Tig welding tips, questions, equipment, applications, instructions, techniques, tig welding machines, troubleshooting tig welding process
Poland308
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Done x ray work! I'm with Oscar. It's relative. But not required for every job.
I have more questions than answers

Josh
Futterama
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Thanks, I have had some arc start issues which I thought were from tungsten issues, but it turns out not to be related to the grinding process. So I have been overly careful with the grinding even though I'm a hobbyist.

I will use the same "wheel" for all my tungstens, and I will have course grit for the big stuff and a finer grit for finishing. At the moment I'm using plain sanding paper, which is cheap to replace and when replacing it, I'm sure to get a new clean sanding surface, free of material from previous tungsten dipping mistakes :lol:
Graveyard
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I broke down and bought an entry level tungsten grinder. It's a Tech South brand, non adjustable. It was about $230 I believe, after grinding tungsten on a wheel for years and having to walk back and forth from the welding table to the grinder this thing is the cats ass. I hang it right on he table and if I touch or gum up the tip I can just reach down and sharpen it. Had it for almost a year and I wouldn't go back. If your a hobbyist it's probably not really worth it but if you're welding every day or even several times a week I recommend spending the money. I was apprehensive for a long time but now that I have one I don't regret it for a second. I like all the ideas you guys have, budget sharpening at its best!!
Gavin Melville
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This is a diamond wheel, well actually CBN. The diamonds are on the back for a few mm as well. The wheel is so smooth that you can touch it with no skin lost. The alignment turned out to be perfect, no shims or eccentric washers. I use the 45 deg face against the rest to get the basic shape (yes I know), and then clean up using the front or back flat. Despite the very fine diamond grit the grinder is able to remove enormous amounts of Tungsten.

The wheel came from here, which isn't going to help anyone, but the type will be available.

http://tradetools.co.nz/products/2020250 is the spare part. It's actually for a drill sharpener, and 200 grit.

http://www.gsc-tw.com/products_03.php?id=7 Is the machine that uses that disk.

The Makita grinder had a slightly bent other end shaft, so it's now not there. It's sharpened thousands of Tungstens, still going well.
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Graveyard wrote:I broke down and bought an entry level tungsten grinder. It's a Tech South brand, non adjustable. It was about $230 I believe, after grinding tungsten on a wheel for years and having to walk back and forth from the welding table to the grinder this thing is the cats ass. I hang it right on he table and if I touch or gum up the tip I can just reach down and sharpen it. Had it for almost a year and I wouldn't go back. If your a hobbyist it's probably not really worth it but if you're welding every day or even several times a week I recommend spending the money. I was apprehensive for a long time but now that I have one I don't regret it for a second. I like all the ideas you guys have, budget sharpening at its best!!
Thanks for the review, have you had to replace the wheel yet?
Richard
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Futterama
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Since this thread is still going, I have another question.

I received some CK Worldwide 0.5mm/0.020" 1.5% lanthanated tungstens today. They are all matte and almost black, not silver and shiny as the CK 1.0mm/0.040" 2% lanthanated tungstens I already had. The CK 0.5mm/0.020" thoriated tungstens I got by mistake, are somewhere in between, not silver, not all black but mostly matte grey.

Is this OK for brand new tungstens? I mean, will they act contaminated?

I'm thinking the supplier may have had those is stock for a long time, maybe those small tungstens are just not sold very often, and due to long storage, the tungstens have oxidixed?

The picture shows the 3 mentioned tungstens, to the left/top the black 1.5% lanthanated, middle is the thoriated and the bigger on the right/bottom is the 2% lanthanated.
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Futterama wrote:Since this thread is still going, I have another question.

I received some CK Worldwide 0.5mm/0.020" 1.5% lanthanated tungstens today. They are all matte and almost black, not silver and shiny as the CK 1.0mm/0.040" 2% lanthanated tungstens I already had. The CK 0.5mm/0.020" thoriated tungstens I got by mistake, are somewhere in between, not silver, not all black but mostly matte grey.

Is this OK for brand new tungstens? I mean, will they act contaminated?

I'm thinking the supplier may have had those is stock for a long time, maybe those small tungstens are just not sold very often, and due to long storage, the tungstens have oxidixed?

