Playing with Tig

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by Talonmotorsport

Just waiting for the rest of the new toy to arrive such as argon regulator,gas pipe,new mask,better gloves, mild steel rods,stainless rods etc...this TIG lark aint cheap is it!

You can say that again

Especially when you get sweet talked into buying a new welding screen when you only went in for a tube of filler rods

That's the trouble with an account. so, so tempting to go beserk whilst at BOC. !!??

I'm sure that you will get the hang of it quickly.

One of the best bits of advice i can remember being given. " Don't let the weld pool rush you " ... " Be the boss of the weld pool & make it work at your pace "

If things start getting a little hot. Stop & move a few inches further along, then do a bit more.

On the tank, I held the joints in place with a small strip of light gauge alloy angle & clamps. ( Remove once tacked )

I then placed a few small tack welds evenly spaced ( about 150mm apart ). The use of filler rod will make tacking easier. Just enough to catch the two edges ( Not looking for full penetration at this stage )

Once the tank was all tacked up I started to fully weld the seams. Starting at the right hand end of the joint.
Slowly fused the edges together for a distance of 50-75mm, Flip the tank round & do the other end. Finally a couple of small sections in the middle of the seam. ( Will help to prevent heat build up & distortion )

If the tacks are large, fettle back with a file or flap disk that is saved only for alloy use.
Once the tacks are reduced the weld pool will soon melt them away.


May I ask, What did you think of the Plasma cutter as I am temped to buy one of those as well.

[londonsean69]

It's interesting to see how you are getting on with this machine.

I have seriously considered buying myself one, but was worried about the Chinese quality. Having said that, I bought a Chinese Plasma Cutter and it has been fine.

Obviously, I am not expecting these things to have the longevity of a Miller/Boc/Murex etc. but for the price they can't be too bad.

The only thing is, the only job I need a TIG for is making the ally fuel tank. Seems crazy banging £400+ on a tool for one job.

[Talonmotorsport]

May I ask, What did you think of the Plasma cutter as I am temped to buy one of those as well.[/quote]

The plasma is cheap and cheerful at best, you get what you pay for! It works well and cuts very clean up to 3-4mm but it's fussy about air pressure and speed. On thicker material it eats consumables like to would'nt believe, I now know why there sold in bumper packs. As for cutting up to 10mm I think thats abit out of it's reach. You can cut shapes that you could'nt do with a 4.5-5inch grinder but if your cutting straight lines in any thing over 5mm I'd still reach for the 9inch grinder as it's just easier.

Edit How ever after just two uses the sodding thing has packed up, switch it on it goes into 'safe mode' will not fire up at all.

[ozzy1]

This sounds similar to what Bonzo has ,listed on ebay.uk.. even cheaper!!


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TIG-WELDER-MMA...item2c51e0a9d2

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by ozzy1

This sounds similar to what Bonzo has ,listed on ebay.uk.. even cheaper!!


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TIG-WELDER-MMA...item2c51e0a9d2

Thats the same seller but a diferent item, that one is a DC only inverer

This is his current offering

WSE 200 AC/DC

I bought when he had a weekend special....Free delivery & foot controller.

To be honest, it was the free foot controller that sold it too me

Does that make me a sad un or what !!??


I did think that that might be the case with the plasma cutter. 10mm a bit optomistc & touch start will eat the consumables !!

Hark at me talking about something that i have never used ( Plasma cutter )

All courtesy of BOC !!??

Maybe i'll stick to Bertie the burner & my trusty jigsaw

[londonsean69]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

I did think that that might be the case with the plasma cutter. 10mm a bit optomistc & touch start will eat the consumables !!

I got an EBay 50A plasma, the ad reckons they were cutting 14mm with it (yeah right I was thinking).

When it turned up, I had the thing going in about 10 mintues.

HF start which is cool
Drag tip as well, which makes it easier

As for 14mm, you 'might' get a severance cut on 10mm, but would take some cleaning up after.
6mm is a bit jagged, might just need more practice
3mm no problems
1mm - how fast can you mvoe the torch