Tig welders

Energy One
stlmikie

stlmikie

I wish I had more money.
So I landed this bitchin tig welder yesterday. Thing is, I have no fecking idea how to do it. So, would any of the tig welders here know of any sites or videos on the tig-how-to ?
 
pknowles

pknowles

RETIRED
I just picked up a Lincoln ranger 250 gxt welding machine/11,000 watt generator and riding the learnig curve with you. just googled tig welding and the hits are endless. Enjoy
 
liferider

liferider

Looking forward to retirement
Call your local welding supply house. NOT HOME DEPOT! You are going to have to rent a bottle of gas from them. They always love new customers and will gladly come deliver the bottle and spend an hr or 2 to get you started. I am a certified welder. If you can braze with OXY/ACD then you can tig. Basically the same princible as far as technic. push down on your foot control making your tig torch handle HOT. Then puddle up your metel till it is a liquid pool then start making small circles. use your brazing rod to add metel when needed. If your torch is blowing through instead of puddling up, turn your heat down on your machine. If it is popping turn up the juice. The brazing rod is just that, a rod to lay more metel into the puddle and work it. It is actually quite easy once you get the hand foot cordination down. That is the hardest hurdle to jump over. I can teach a guy in my machine shop to tig weld in about twice the time it takes me to teach them to mig weld. Oh ya, do this 1st. Get a 1/4'' sheet of steel 12'' long x 12'' wide. Practice starting from left to right. Creating a puddle and making a small circle then easing to the right while still making a circle. (DO NOT MESS WITH A BRAZING ROD FOR NOW) when you reach the right side of the plate, it should have taken you 5-6 minutes. Now go back to the left side drop down 1/4'' and do another. When the plate is full turn it over. NOW, do the 1st line the same as you did on the 1st side. Now for the second line start your puddle and start your circles bringing them 1/2 way up the first line so you are doing a 50% overlap. Once you have done this and the 2nd side is full, flip the plate back over and go in between your lines 1 and 2. NOW GET YOUR BRAZING RODS OUT, puddle up and slightly bring in the brazing rod. metel will melt off, now while making your circles start filling in the gap between the 1st and 2nd lines with the brazinf rod. when the plate is full PM me.
 
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Moespeeds

Moespeeds

Well-Known Member
Welding Tips and Tricks is the shit, by far my favorite. I taught myself to TIG reading a ton of books and I bought some DVDs as well, but Youtube and seat time will get you there for free. Make sure you buy or rent 2 gas bottles, even if it means you have to get smaller bottles to afford it. Otherwise, you'll find yourself taking half full bottles to the supply house on Fri because you have a big project for the weekend and know your single bottle won't last. 2 bottles allows you to run one completely dry and still have the second on standby. The Tig Finger Jodi sells on the site is well worth it especially for welding tubing. Get a nice auto darkening helmet with a 4x4 window and multiple sensors and a flex head torch and you will be good to go. arczone.com is a good place for supplies online.
 
KaptinAmerika

KaptinAmerika

Guru
X10:2thumbs:

Moespeeds said:
Welding Tips and Tricks is the shit, by far my favorite. I taught myself to TIG reading a ton of books and I bought some DVDs as well, but Youtube and seat time will get you there for free. Make sure you buy or rent 2 gas bottles, even if it means you have to get smaller bottles to afford it. Otherwise, you'll find yourself taking half full bottles to the supply house on Fri because you have a big project for the weekend and know your single bottle won't last. 2 bottles allows you to run one completely dry and still have the second on standby. The Tig Finger Jodi sells on the site is well worth it especially for welding tubing. Get a nice auto darkening helmet with a 4x4 window and multiple sensors and a flex head torch and you will be good to go. arczone.com is a good place for supplies online.
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stlmikie

stlmikie

I wish I had more money.
I got the Miller 180 Syncrowave sd and it came with a bottle. How full I'm not sure. First thing being I have to run that kinda voltage to the garage. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll get a 220 mig and a 110 mig at this action and sell the 110 to pay for the 220. Man, I have to admit God has been on my side as of late. Well actually since I got laid off. Thanks God.
 
Mr. Wright

Mr. Wright

Knows some things
Supporting Member
Hey Mike, load that thing up and come down and see me. I need something TIGed, and I can show you how to run it.
 
