Lots of folks here started out with a tig welder and do just fine. Yes, it's possible. I don't really find any method considerably easier than the next. TIG's biggest difficulty in my opinion, is all the parts and pieces to know and deal with. I don't really find the process difficult, and I've had ...

A chuck with a large through hole is going to be expensive and typically really big and heavy to deal with. I would probably opt for something with rollers instead, and that way it'll handle much larger parts. No diameter restrictions on those. You'd need to do all the tacking in advance, but that's...

I've heard of the Acorn tables but never actually seen one. It's such a shame all the foundries that used to make stuff like that are all gone in this country. I did computer work for one years ago, what a cool place. It seems anything in a shipyard is awe inspiring. Any time something is scaled to ...

You'll be happy with it, and you'll be glad you got an AC inverter machine.

I don't shop machines, so I have no idea what's available at what price with xyz feature set. As to learning, I'll say it's 1000% faster if you have someone who can simply show you how it's done, and can watch what you're doing and make changes to that on the fly. That doesnt' mean it's impossible t...

Pics. He says the name is "Weld Sale".

Brother in law stopped here this weekend for me to do a weld repair on his Kubota mower deck. While working on it, he mentioned about the welding table at his new job. Said it's WAY bigger and heavier than mine, which seemed a bit odd. I can easily see someone having a bigger table, but mine is 2.5&...

PS: As a side note, I also use various sized 6" lengths of aluminum bar as parallels for general use. It's a ton easier on end mills or drills if you should catch on em, and a it keeps all my sets of hardened ground parallels parallel. :D Most stuff I do doesn't require the precision of a harde...

I'm sure at some point I've done the same, but I don't sweat it. If I did, the vises on the mills here have had so many people do it before me that I'd be hard pressed to tell if there was a new divot. :mrgreen: I'd avoid welding on it unless you don't like straight square parts. You'd need a surfac...

I have a nice tig welder, so I rarely use my migs. Either of them. If I were to guess at the ratio of usage, I'd say I do 98% : 2%, and the 2 is only because I did a job with it a few weeks ago, or that would have been 99.5/.5.

In my opinion, AC is a must. I don't think I'd waste my time with a TIG welder that didn't weld aluminum. I certainly don't want to weld aluminum with anything else. Other people are happy to use a spool gun on a MIG, I am thankful I don't have to do that, and I have two welders with them. As an own...

Practice makes perfect... Well, good practice does. Don't worry about asking the same question someone else already did. This isn't like many forums where some people act like it's some personal hardship if someone asks the same thing someone else already asked. Usually it's those same people who bi...

I don't think I've ever seen anything like that on a dump truck before. Van trailer? Yep. They look nice anyway.

I regularly do all the above. Cut it off, grind it off, belt sander, whatever works. If I'm doing aluminum and I'm super fussy about what the welds will look like, I'll cut off the tungsten. But for the most part, I'm with Louie in simply cleaning it off with the belt sander and keep going. I now ha...

My local welding shop charges me $71.00 for an argon swap on a 330, and that includes delivery. 16.5 Miles away. I pay 151.37/year for rental of 2 tanks.

(edit)
Correction... Rental on 3 tanks.

Well unless he goes out of his way to put it in the worst possible spot in the engine bay, it'll never get to 150.

I think you’re doing the right thing by holding off. After 25 years of making a living under the hood of a car, I wouldn’t doubt that in the right situations especially during the summer time ( depending on your location) that everything under the hood could be in excess of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. ...

main reason for filler melting is torch angle. needs to be a lot more upright. then its torch height. to high will make a big arc which will melt filler before you can get it close. This pretty much sums it up. Torch angle, torch angle,and torch angle. You have to aim the torch at the part, and you...

If it's not super close to the engine block, and isn't in the air path of a bunch of turbos, I'd say you're fine. Engine bay temps don't typically get anywhere near 150. the engine itself will have parts at 210 or so, but it's not like it heats the surroundings to that temp. I think they say temps a...

If your machine isn't capable of pulsed spray, then you can't do out of position stuff. Flat and horizontal only.

Cheers all, I do find that sometimes the puddle is flowing well at the edges and looks like needs to keep moving for risk of melting a hole in the .035 tube but the section of puddle at the root is slightly curved in and that’s where I think I get the voids. What’s the solution more amps and heat b...

It's got to be dirt on your part. I had the same thing yesterday MIG Welding and I had 90% of my welds looked beautiful but one had tremendous porosity. I had used a 4 inch grinder to clean everything and I thought I did a good job but I have to assume I didn't on one. I'm not sure what happened , I...

The ones for thousands of dollars will do larger drills but they will not do small drills. Consider what your real needs are and go from there. For me, I really would like a machine to sharpen smaller drills. I have two drill sharpening machines of perverse level pricing for larger drills. I have a ...

I'm surprised I don't see more about it. On paper it beats the dynasty in specs and for less money. Not even close. Start looking at duty cycle versus output amperage and while I won't say it isn't a great deal for the price, if you are looking for 100% duty cycle, it isn't even a close contest. Th...

I would probably limit it to people who get approved to use the thing (approved by me or obviously you in this case). I have a Dynasty 210DX. They are not something that enjoys arc strikes. I have a suspicion that the folks who talk about these welders dying in a short span, have users (welders) who...