I felt the same way when I got a good hood..All of a sudden I could see what everyone was talking about

I love seeing all the great looking weld posted here. Myself, I wanted to learn tig welding to do small fabrication and repair of stainless steel parts for boats. Today I was able to help a friend by welding a mount back onto a porthole frame. Not a lot of welding just 4 tacks from 16 gauge to .025....

great to see that is really happening

could this problem be solver by lowering the output pressure on the regulator and opening the needle valve on the flow meter more to maintain the same argon flow?

I get the same rush of argon when I start but never thought of it as a problem since it becomes steady in a second. Am I missing something?

actually it is in a stair well for my basement outside stairs. I but the wooden stair on wheels so I can drag them into the basement when I want to use the welding shop. I like the fact that the entire shop is either poured concrete or steel. I do tig welding inside and stick outside but I have Bilc...

I have a very small welding shop and need keep tool handy yet out of the way. So here is my simple grinder rack.

As I see it, when you buy most tig machines, you are also getting a stick machine. So, you can learn two types of welding.

I have looked and its hard to find THD numbers even on new generators, Finding them for a 15 yr old machine would be next to impossible. That said I don't want to chase using that as a power supply

Mark

If I was working at the same place all the time a 220 feed would be a good option, but I don't. As for a generator, I have a 5kw with a 220 outlet but am hesitant to use that as a power supply since my welder is an inverter unit and have read they need a very clean power supply. Have any of you used...

I have a 30 amp 220 outlet at home. This idea is for those small outside jobs where 220 power is not available. I have a dual voltage welder Everlast 160STH. I recently used it in the 110 volts mode feed by a long 100 ft 12/3 extension cord. Working with 3/16 plate with 3/32 6011, the machine made t...

220 volts from two 110 volt extension cords ? Is this a crazy idea? The 220 volt service comes in on 3 wire, one natural and two hots . Connecting from either of the hots and the neutral will give you 110 volts and connecting to the two hots give you 220 volts. To balance the load on the service fee...

on thin material (.025 to .040) I love my .040 tungsten. starts are so much crisper and the arc is much more stable. try one and the difference will be obvious. I use mostly .04 and 1/6 since I do mostly thin material and they work better for me than 3/32 for me and a added benefit, they are much ea...

I find when grinding off mill scale, the sparks tell the story. When I start on the scale there are very few sparks coming of the grinding/sanding disk. After a bit, sparks become more numerous. When all the scale is off, any place I touch the grinder I get a continuous stream of sparks.

Mark

Thanks for the reply's

I am a home welder and don't do serious structural work. I will pick up a plastic rod container and give them a try.

Lance, thanks for the offer but I am in Staten Island part of New York City.

Thanks again

Mark

I have never used 7018 rod but want to give them a try. I keep reading about the need for a rod oven to keep it dry, but since 5lb of rod would last me a year or more that would not be practical. I was thinking about making a rod storage contained out of PVC pipe and rubber end caps to keep the mois...

Although I don't work in aluminum similar problem come up on steel and stainless Try changing your torch angle. I don't mean along the weld travel (front to back) rather side to side. Much is said here about front to back travel but little about side to side. I find the term tig torch to be a very a...

Thanks for the interest. I don't have any cast iron repairs to do but thought that it might be of interest to hear if anyone had used it.

as for muggy weld I have used their silver solder with good results even on stainless steel.

Mark

found this youtube clip where he tig welds cast iron with a rod he said was also cast iron.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbLZQCOV9jg

has anyone tried this or heard about it?

Mark

from what I remember from machine shop way back in high school. to case harden, low carbon steel is packed and heated in a high carbon material where the carbon migrates into a thin top layer of the low carbon steel. This makes a thin layer of high carbon steel on the outside that can be hardened. T...

try adding filler slightly from the far side of the weld. I find if I add the rod directly in line some times it blocks my view of the puddle and the joint. Especial if I am working on thin stock where the puddle is very small

Mark

On thin stuff I love a sharp .040 tungsten. The light up easily and precisely. I have found that when working on thin material it is hard to get the arc to heat both sides evenly. The arc seems to favor one side or the other. I try to light up on the filler and play the arc side to side while increa...

I nave been doing some more playing with back purging and am very impressed with the difference it makes. The weld on the right was done with purging the left without. The weld just ran better and was much easier to control, the big difference is the back side.
316 ss
1.250 tube with .050 wall

Mark

Thanks for your input. I have some old bronze parts that I will try it on

Mark

from what I understand sway bars are actually a type of torsion bar spring. The bar twists as one wheel tries to move differently than the other. I would think they are a heat treated high carbon steel that would not work will after welding

Mark