Among lots of great info that's been offered, this is a key thing right here. As a pretty rank amateur myself, learning to TIG weld seems to keep me somewhere between "extremely humbled" to "extremely frustrated" depending on the day. It just looks so darn effortless when you wa...

One suggestion from a semi newb is to not sharpen your electrode. Or more precisely, not to put a sharp taper on it. You can put a point on it but keep the angle shallow, 45 degrees or flatter. It feels like the sharper and pointier the tip, the more you'll be able to pinpoint the arc, like sharpeni...

But it will never look pretty. Man, I've seen some very pretty aluminum mig welds. The problem with pretty aluminum mig is that it's almost always cold. Lack of fusion is a very bad thing. I've seen several of those pretty welds break along their toes for LOF. I don't really care what anyone says a...

If that's your budget I would get a Dynasty. You should be able to find a used 200DX for a good deal and add the wireless pedal, water cooler and other things. Or get the new 210 without the jazz. The machine itself won't help you learn but once you learn the basics, the other features will be there...

LOL thanks Rick, yeah that sounds like my algorithm is correct, that's about how it went for me

Thanks Gary! She's ready to go but getting the cups to stay aligned while tacking was a challenge. Can you guys share your tips for this? I got it to work but it almost screwed me up. I tacked it on the sides and I assumed it was ok on the vertical axis because the tacks were horizontal but I must h...

Robotic welds are nothing more than an exact immitation of the person who taught it how to weld. I was looking at a crashed up superbike frame laying in the floor and I told the old boss that I can't believe these things are being welded by hand instead of by a robot. That's when he told me it is a...

Perfect, thanks! No I just need it to be a strong joint. There will be a 2" sched 80 pipe between these two sockets and the sockets will go over hoist pad extensions, to allow my hoist arms to swing out wide and for my wife's SUV to fit under the racecar (one end of which will rest on the pipe)...

Going well so far I think. Definitely need to invest in a cooler.

What do you guys think is this ok or a few more beads?

Where is a good place to buy quality burrs for a good price?

Sounds good, thanks Gary! Yeah I gotcha, that's the "top hat" version I was considering. That's the one I was swaying towards as well.

Josh is right, just make sure you get a good solid root, make sure you start with nice clean shiny metal. Just stack the beads in or walk the cup. Will do! I'll clean up both sides nicely. Walking the cup is still on the to-do list of skills to learn :) Hey for the 3.5" pieces, I'm going to ca...

Thank you, Josh!

Hey guys, Could you give me your suggested procedure if you needed to join a 2" schedule 80 pipe (the one being coped) to a 3.5" 3/8 wall DOM tube? Also settings, passes, amps, tungsten, filler? Currently my plan is to get a good fit with the fish mouth/coping and bevel it back and do mult...

Thanks Richard! I settled at 120hz, 150pps, 30% on, 8%bg, tri wave, 1/16 5356. Torch is a flex currently in 9 configuration, 3/32 2%lanth with a 45 or more blunt taper and a gas lens at 13cfh. I had peak amps set at 120 but I'd only use full jam when I was starting a puddle while pushing a section o...

Got it done! Not perfect but more than good enough relative to what I was hoping for. Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Made the curve radius shorter so I had a good long straight chunk to use a chill block on to get started.

That's a nice tight tack "bead"! I bet you're thrilled to have 400Hz AC Freq capability! :) To be honest I really haven't found a use for it yet. Just when I think it's making a positive difference, I go back to 120ish and it works just as well without making me feel like a dog hearing a ...

Success on the first attempt again. Picked up a block of offcut aluminum and copper, made the difference for getting the very ends to fuse without chewing back. Still far from perfect but I feel confident I can get my project done.

Thanks, yeah I'm not really looking for the "right" answer, I know what the best practice is but I'm curious what everyone else does in real life and when.

Thanks for the link, been a long time since I've seen that video. The other inside corner alu video Jody has is an example of what I mean where it looks like the torch has a pretty significant angle. In this video too, the pyrex shot looks like it has more torch angle. But that is probably a functio...

See for curved surfaces it makes total sense to me, I also keep it almost perpendicular to the tangent where I'm welding. But would you do that for say a straight inside corner joint?

I'm about a year into TIG welding and I can't help but wonder, guys, what is your true torch angle? In all the books and newbie videos, everyone says no more than 10-20 degrees, so close to vertical. But when I see real welding videos and pictures, the torches seem to be almost always closer to 30 o...

Thanks J.J., sounds like I'm on the right track! Have you tried higher PPS? I tried 150 after listening to a tips and tricks podcast episode where they said higher pps pulsing really helps contain the arc. Working like a charm for me. You guys with your chill blocks... I need to stop being a cheap b...

Well alright then... I'll call this a success. Played with the Dynasty pulser again and found my elixir. 150 pulses, 30% on 8% background (wanted to try less than 10 but not 5 lol). When tacking I realized I have so much heat control that I can run the damn tack all the way down and that's what I di...

Thanks for the input guys, it's around 040, I measured one edge in the pic but it also had a little saw flashing. I definitely need to stock up on scrap blocks for propping and chill blocks but it's hard to justify on the spot in the metal store, esp aluminum is so expensive nowadays. Today's practi...