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Welding Forum
QUESTION Hi Jody.....I have a customer that wants his race car headers "helibrazed" on the outside of the flange the way Hooker Headers does it to their upper end race car headers. I already asked my 2 local welding shops with no answer available. Can you please help me find out if this product is available in Canada, and why is it so much better than straight tig welding with steel rod. I know you'll know the answer...you have never let me down with getting the right information. Please help me!! Thanks for being there.....
ANSWER&#;
Helibrazed? That could mean any rod that melts lower than the base metal. Usually silicon bronze or aluminum bronze is used for the stuff you&#;re talking about. Silicon bronze is also called sil-bro . Everdur is an old brand name for a version of silicon bronze. It&#;s all basically the same, copper plus silicon or aluminum to lower the melting point and help it wet. The technique is to use the tig torch to just almost melt the base metal but not quite. The arc is directed on the filler rod and it wets out and makes the weld like flowing butter.Some header companies might also be using nickel rod. It melts a bit lower than steel too. ..And flows like butter. Nickel rods are more expensive than silicon bronze.Truthfully, some base metal melts too but keeping it to a minimum is key. A fillet weld on a header flange or the inside path of a flange might benefit from helibrazing from the standpoint of less warpage, a lot less &#;and not melting all the way thru a header wall will probably make it last longer.
silicon bronze is handy for all kinds of stuff.
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Tig welding - Gas Tungsten Arc Welding Q&A
QUESTION
Is it possible to have life after 50 and learn how to tig and mig? I&#;m interested in welding pipe in the 6G position and learning about tig welding because I think that it will benefit me and my family. I have never had an appropriate training program, I believe I will make somebody an excellent hand. I do have a lot of experience running .045 mig with tri mix and passed a structural test all position with 1/8 and just recently passed a 3/4 plate vertical 3/4 plate 1/16 flux core(which I had never run) then back gouging then filling it and only passing a bend test. I have been out a job for 5 months. My point is I feel I have the ability to do anything! I&#;m looking for some advise on some free schooling or web sites that I can get any education I can on how to become the best welder I can and as quickly as I can. Thank you for your ear and time. Sincerely --------------------------
ANSWER&#;
50 is the new 30. I am getting up there in age myself and some days I feel 20 and like I can do anything. Other days I feel more like 60. If you can afford it, Hobart has a 2 week course in tig welding for around 800 bucks. You can see the course page here&#; http://www.welding.org/p-171-gas-tungsten-arc-welding.aspx It covers mild steel, stainless, and aluminum. From what you have described, this would round you out as a welder fairly well. Then you would just need a little practice tig welding pipe. Some technical colleges will allow you to enroll in a certificate program and bypass all the crap you have to take with a degree program. Check into your local technical colleges as well as Hobart.
QUESTION Jody, I followed your advice and got a bottle of 50% Argon/ 50% Helium to weld aluminum and the results are fantastic! Thanks! Just a couple questions about this, can I add another flowmeter and just buy the helium cylinder and turn it on (along with the argon) for aluminum and off when I weld steel? Do I have to worry about reversion into the tank with the least pressure or is there a 'check valve' type deal that I can purchase to prevent this? I imagine that I would have each flowmeter at 7.5, for a total of 15 for aluminum and then just turn up the argon and off the helium for everything else. Is my thinking on this flawed? It took over a month to get a mixed bottle and I'm just trying to come up with a better way to accomplish the same results. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
ANSWER&#;
You are right about mixing your own argon and helium. I guess not every welding supply is as accommodating as mine. If it is hard to get premixed stuff, you can certainly just buy some fittings. You can use a gas Y with valves to mix your own gas. It is not exactly precise, but you will know when the mix is good enough. Yes you are best to use check valves. They are pretty cheap. I have known of some problems with backing up, when check valves are not used.
