Beginners Guide to TIG Welding

[CutlassRacer]

I love my Lincoln Precision TIG 225.

I havent tried welding aluminum cans together yet, but it has worked very well for me on some pretty thin metals.

 

[Hiway]

Very well done Supe! Thanks for the effort.

 

[Supe]

Very well done Supe! Thanks for the effort.

No problem.

 

[malibuguy]

this is a great warm-up for me, as my Advanced Welding class starts in 2 weeks, at least i'll have a little preparation going in

at least i now know who to ask when i eventully be in the market to buy a TIG

i got a crappy Century MIG right now...works good for now, this is the welder i self-taught myself on

 

[1QwikBu]

ok this is my first tig welder and my first atempt at tg welding ... what do you guys think ... oh i was going to get the miller syncrowave 200 but when i got there they had the lincoln 225 on sale ..... everyone tells me the lincoln is a better machine so here it is

this is the underside of the weld the top 2 were my first go the bottom 2 are the 3rd and 4rth took me a bit to figure out how much heat to put n it

aluminum is so fricken easy its not funny

 

[CutlassRacer]

Cool, thats the same one that I have. I bought it around the middle of last year. It's an awesome machine!!

What torch did you get?

 

[1QwikBu]

magnum pro torch 25' cord i also picked up a small back cap for cage work

 

[CutlassRacer]

Cool, I got the Super Lite #9 torch and cable from TIGDEPOT.com

Its only good to about 150 amps, though I have used it a little higher than that. The short back cap is awesome for doing tight work, kinda sucks when the tungsten gets contaminated though, lol.

 

[Supe]

TIG welding on metal that hasn't been cleaned to bright metal (i.e SPOTLESSLY clean) is a huge waste of time. You'll never have a sound weld, and you'll contaminate the tungsten unbelievably. The steel weld needs to be cleaned, but you either have too much heat in it, or you're moving too slowly on your travel speed. Typically, when you can make out the HAZ or see a little bit of the scale flaking off on the underside of a mild steel weld, you've got the right heat/travel speed. Any burn through at all is too much.

Good start with the aluminum. Over time, people will gradually go from what I call panic mode, which is "oh God, the arc is on, throw filler in there now!", to having complete control over the puddle, the way the filler wets out, bead spacing, timing, etc. It takes a LOT of practice, but it's as though time slows down when you get good at it.

 

[Supe]

BTW, the PT's are very nice units. When you step it up to the next level of PT's and Synchrowaves amperage wise, I've got to give it to the brand new Millers. They've got a few more features than the Lincolns, and the output is just incredible, especially with stick welding. They're also a hair more accurate. Every Lincoln in our shop is 2-3 amps hot, every ESAB unit 8 amps hot, and every Miller is dead nuts on (these were all tested with a load tester).