Abaco21

Abaco21

Active Member
liferider said:
Call your local welding supply house. NOT HOME DEPOT! You are going to have to rent a bottle of gas from them. They always love new customers and will gladly come deliver the bottle and spend an hr or 2 to get you started. I am a certified welder. If you can braze with OXY/ACD then you can tig. Basically the same princible as far as technic. push down on your foot control making your tig torch handle HOT. Then puddle up your metel till it is a liquid pool then start making small circles. use your brazing rod to add metel when needed. If your torch is blowing through instead of puddling up, turn your heat down on your machine. If it is popping turn up the juice. The brazing rod is just that, a rod to lay more metel into the puddle and work it. It is actually quite easy once you get the hand foot cordination down. That is the hardest hurdle to jump over. I can teach a guy in my machine shop to tig weld in about twice the time it takes me to teach them to mig weld. Oh ya, do this 1st. Get a 1/4'' sheet of steel 12'' long x 12'' wide. Practice starting from left to right. Creating a puddle and making a small circle then easing to the right while still making a circle. (DO NOT MESS WITH A BRAZING ROD FOR NOW) when you reach the right side of the plate, it should have taken you 5-6 minutes. Now go back to the left side drop down 1/4'' and do another. When the plate is full turn it over. NOW, do the 1st line the same as you did on the 1st side. Now for the second line start your puddle and start your circles bringing them 1/2 way up the first line so you are doing a 50% overlap. Once you have done this and the 2nd side is full, flip the plate back over and go in between your lines 1 and 2. NOW GET YOUR BRAZING RODS OUT, puddle up and slightly bring in the brazing rod. metel will melt off, now while making your circles start filling in the gap between the 1st and 2nd lines with the brazinf rod. when the plate is full PM me.
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And prepare for a billion dollar electric bill! LOL

Actually I don't know if that's true for a tig welder. But I picked up an old but very healthy Millermatic mig welder. -Ran a 60 amp line, then I bugged some local fab shops for all the scrap they could spare so I could practice. For the next two weeks I had so much fun practicing. Then I got the electric bill. Yike!

How does Tig compare for power consumption?

S.
 
liferider

liferider

Looking forward to retirement
A lot less, with a mig your burning wire with a tig your using heat to pool metel and flow it! So I would have to say 4-1 mig usage over tig. Tig welding is so inexpensive! also do not own bottles. rent them for about $13 per month. because when it comes time to havr them tested it will cost you 100x more!!! plus you build up a great relationship with your local supply house. when something gets out of wack there a phone call away. and guess what, your the guy renting the bottles and they usually send over the salesmen who know the machines inside and out. a cup of coffee and a pat on the back and your set. 90% of the time free of charge! You think a mig uses electricity, try a 400 amp arc welder set on 300 amp with compressed air arc gouging! Damn 3 phase 460 volt electrical meter looks like an old 45 record player flying around!
 
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spadesluck

spadesluck

Active Member
I am just jealous you guys have welders. That’s something I have wanted for a long time. Have not had the opportunity to get one yet.
 
Bobby Schulz

Bobby Schulz

Active Member
All good advise from the guys above. I also rent bottles for my needs...bigger is better!
I like 75/25 for most mig welding and 100% argon for tig.
 
pknowles

pknowles

RETIRED
liferider said:
A lot less, with a mig your burning wire with a tig your using heat to pool metel and flow it! So I would have to say 4-1 mig usage over tig. Tig welding is so inexpensive! also do not own bottles. rent them for about $13 per month. because when it comes time to havr them tested it will cost you 100x more!!! plus you build up a great relationship with your local supply house. when something gets out of wack there a phone call away. and guess what, your the guy renting the bottles and they usually send over the salesmen who know the machines inside and out. a cup of coffee and a pat on the back and your set. 90% of the time free of charge! You think a mig uses electricity, try a 400 amp arc welder set on 300 amp with compressed air arc gouging! Damn 3 phase 460 volt electrical meter looks like an old 45 record player flying around!
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That's why i bought gas. Pay as you go
 
Moespeeds

Moespeeds

Well-Known Member
I'd buy bottles, especially if it's just for your hobby. You may not use it regularly enough to justify the rental cost. My local shop swaps my bottles out (I own two 80's), so I never need them tested. Again, I suggest you keep an eye out for a smaller backup bottle, so you can use that big one until it's empty, then have the small one in reserve until you can get the big one filled again. I pay around $25 to have my 80 filled.
 
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