QUESTION
Inconel weld with a centerline crack? Yesterday we heat fit a cast nickel fan blade for a blast furnace on a stainless steel shaft. While it was still around 250 degrees I lay down an inconel bead with what I think was a 4.5 mm rod with a Miller Syncrowave DX set to 107 Amps. Immediately after it was wrapped in insulation and allowed to cool slowly. When we chipped the slag we noticed a centerline crack. Today we ground out the weld, preheated both the shaft and the fan blade to around 250 and I lay down the same bead, allowed it to cool slowly wrapped in insulation and.......yup......it cracked. So now burned once shame on you, burned twice time to turn to Jody Collier. I reviewed what you had previously written about inconel and it sounds like I probably had too much heat input. Is this correct? Should I have pre-heat the part at all?
ANSWER&#;
Since there are bunches of different kinds of inconel, it&#;s hard to know. But typically , no preheat is needed. Several inconels like 718, x750, and 713c are hardenable by age hardening heat cycles. Since this is a furnace, I suspect what you had was inconel 600. Not sure , just a hunch. Often times on a tight fit like this, there is no give&#; and when you start your bead a tiny crack forms that continues thru the centerline of the bead. To avoid it, add a bunch more filler than you think you should at the beginning of the bead and add a little more than normal for the whole bead so you have a slightly convex bead. This usually helps a bunch in avoiding those centerline cracks.
QUESTION
Hey, I wanted to commend you on your website. I think it is great and I am recommending it to my college welding students. I am always looking for new materials to present to my TIG as well as multi-process class. You have it the nail on the head from certifications to much of the other stuff that goes on in the industry. Thanks and keep up the great work. Thanks Again,
ANSWER&#;
Hey , I really appreciate the props. If I can help you in any way , let me know.
QUESTION Hello Again, I had to mention, that all of my students have to weld two soda cans and razor blades together to pass my advanced TIG class. They have fun at it, and it kicks their butt quite a bit. Later,
ANSWER&#;
Soda cans and razor blades. What a test for an advanced tig class? Soda cans are free, and razor blades are cheap enough too. We need to come up with some more free training materials that are hard to weld. Any ideas? How about scrap brake rotors for padding beads and build up?
QUESTION
Hello, I&#;m trying to do an open root tig weld on 1/8 aluminum plate and it's just not working.How do you do this weld? I tig welded 1/8 plates together with full penetration but they were butted up tight and with not bevels on the plates. I got this weld tested and the only thing that did not pass was the tension test. I can't figure out why it didn&#;t pass. I welded -T6 to using 1/8 wire. could it be that I put too much heat into the material when I was welding it together? what's your take on the subject?
ANSWER&#;
Tensile tests on aluminum almost always fail because of too much heat input. Here is the dilemma&#; too little heat input , and porosity can bite you . too much, and the tensile values go down. That&#;s always the struggle when qualifying aluminum welds. Pay close attention to interpass temperature. Let it cool to around 200 f before you add filler passes. If you are not having porosity issues, speed up your travel speed and the tensile values should go up.
QUESTION
is 2% cerium any better than 2% thoriated. why do they recommend the 2% cerium for miller dynasty 350 inverter?
ANSWER&#;
Thoriated tungsten breaks down if you weld at the higher frequencies like 200hz. If you keep it below about 150 hz, thoriated is probably as good or better than anything you will find. But I have never really seen an aluminum tig welding application that needed more than 150 hz
QUESTION
Hi, I am going to be welding a small tank made from 1 mm stainless steel. My question :- What methods are available to purge the inside seam without wasting gas filling the tank? Thank you in advance
ANSWER&#;
Waste the gas. If you use plenty of tape to seal all openings before you turn on the gas, it will not take much to purge it. The weld will go much better if its purge well.
QUESTION
If I use a 50/50 blend of Helium and Argon on a Miller 180 SD, will I need a torch cooler to Tig weld 1/4" aluminum. And will it Tig weld 1/4" aluminum if I use the Helium Argon blend.
ANSWER&#;
http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o360j_mil.pdf in case you need it, I have included the link to your owners manual.. which lists the duty cycle at 40 % for 150 amps. And the range on the machine from 10-180. I think you might be able to weld ¼ inch aluminum with added helium, but not without. Its not going to help your torch getting hot. If you will only weld for a minute or two, you might get do ok. But my experience has led me to get a cooler for stuff that thick. I would try it first. It wont kill the torch unless you just don&#;t stop. You will know pretty quick when it gets too hot to hold that you need a cooler. I hope I am wrong.
