Good on ya!

That's a nice, even bead, especially for an early attempt. (Shoulda took the pic before you got the beater after it. )

You should have "dimes" in no time.

Steve

Oh, yeah. BIG difference.

I once pulled the wrong bottle for a SS weld. I won't make that mistake again!

To MIG carbon steel, you need 75/25.

You will never get satisfactory results on 100% argon.

Stop learning on the car. Learn on the bench! Get some scrap, put it on the workbench, and PRACTICE! If you are on a chassis, you are likely welding 11 gauge or 3/16. Set your machine at 19.5V and 280-300 IPM, and try it, flat, on the bench. If your machine has a CV/CC switch, be sure it's on CV. Di...

Looks to me like the gas lens was a big help. I only weld stainless w/ a plain collet body when it is the only way to reach my weld. Your colors suggest you still got a little warm, but just in a few places. That yellow "straw" color is your goal, but you didn't damage the parent metal any...

You keep referring to "alloy" welding.

Are you referring to aluminum? There are many alloys that aren't steel or stainless steel.

Steve

The McMaster-Carr catalog has scribes of all kinds, steel, carbide, and diamond, for not much money, but if I actually need to scribe something in steel or anything softer, a sharpened 1/8" tungsten (2% any-ated, not pure) kicks ass for a little bit of nothing, but, as kermdawg said, it takes a...

The recommendation for the gas lens is solid. There are tight-quarter situations where a simple collet-body and cup are called for. You can use whatever size cup will get you into the weld. Setting gas flow can be tricky, though, and I have an "old-school" tip. If you're a smoker, you can ...

Ken, You are correct, despite the opinions of some "old-school-er"s, TIG has become the method of choice. It creates a much smaller HAZ, and with back-purging, the inside of your weld will be as solid (and almost as pretty) as the outside. I've seen a lot of conflicting information about p...

kermdawg is right about the longevity of soapstone marks. This is another place the silver streak shines. Like paint, the marks last a long time. It is also designed for welding layout, so, like soapstone, won't contaminate your weld (except in high-purity applications, I suppose). I think I said th...

I once performed a TIG weld in a space so confined I had to use 2-sided tape to stick a #10 2X4 lens directly to my safety glasses, and slather on the sunblock (all over my exposed skin, as I was surrounded by stainless. My head would barely fit. There was no way to get even a hand-held shield in th...

Anthony is right. 30v. is too hot even for .045 dualshield on 1/4" His recommendation is a great starting point, and your final settings will vary by machine. On carbon steel in 3g/3f, I commonly use about 22.2V and 350 ipm and push the weld (for uphill--for downhand, the gun angle is the same,...

Someone once told me that stupid answers far outnumber stupid questions. This agrees with my experience.

OTOH, if there are no stupid questions, what kind of questions do stupid people ask???

Steve

Bill, I have one more comment. Your previous experience is stick welding, so you are accustomed to seeing the weld puddle form almost immediately when you strike an arc. With TIG, if the puddle forms immediately, the hole happens immediately after. On thin material in particular, it should take a se...

TIG is a good choice for body work, IF you're already good at low-current TIG. MIG is much more forgiving for the less experienced welder on light-gauge steel. You mentioned body work. You said you were blowing holes in the chassis. These are different animals. The body metal will be quite thin-- 22...

Soapstone is very useful (and dirt cheap) on carbon steel for laying out cut lines. Sharpen it with a grinder or the side of a chop-saw blade. The torch will not make it disappear. When welding, it's usually used to mark start/stop points, and does not need to be removed. Yes, you can see it under t...

Testing image posting. (I set , fit, and welded everything outside the building to the stack.)

To further emphasize the value of sunblock, I should have mentioned that in the mid '90s I built and repaired boat docks on Lake of the Ozarks, MO. I would sometime weld 6013 and 7018 all day while wearing only cut-off jeans, tennis shoes, gloves, and hood. I was never burned by the sun, or arc rays...

I suppose I should add the powerhouse I was on had x-ray testing of all critical piping welds, and I was mostly doing plate welding and rigging (neither of which I was certified in, nor had I been formally trained in rigging). At the ethanol plants, Fagen had most of the process piping, and my small...

4130 is the material of choice, for it's strength-to-weight ratio. It is common in airplanes for the same reason. I recommend TIG, with 80S02 filler. The way it was explained to me is that 4130 filler is very sensitive and requires almost computer-like skills to get the rated strength without sharp ...

domino, Please don't use a "Harbor Freight" or similar hood for TIG. You need the fastest response time you can get, and four sensors or better. When TIGing, you will OFTEN be in the shadow of your cup and your hood will have to react again when the shadow passes. Your eyes are worth far m...

Steve,
They're all pretty when you've been happily married for twenty years. Flirting is not a crime. (Unless your wife catches you. But after this long, she understands.

If you need to "drink 'till she's pretty", you have more than one problem!

Steve

I was an Air Force pilot. Now, I'm a recreational pilot. I hold a commercial MEL/SEL Inst. I don't own an airplane but I have been intrigued by the LSA category. I am also retired from industry so I theoretically could have the time for a building project. I'm sitting on two sets of plans, one tube...

I first learned to TIG on an industrial construction site. I had no remote amp control, and "scratch start" was the only way. If you contaminate your tungsten with the base metal your welding, so what? To avoid contaminating the base metal with the tungsten, scratch at the margin of your w...

This is clearly a hood problem. There's nothing a TIG machine can do that will blind you through a fixed glass lens, and I've TIGged with a #9 shade.

Steve

You running this thing with remote amperage control? (I use a Miller SW 250, and am not familiar with the 200.) Try setting amperage control to "panel" and weld some scrap to see if it fires full-power consistently. It could be as simple as a problem in your foot pedal/thumb control. Good ...