Baby steps with the TIG welder
 

I've had my TIG sitting round for a while now and have just picked up gas this week and got regs etc so I couldn't help myself but have a little play.

I've not welded for 20 years and then it was MIG/Gas but given that and that the only piece of steel I had to hand was a dirty old piece of 6mm angle I'm not too ashamed of the results. They obviously need a lot of improving but I dont think too shabby for just getting back on the bike :)

that bead far left looks nice and neat , i reckon a few less amps and that would have been a goodun!

Cheers Michael, I worked from right to left so was just starting to get a bit of a feel for it by then, I'm going to practice on some more scrap and then try welding up some shelf supports for my Mum's garage. I'm also hoping to get on a course for September to get some theory and proper training.

Once I started to get the feel for the 'pool' a little better I really enjoyed it, definitely seems much nicer to do than Mig, although doing it on a flat piece of metal is one thing but upside down in dark cranny will probably be much harder, still got to figure out some of the settings on my Tig as well:confused:

its certainly a nice start :) , you should have seen my attempts at tig :o a good practice is to do corner welds with no filler then you can get a real feel for what the pool is doing and when you get it nice it comes out a beautiful rainbow colour :)

its much more relaxing and gives more sence of aacievment than mig doesn't isnt it :)

Would love a tig set but funds dont allow at the moment

If you were doing ali the two verticals in the center would be sweet ;)

keep it all mega clean (no oxide) push along with the torch in your main hand at around 15-30 deg forward lean to start with and dab the rod on the edge of the pool with your other hand keeping it in the gas at all times.
sharpen your eletrode like its like the angle of a pencil and keep the arc as short as you can.
you will see the focus of the arc is clean and defined with a good shape until you get some filler on it then its all dull and blury thats what you dont want so clean it up and start again.

hi there, I'm just having a clear out of stuff and found old instruction book on a tig welder, which will of course be no good to you, but it has a section on trouble shooting welding problems which may be of some help.
if you want it just pm me with your address and i will stick it post.
tony

Just getting back on top of things after a week away so will try and get some more time on the tig this week, will try all suggestions and post up results.

onedayTM, if you still have the book that would be great, any reference material is good, I'l papypal over expenses, thanks

your welcome to it dont bother about postage just pm your address details.
tony

tungstens
 

hi there also remember tungsten colours, red for steels, stainless etc white for alloys

I only have the one tungsten at the moment which is the one it came with, its a 2.4mm grey which I believed to be multi purpose.

A nice range on electrodes and shrouds are on my shopping list :)

I always sharpen my tungstens down the tungsten not across so 180 degrees to the bench grinder rather than 90 the arc flows much better that way

Bruce is this all leading up to you tig welding your chassis together?

Bob

I truth Bob I'm not sure yet, in an ideal world yes I'd like the accomplishment of building it myself but space, time and tediously cutting and tigging the chassis lends itself towards a prefab, but that also depends on available funds at the time and the availability of a wider prefab chassis (if needed).

I'm always on the lookout so if a reasonable mig comes up cheap enough then I may get it just for the general donkey work of the welding.

I think I'm going to enjoy the tig although not had time to get it back out yet, I've just cleared my shed and waiting for plasterboard to dryline it and 2nd fix electrics then I'l have my workshop set up to start clocking up some hours with the tig:)

Hi.

This is a nice site for welders.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

Peter.

ok been a while but a bit of an update, besides looking after the kids etc I've been busy building my 'shed' which is getting there but still lots to do



Out of the proceeds from the donor I've managed to buy a couple of new toys:

Bruce the post is fubar:) :)

Bob

And then finally managed to get some quality time with the tig, just making up shelf brackets but starting to get the feel for the 'pool' and finding it soooo relaxing, a few tunes in the background (see the ceiling speakers) and I could do this all day :)

Sorted it I think, I was using the wrong image codes

Just to mention, I got the sand blast cab from this guy, £175 delivered, I've had a few bits from him and all been classed as seconds but good as new except I had a tool cab that was badly damaged and he didn't hesitate to replace inc postage.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/recontooli...p2047675.l2562

Bruce thats a great man room you have knocked up there:) Its the way to go, its no fun sharing space with household clutter and kids things:eek:

Bob

Thanks Bob, its getting there slowly, got a couple more cabinets to build and a high level shelf going down each side which is what the brackets are for.

Good evening D. O. S., I don't know anything about Tig welds, but that weld sure looks great ! I guess, as you would say, you have it "sorted"! Don

Thanks for the positive comments, although I think maybe I'm getting there slowly, I've still got a lot of work to do with consistency, lots of 'seat time' left before I weld anything roadster related.

Well not much more progress with the tig unfortunately, however a little progress with the 'Man Room' I've painted all my shelf brackets and got them and the shelves fitted, also made a start on the back cabinets and got the dodgy old plasma mounted (bargain £12.30 off ebay).

Got last coat of paint to do on shelves then stuck for a bit now as I've run out of spare timber and bank say's a def 'NO' lol

Bruce that man room has beaten mine on the OCD front:eek: :eek: :)

Bob

Pmsl, yeah must get mysen down the quacks, the current medication clearly isn't working lol.

Its still very much a work in progress and while titting around for ages with the lump on the stand I managed to trash the place.



So I consoled myself with an hour of tidying up and then made a start on populating the shelves, I've found the Persil pots are much better than the Fairy ones, the packaging labels come off dead easy with a gentle heat gun but the Fairy ones don't budge.



I was a little gutted to realised I'd taken a couple of chunks out the wall though, must get the polyfiller out and do some touching up.



And here's where I hide all my 'dirty' storage, the things that don't need to be in the shed, its just a side ally leading to the house.