QUESTION
Great website! I've been in the business for close to 30 years and I see alot of great info here that is new to me (ans some that I've long forgotten!). My question: Recently I was tigging on an aluminum trailer, repairing some cracked welds. Most of them I ground out to base metal and then rewelded. I came across one particular weld that just would not allow the filler to flow; just balled up. I ground further and tried it again, same story. I ground and brushed several times and still same results. I finally just tied in out past the edges of the groove and sort of 'bridged' the gap. Butt ugly, but at least it was connected. Have you ever come across this? I've seen this before but never really figured out what the problem was. There was no visual difference between the original weld and the others I repaired. Other info: Stainless brush, filler, straight argon, tried autobalance and max clean.
ANSWER&#;
Either corrosion under the weld, or some other crap contaminating the weld like oil that has soaked in to the metal. I have heard this a lot from guys repair welding pontoons. Corrosion is usually the problem on pontoons.
QUESTION Hello. I just recently became interested in welding and have quickly gotten addicted. However - I'm starting to believe after reading thru. this site and seeing some of the articles and videos, that I may have bought the wrong welder. My uses thus far are for automotive work, and some projects here and there, but the biggest thing I'll be using welding for now is automotive work. I went out and got the Lincoln Electric SP135T. What's your opinion of that welder? - I can take the hard truth. Thanks!
ANSWER&#;
No hard truth necessary. I just spent the last 20 minutes reading reviews on welding forums. Some welders are pretty adamant that yours is the best 115 v mig out there. Here is the pdf owners manual in case you don&#;t have it. http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/navigator/im/IM785.pdf
QUESTION
Hey Jody, I was wondering why is there preflow on tig welders? I understand postflow by surrounding the hot metal with argon, but preflow? if the base metal is cold, why put argon to it? Thanks, Vince
ANSWER&#;
For some metals, titanium being the main one. A very large tig cup is used to shield a very large area so that the titanium is shielded until it cools below a critical temp. when titanium is tig welded with a big cup, the tungsten is extended . preflow allows the metal to be shielded when the arc initiates without risk of contaminating the metal . when your electrode is out there about an inch, it takes the argon like half a second to shield the arc. Its always good practice to preflow , but not always necessary.
QUESTION
Hi, Im interested in welding aluminum and have been offered a tig welder.It is an italian machine made by cea :model matrix ac/dc 250.(Any comments on this model or brand?)I have been checking it out and noticed that the squarewave frequency is 150 hz max..I have seen a lot of other machines that go up to 250 hz .Should I be concerned or is 150 hz enough for most applications? Thank you.
ANSWER&#;
You will most likely never need to go above 150 hz. In fact 120 hz is a good all around setting. Other machine manufacturers advertise higher frequencies but they are hard pressed to prove the benefits. My only concern would be support. I have heard the Lincoln invertec v205t is made in Italy. Maybe even by the same folks. It&#;s a good machine. But I cannot vouch for support on it. If the deal you get is good enough , I would not be afraid to try it out.
QUESTION
BTW, Great Site! I'd like to hear your opinion on welding with a HF DC TIG welder within 10-20 feet of a natural gas line. Is the natural ground at the meter good enough or do I need to supplement this by cleaning a spot further down the pipe and adding an earth ground? The only other feedback I have is that you should zoom your camera in all the way to your work, focus it, then turn off the auto focus. This will keep your vids nice and sharp! :-)
ANSWER&#;
Thanks for the video cam tip. HF near a gas line gives me the willies. You should Consult your safety guy. I am no expert on this topic.