The picture shows the 3 mentioned tungstens, to the left/top the black 1.5% lanthanated, middle is the thoriated and the bigger on the right/bottom is the 2% lanthanated.
I've used a lot of .040" but never seen this, or have I heard of tungsten oxidizing (not that this means it doesn't)

Why are you choosing 1.5% Lan over 2% thoriated? If you're going use use lan tungsten all reviews I've seen recommend the 2% lan over the 1.5% lan. I do use 2% lan myself, but in the past always 2% thoriated for DC welding
Richard
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Futterama
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LtBadd wrote:I've used a lot of .040" but never seen this, or have I heard of tungsten oxidizing (not that this means it doesn't)
My .040" are looking fine and shiny, it's the .020" that is looking very different.
LtBadd wrote:Why are you choosing 1.5% Lan over 2% thoriated? If you're going use use lan tungsten all reviews I've seen recommend the 2% lan over the 1.5% lan. I do use 2% lan myself, but in the past always 2% thoriated for DC welding
I would rather just use 2% lan all around, as Jody recommends. But my supplier did not have 2% lan available in 0.5mm/0.020". If they should get it for me, I would have to buy 100pcs and wait for 3 weeks. At other sources, I would have to pay an absurd amount for shipping. So I went with 1.5% lan as my supplier had that in stock, thinking I would try it out as I'm still so new to this that I can't say 2% lan would be any better for my application.
The 2% thoriated was shipped to me instead of the ordered 1.5% lan as a mistake, they corrected the mistake but the received 1.5% lan are black, which puzzles me.
Graveyard
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LtBadd wrote:
Graveyard wrote:I broke down and bought an entry level tungsten grinder. It's a Tech South brand, non adjustable. It was about $230 I believe, after grinding tungsten on a wheel for years and having to walk back and forth from the welding table to the grinder this thing is the cats ass. I hang it right on he table and if I touch or gum up the tip I can just reach down and sharpen it. Had it for almost a year and I wouldn't go back. If your a hobbyist it's probably not really worth it but if you're welding every day or even several times a week I recommend spending the money. I was apprehensive for a long time but now that I have one I don't regret it for a second. I like all the ideas you guys have, budget sharpening at its best!!
Thanks for the review, have you had to replace the wheel yet?


No sir, still using the same wheel and I'm told that when one side wears out you can flip it. Not sure if there is any truth to that but I'm going to try when the time comesz
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Graveyard wrote:
LtBadd wrote:Thanks for the review, have you had to replace the wheel yet?


No sir, still using the same wheel and I'm told that when one side wears out you can flip it. Not sure if there is any truth to that but I'm going to try when the time comesz
What diameter tungsten do you typically use? I use mostly 3/32 and 1/16"
Richard
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Poland308
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I use 1/8 and 3/32 99% of the time. I've only recently begun to experiment with smaller sizes.
I have more questions than answers

Josh
Graveyard
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LtBadd wrote:
Graveyard wrote:
LtBadd wrote:Thanks for the review, have you had to replace the wheel yet?


No sir, still using the same wheel and I'm told that when one side wears out you can flip it. Not sure if there is any truth to that but I'm going to try when the time comesz
What diameter tungsten do you typically use? I use mostly 3/32 and 1/16"

I use 3/32 (red) 99% of the time.
Futterama
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So I've been in contact with CK and this is their response to the discolored tungstens:
I looked at our stock of T0207GL and there is some discoloration on the electrodes. I did some digging and it is actually an oxide layer. The surface oxide layer can be more aggressive in hot humid weather. I think you guys have been experiencing that this year. If you take a clean emery cloth and run it up and down the electrode, it will clean it up and be back to shiny silver. The small diameter, .020” (.5mm), would be more susceptible to having a more visible oxide layer than a bigger diameter. I am sure that even the first striking of an arc would burn it off. I don’t see this as being anything to worry about but just to cross your t’s and dot your I’s put an emery cloth on it and remover the oxide layer before you weld.
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....hot humid weather. I think you guys have been experiencing that this year.
:lol: Coldest summer in a hundred years in Scandinavia this year it was.
Futterama
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I just received my diamond grinding discs from ebay today:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Grit-60-to-30 ... 2749.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-80-3000-Diamo ... 2749.l2649

These work fantastic, much better than sandpaper!

Now, I learned that sandpaper is not the best for metal grinding, so I got some emery cloth to try out too, and I'll compare to the diamond discs.

The diamond discs are 120 grit and 320 grit. After grinding using the 320 grit, the tungstens look like on the photos. The first photo is a 2mm - 5/64" tungsten, and the second photo is a 0.5mm - .020" tungsten.

Do they look like they should or do I need to get a finer grit diamond disc for the final grind?
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Futterama
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2mm tungsten final grind with 400 grit emery cloth.
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Futterama
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2mm tungsten final grind with 1000 grit emery cloth.

What's good enough for hobby work?
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Poland308
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lol that's plenty good. At work or in the field sometimes the only thing handy to clean up a tungsten is a 4-1/2 inch grinder with a hard wheel. Those are so rough you can see the grooves at arms length. But they weld!
I have more questions than answers

Josh
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