So it is a bit too late for it to matter but grinding marks on cages are usually instant failures for tech inspection in racing. I'm not sure what you are prepping the surface with but with thin wall like that, I hope you didn't take much off. A scotch bright belt in a belt grinder will let you clea...

Sandow, do you know a comparable tig rod to e11018? craig No, but you can always knock the flux off and just use it as a fill rod. In this case I'd advise against it. The advantage in burning a stick vs tig in this case is that you are in and out fast and when it comes to preserving the hardness, t...

My group uses ar500 targets all the time and welding them is always hit or miss. Best results are from running e11018 1/8 sticks fast and way hotter than you would usually. Stitch weld with gaps so that you have no overlap in HAZ. Do not preheat, do not cool rapidly. At times a backing plate can hel...

Also, I've come to find out that even welding school instructors disagree about some pretty fundamental things. I like getting the different opinions, and trying to understand in which context they most significantly apply. Knowledgeable people can often have disparate opinions, while still both be...

So I've been asked to fix a 1/8" thick stainless oven door that has had at least three other people welding on it at one point or another. I think the base metal is 304 based on magnetic response. The original welds are tig and look like 309 or 312 filler but weren't brushed or passivated. The ...

Welding in vacuum environments is a mixed bag. True, you don't NEED shielding gas but boy do you ever want it. A naked arc in vacuum kicks out all kinds of stuff including Vacuum and Extreme ultraviolet with a sprinkling of hard X-ray for good measure. Arc wonder is also an issue without a plasma ch...

Some scrap dealers and pawn shops have XRF guns. If you can get one of them to give you a reading you can just look up the alloy. I have to assume it is an expensive part. Best to be sure.

-Sandow

christhewelder75 wrote:I dunno if we'd be allowed to drill holes in the roof we're supposed to be sealing :$
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I use clecos all the time and love them. Filling the hole is very easy and you won't need many to hold it long enough to get it tacked up.

-Sandow

The few times I've tried, it cracked instantly. Once the weld area was diluted enough with filler, it held and even hitting it with a hammer did nothing. I haven't tried it but I wondered afterwards if Al-Bronze might not work for the application.

-Sandow

The downside is when I really mess up, dip the tungsten and get a large blob on the end. It won't fit into the fixture's openings so another grinder is needed or the fixture needs to be modified with an access port to clean up really messed up tungstens. One of the comments made on Thingverse where...

I definitely appreciate the kudos and feedback! Keep it comin :) Clever and has style :) I'd change the side groves to simple Vs so that rod size didn't matter and friction would be lower. Having screwed up my left hand, I'm looking at a few more months of recovery before I can feed rod normally. T...

Yup, blue is "cold" out. Going to be more like room temp out and lukewarm back but same difference.

In the mean time you can dial up your gas flow rate on an air cooled to get more on time with it.

-Sandow

I only really see the issue on flux welder's helmets but dirty lens covers will prevent the sensors from behaving correctly too.

-Sandow

Potentially you can get away from fan noise by having no fans but a pump is unavoidable. Is there anyone out there that has first hand experience of how noisy the Procon and Shurflo are compared to one another assuming the same specifications since the pump mechanism is fundamentally different in e...

Working on customer built roll cage that was mig welded but he had a lot of starts on each weld and it doesn't look great. I would like to grind the majority of the weld down and then put a tig pass over the top. Would that be OK. I sure don't want to have to remove and replace the tubes. Any sugge...

I really like my save phace y series. keeps your head cool and lets you feel the wind really easily.

-Sandow

I'll second the 312. It'll give you a bit more wiggle room on unknown material. Supermissile Weld or another maintenance rod might be even better though. For any of those, if it isn't actually cast stainless and is something like nickel resist, you'll be much closer to the right fill composition. Yo...

Agreed - this happens more than you think & weirdly I never had a problem with stuff from " Shop River " but I recently bought a CK torch & consumables & there is enough difference in length tolerance with some of it to cause the same problem - easy solution is to drop a small...

I've generally bought these: https://www.amazon.com/ABN-Tungsten-Electrodes-Lanthanated-2-4mm/dp/B00OPE42JW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1465670020&sr=8-3&keywords=3+32+lanthanated+tungsten but I was given a pack of the diamond ground 2% lanthanated and can't tell the difference. It doesn't hu...

I don't think that welding strategy would work well on most normal metals and copper is screwy. If you need a continuous weld, you are probably much better off with a 1/16 gap in the foil and then using the bar as the backing strap. You can get some solid core oxygen free wire and strip the sheath o...

Great info Oscar. The only thing I'd add is that tip shape has a dramatic impact on melt pool width as well. A sharp point will produce a shallower and wider pool then a ball or blunt point. I agree with a backing plate being the way to go but a perfect set up requires pretty much all of this stuff ...

I disabled the pressure switch on the front of the pump to keep it from rapid cycling. There are usually leads from the back to the front that are the pressure switch. Just power the motor directly and it won't cycle on off like that.

-Sandow

A lot of that stuff isn't half as standardized as it aught to be. Try a few others and you'll find something that fits.

-Sandow

There is a stubby version you know...

http://www.amazon.com/CK-D2GS332-P-Gas- ... detailpage

For when withdraw starts kicking in

-Sandow

Oscar wrote:is it maintaining 40-50psi on the return line?

No, it is 55 from the pump but after the restriction in the torch head it is much lower. Don't really have a way of putting a gauge on the return side. Why do you ask?

-Sandow