QUESTION
Just a small correction. On your chromoly page you state that .30 percent is three one hundredths of a percent when in fact I know you mean three tenths of a percent. Small error but easily fixed. Anyways, I happened on your website when looking for a dynasty 200 DX. Ive never welded a day in my life but Ive been a world class motorcycle mechanic working for factory teams for years. I&#;ve since retired from that career and now build bikes as a side project and Ive found that much like painters, welders seem to be flakes. Seeing as this very reason is what made me go out and learn to paint, I have taken it upon myself to go learn to weld. The community college sucks, they want you to take everything before the tig class to take the tig class. I kind of think that if I can figure out TIG, the rest of is should become pretty easy. I have to say that I have found your site to be absolutely amusing with its colorful language and sense of real world explanations. Its like working with one of the guys. Can you recommend what all I need to effectively use the dynasty 200 DX? Im mostly really interested in its "portability" and that it can be plugged into anything from 110 to 440 and run...I do a lot of race track work and the tracks are generous when they give you 110 to jump. Id love to be able to bring my set up to the track and use it. Anyways, Im having a blast reading your page and hope to hear your recommendation.
ANSWER&#;
Thanks for the heads up on my fubar. You are right. I corrected it . The Dynasty 200dx is great. To be honest, so is the Lincoln invertec v205t. both comparable in features and price. If you are going to be doing a lot of aluminum on 110v, the Lincoln is hard to beat. Both are portable and can run off multiple voltages as well as generator power. But alas, I still like miller . If most of your welding is steel, the miller is better. Both manufactures should be hamstrung for not including a dvd with the machine that explains controls. I teach welding so I don&#;t have an issue, but most people don&#;t care to dive in the manual and learn what makes the thing tick. There is an old saying &#; nobody who ever bought a drill wanted a drill, what they wanted was a hole&#;&#;same goes for welding machines. Learning all the controls is a necessary evil for some people. Not a joy. Lincoln and miller didn&#;t get that one.
QUESTION
Please could you tell me what brand or who makes 2% lanthanated blue? Thank you for your help.
ANSWER&#;
I get mine from airgas. Brands are different and are always changing. You should be able to order it from www.airgas.com
QUESTION
just wanted to say since i have found this site, i frequent it every day. i am a welder for weber-stephen. the weber grill company. i dont weld the grills (since that is all automated) but i do plant repairs, press repairs and so on. this site has definitely changed the technique that i have with all types of welding. i do have one question for you though... i can't afford a arc/tig welder from lincoln or miller, but i found this one called "GiantTech CT520D" was wondering if you ever heard of it. thanks!!
ANSWER&#;
I have done a bit of pecking around on the forums and what I see is the same old Chinese welder debate. For every comment from someone who is tickled with their new welder, there is at least one person who received a machine that was defective in some way. I am not bashing Chinese machines. I just don&#;t have the time to deal with a non working machine and having to rely on support and FedEx to get me out of a jam. I have been tempted to try one of these things&#;but again, I would just rather wait for them to work out the bugs. If that ever happens. Here is a link to some forum posts&#; http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?p=
QUESTION
What is your take on engine driven type welders from miller, like the bobcats ? Do they do a good job at tig welding compared to the dynasty ? Thanks for your time
ANSWER&#;
Are you interested in learning more about aluminium tig welder exporters? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
Engine type welders like the bobcat sometimes offer only scratch start tig. A trailblazer can be outfitted to do tig with high frequency and do it well. The dynasty is completely different. Not only do you not have to touch the electrode, but you have all kinds of arc shaping settings like pulse for DC steel, and high frequency arc shaping on ac for aluminum. Some of these settings are not necessary but nice to have anyway. For some jobs, a scratch start tig is all that is needed. Its all up to the welder to make the good weld.
QUESTION
Just came across your site and have a ball going through it. If my welding teacher all those years ago was half as good......... I was taught to weld as part of my apprenticship, stick and gas only, and since have basically taught my self mig and tig. My welding needs now are mostly as a hobby.....but occasionally I've had to do some commercial jobs.ss tube fabrication on boat rails and such. I enjoy fabricating and try to do the best I can with fit etc. My biggest problem is that i have a real hard time staying steady with my hands and laying down decent looking welds especially with tig. Any tips on how to develop a steady hand? keep up the great site, cheers, ANSWER&#;
Keeping a steady hand means propping your hand against the metal or something else. Use your head and figure out a way to rest your hand. Hold your torch free as if it were a gas torch, will not give you good results. If you are trying to use the tig torch like you would a gas welding torch,,, Forget about gas welding. Tig welding requires a tight arc. Or else you lose the benefits of pinpointed clean heat. Hold the torch like it is a big 3rd grade crayon and you are trying to stay within the lines. Propping with your palm will steady your hand just like it does when you color with a crayon.
