YMMV.

[CaddmannQ]

I didn’t actually buy a grinder. I bought a wheel. I have several motors lying around not being used to set up for this, but for my first weld I just used my Contaminated old bench grinder and the battery powered drill.

. . . and said to hell with porosity! I had to test this welder!

I had some things going against me yesterday. On top of inexperience that is.

I was outdoors welding with curtains, and so I had the Argon up a lot.

I didn’t really clean the metal enough before I started, because I wasn’t trying to get a presentation weld but just figure out basic heat settings. I regret that now.

A number 10 welding lens is just too dark for this business when I get heat down below 50 A. I’ll have to get something a bit lighter.

I was getting a bit of glare from behind me because the curtain in back of me was not dark enough to cut the light. I wound up welding with a dish towel over the back of my head. NFG

Considering how much trouble I had seeing the weld, I’m surprised things turned out this good.

Photo#1 This is a piece of 0.030” mild steel strap, folded, and then two edges of the hem welded together. This is really my second weld, and I only used a dab of filler (because there was an open eye in the hem) and then I did the rest with fusion only. That worked great until I got to the end of the lap and then I burned the strap. The problem was I couldn’t see where the lap ended to stop the bead.

#2 Same metal strap as above. This was my (ugly) very first bead with the new welder. The amperage was too low. I was attempting to use filler rod here where it wasn’t needed. I was trying to work fast, and I couldn’t see well.

This weld shows what happens when you stick the tungsten in the puddle like an ice pick LOL

I didn’t understand the pulse settings on high/low and I was way too low. It goes 0.5 Hz to 200hz if you hit the right switch. I was trying to hit two pulses per second and instead I was getting like a half. My photo number one shows I had corrected the heat (24 amps up to 48amps) but still had the pulse way too slow.

#3 This photo is inverted but it shows the section of a ‘73 Volkswagen pan where a doubler is added under the floor pan, and a jacking socket is welded to the doubler. The socket is cut completely off and all that remains is that little y-shaped business of 1 mm German steel.

#4 This is a close-up of the weld I made on photo number three. I used filler rod to bead a 1mm edge, bead over lapped edges, then start to close up the gap. I was going to see how far I could fill this with a 3/32 rod and multiple passes but I lost the arc at that point and gave up. I’m not sure if that ugly pit is porosity from Crap in the lap joint, or if I stuck the tungsten there.

#5 This is another part of the Volkswagen pan section where 1 mm steel pan doubler laps from the left to .7mm pan below. It should be above but this photo is inverted. Here I corrected the heat to 48 A and the pulse to about two/sec. There was a gap of nearly 1 mm between the metal edges and I filled that over with 1/16 rod. Again, I wish I had cleaned the metal better as it developed a big pore. I think I went over that with the arc and re-fused it. All of these welds have been burnished with a wire wheel to knock off the smut.

I’m going to go knock them apart with a chisel and see what kind of strength was developed.

[toprecycler]

A start is a start!

There is some decent potential showing in your tests welds so far.

One thought I have though,

1. If you are totally new to tig welding, get some heavier steel to practice on. At least 1/16- or 1/8”. I understand that you want to start with the thickness that you are wanting to tig, but use some heavier material will make the learning hand eye foot motion go easier. Welding real thin stuff requires a bit more skill, so get some practice on heavier material to hone your muscles first.


Hood time will help, along with good feedback from more experience guys. Keep posting pictures.

I will try to respond more when I have more time.


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[CaddmannQ]

Thanks for all the advice, guys. I think I solved my helmet issue with a new Miller Elite. $320+tax at Barnes Welding.

[CaddmannQ]

By the way I cut those test welds and chiseled things apart, and everything turned out to be very strong. I was set a little too hot for most of it and I got plenty of penetration (which is better than no penetration.) The heat affected zone wasn’t embarrassingly large either.

My next test is to weld 0.030” steel to 0.060
Then 0.030 to 0.125”.

Then 0.060 to 0.060”

Finally I have to join 0.060” to 0.125, and 0.107 to 0.125.

Once I work out all the settings for that I’ll be ready to continue with my project car.