QUESTION
Until the past couple of days I've never TIG brazed and I'm confused. Half of the info I read makes it sound like you don't melt the base metal (steel), the other half you do. I can't get Aluminum bronze A2 filler to flow if I don't melt the base metal like I'm welding. And, I get a kick butt joint that way. If I don't melt the base metal I get no flow to happen no matter how clean the base metal. What's the right method? Thank you for your time.
ANSWER&#;
When I weld with aluminum bronze, I usually use AC current and just flow the metal forward with minimal heat. I do melt the base metal some too. But ac current helps me to minimize that. When I use ac I set my ac balance to max penetration on a syncrowave 250 or if using an inverter, I set the balance to about 90 percent. I use 2 percent thoriated with a point. Whats the harm in melting a little base metal? The idea is not to change the properties of the base metal but it is kind of unavoidable to melt some of it.
QUESTION
How do you weld, or braze, Nibral bronze? This material is used in some inboard boat propellers and in a unit called the "Wedge" made by Malibu boats. The wedge is a reverse hydrofoil that pulls the stern of a boat DOWN into the water more to create a larger wake. These are very expensive and most end up catching a stump under water and are bent or broken. If someone has the skill to weld these they could have a gold mine repairing them for people. Right now we don't know of anyone who provides this service.
ANSWER&#;
Rundquist.com offers all kinds of equipment and training on welding props.
http://rundquist.com/how_welding_props.htm
this is the most informative site I have ever seen on welding propellers and such. They list the filler metal as A. UTP/A34N - 3/32" x 36, 1/8"" x 36" B. Ampcotrode #10 - 3/32" x 36, 1/8" x 36 UTP/A34N also welds very well on large diameter manganese bronze props. Tig welding would go better with a 50/50 argon helium mix. You could also go much higher on the helium. AC or DC will work. Depends on the desired outcome. For build up, ac current wets out and leaves a shiny clean weld deposit. For penetration of grooved out cracks, dc may work better. Helium will make more difference than anything else.
QUESTION Hi, Great website keep up the good work. just a question. do you know of somewhere i can get a chart that shows the different frequency and pulse combinations for different jobs(eg electrode size and metal size). thanks
ANSWER&#;
If you find one please let me know. The only recommendations I have seen are in applications articles on the miller site. Miller does have a weld calculator page that helps but it is useless for pulse settings or hz settings for their dynasty series inverters.
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/calculators/tig_amperage_calculator.php
Seems kind of crazy to make a machine with all those capabilities and then leave it up to the users to figure out what works.
QUESTION
Hi ! I would like to ask your opinions on oxyacetylene welding particularly on something like a chopper frame (cold rolled steel D.O.M. 1.25" O.D.x.120 wall to be exact). would the welds be as strong as tig welds ( the same type of joint with the same filler rod, say 70s ) ? What about the heat affected zone ? would there be drawbacks to the larger heat affected zone caused by oxy-acetylene welding or should i be annealing my frames after i tig weld them anyways( i haven&#;t been)? my personal rule of thumb on failure is i would prefer any part that i built to bend before it breaks. i really enjoy gas welding i know alot of people dont mess with it any more, thats just one more reason for me to do it. thanks alot
ANSWER&#;
That seems kind of thick to want to gas weld. I would tig weld it all day long as opposed to gas welding it. You are on to a good point thought about wanting things to bend before they break. But for cold rolled D.O.M. tubing, brittle welds should not be a problem. If fact , the weld should be softer whether tigged or gas welded. No stress relief required. Mig welding should be ok as well. If you are dead set on doing it, here is a good resource for you &#; http://tinmantech.com/
QUESTION
I am retiring from DuPont after 48 years. I am a millwright (our millwrights don't weld. WE have welders) As part of my retirement package. I have money to spend on education. I just want to learn to weld either Tig or mig. To work on my hotrod ,and other hobbies .But I only want to learn one or the other as I am only going to buy one welder. And at 67 I don't think I am going to enter the construction field. Any advice or Ideas how I should go about this. By the way I really like your web page.
ANSWER&#;
If you think you will only weld steel. Get a mig. If you would like to fart around with aluminum, stainless, chromoly, etc., go with a tig welder. I hear good things about the miller 211 with autoset and multivoltage. Also the miller Diversion 165 is a good beginners tig unit.
QUESTION
I'm fairly new at welding aluminum, and need some advice on a handrail project I'm working on. I'm trying to weld 1/2" aluminum square bar to 1 1/4" aluminum pipe, and I'm having quite a bit of trouble getting a nice looking weld, especially with such short beads. I would appreciate any suggestions on settings, techniques, etc. that would improve appearance (and quality). Thanks.
ANSWER&#;
You need some helium mixed in to your argon. You can either buy premixed 50/50 or get a Y with valves , a tank of helium, another regulator/flowmeter. If that seems like too much trouble a little preheat with a torch will help.
QUESTION
my tig welder will not go from the scratch start to full-weld position ...what is the problem?
ANSWER&#;
Not enough info to give a good answer&#;.what kind of tig welder is it?
QUESTION
my names larry from michigan first off i love the site im 17 years old ive been mig tig arc welding for 3 years now in school and whatnot anyways i was wondering what type of tig welder u would suggest me buying for my first tig welder it has to be ac/dc high freq start foot pedal 5-185 amps or more, i like lincoln and miller no prefrence on brand as long as it is a good brand and im not looking to spend over please help i appreciate it thanks
ANSWER&#;
Sounds like a miller syncrowave 200 is in your future. if you can find a used miller syncrowave 250 on craigslist, that is what i would do.
QUESTION
I am in search of a round bar tungsten 7 "length carbide, but I need tell me if has distributors in mexico. the bar the important thing for me the length. varies as may be 1/16 x 7 "length." Thank you I hope response.
ANSWER&#; Are you talking about tungsten electrodes? if so you can buy them online from Northern Tool, CyberWeld, or others.
QUESTION Jody, I just bought my first few pieces of mild steel to practice TIG welding. What is the best way to clean this stuff with prior to welding? My hands are black just from carrying it from the car to the shop! Is Acetone the best? Thanks in advance,
ANSWER&#;
If it is cold rolled, acetone is fine. If it is hot rolled, you will want to sand off the mill scale or you might think that you just suck at welding. Tig welding over mill scale is no fun. Use a 4 inch electric grinder or something like that to clean to shiny bright metal.
QUESTION
Ok, your love affair with tig has given me pause. So now it is up to you to clarify my confusion. I attended the Lincoln Electric mig welding school because I want to build aluminum boats. After talking with some engineers there, I settled on a pulse mig, inverter machine. I am well aware of the benefits of tig welding for aluminum, but the speed of bead laydown was the issue. So can a tig machine be used to build 30' aluminum boat? I was all set to get a Miller 304 cc/cv multi purpose on Ebay when I cam across your site. Those machines don't have both AC and DC tig. So give me some wisdom
ANSWER&#;
For speed and production, the mig is probably your best bet. You may need a tig machine down the road for intricate handrails and smaller hardware. I welded a crapload of concrete cutting saws with tig and I was wishing I had a pulse mig for that.
QUESTION
Site is great! Loads of info and what a person can't find on here, you are willing to answer promptly. I love it! Quick question. Working on an aluminum project that eventually will be anodized. Is there a specific base metal and/or filler rod to use when welding pieces together that takes to anodizing better? I've heard you need a specific filler rod when welding aluminum that will be anodized, but can't remember what it was. Thanks again for the site!
ANSWER&#;
Here is a very good chart for aluminum filler metals that also has anodizing issues explained&#; http://alcotec.com/us/en/support/upload/Aluminum_Filler_Alloy_Selection_Chart-2.pdf
QUESTION
I frequently repair stainless steel sinks and counters in restaurants. I am a self taught tig welder. I had to learn on the job on my own. I am looking for tips on seaming in counter tops that are typ 16ga 304ss. I recently had to weld a flat counter top and it warped badly. I had to admit defeat and my company had to call in a finishing company. What can i do to keep the pieces from warping?
ANSWER&#;
If you can find some pieces of ¼ inch thick aluminum to use for chill bars, that will come in handy. I have used bars like this along with some real long c tong type vise grip clamps to draw heat out of stainless and at the same time not contaminate it with iron an cause rust problems later. I recommend a few pieces about 4 inches by 8 inches . It helps if it has a bevel on it too for easier weld access when you have to weld right next to the edge of the aluminum bar.
QUESTION
Can you TIG weld Aluminum with a DC inverted welder. I have a Thermal arc GMS its a DC power supply with TIG, ARC, MIG setting. The TIG setting is lift start. Also there is a inductive control and hot start controls there a switch for amp control remote or panel.
ANSWER&#;
Not really. At least not effectively. If you have some uhp (ultra high purity ) helium, you can stick aluminum together, but unless it is perfectly clean, you wont be happy with the results. It is good for fixing a ding or something but not for general repair or fab.
QUESTION Hello I would like to upload some quality video on tig welding. How are these people getting such clear views of the weld pool, are they placing a autodarkening lens in front of the camera or are they using a special lens for their cameras.
ANSWER&#;
I really wish I could talk to someone who knows how to film an arc. I only have limited success. I made a short video on tig welding aluminum where it came out ok and I used an autodark lens in front of the camera. If someone out there knows how to film a puddle and arc clearly, please contact me. I will pay you for your help.
QUESTION
Hi I am having problems welding 355 alum aerospace castings lately. Sometimes not all the time when I get a puddle there is what looks to be bubbles coming out of the base metal sometimes I can work the puddle around and the will disapear and the weld x-rays good other times it looks like all of the bubbles are gone but when it gets x-rayed they are still in there. This happens more with 355 than 356 or 357 alum. We sand cast our own parts. What are these bubbles and where do they come from and how do we get rid of them? I am using a Miller Dynasty300dx tig welder 1/8 lanthanated tungsten electrodes, max peak is set at 180, balance 65, frequency at 60, ultra pure argon is used at 20. Thanks
ANSWER&#;
50/50 argon/helium will help some. Also setting you balance to 60 or maybe even 50 should help. Preheat is also helpful. Porosity is gas bubbles. Where they come from is another story. Could be inclusions, grit, oil, hydrogen, etc. slowing the cooling rate, increasing the cleaning action, and increasing the heat of the arc with helium , are all helpful in getting rid of porosity.
QUESTION
Hullo! I just read your article and saw the video of the Northern Industrial Solar-Powered Auto-Darkening Welding Helmet, and am wondering if you've used it for low-voltage tig yet, and how it responds? I have a cheapo $50 Harbor Freight auto-darken helmet, and it's great for the hobbying I do, but the damn thing doesn't trigger with low voltage tig -- drives me nuts cause I have to use a non-auto helmet for these applications. I forget what voltages I was working with, but seems to me it was down around 20 to 30v. Anyway, thanks for any input! If you think it'd be better than my HF auto darken, I'll buy one tonight, and pocket the $300 I was going to spend on a Miller!
ANSWER&#;
I have used it with low amperage tig. Using a syncrowave 250 no problems, Using a dynasty inverter at low amperage , I got flashed once or twice. If you are going to be using low amperage tig or an inverter , I would go with the better helmet and spend the money.
QUESTION
I notice you have a love affair with tig weldng. I was going to get a pulse mig to build aluminum boats, but you have given me pause. So can tig work for thicker aluminum and weld in tight quarters?
ANSWER&#;
Tig can work for thicker aluminum, but for speed, if you are going to be building boats, a good pulse mig like a miller 350 mp or comparable machine might be better.
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