I did read it. You need to read it carefully yourself. The advantage of Tig spit is it requires access to only one side. There is only one Tungsten. The picture you posted shows a standard resistance spot welder setup, with one electrode on each side, and clamping pressure. The picture under the wel...

The tip of the gun is in contact with the first sheet during the entire weld process. It is electrically isolated from the tungsten, so no load on the welder except during the arc. Tips come in various shapes and sizes as shown in the picture.

As I read the gun description, pulling the trigger advances the tungsten for a momentary contact, then retracts it about 1/16" to establish the arc. An adjustable timer ends the arc. I don't see this being any harder on a power supply, than scratch start.
Same picture, different book.

I have done some Tig welding using the Spot timer, and a standard torch. Not done as tacks, but intended as spot welds. They are still holding, so calling it a success.
I believe that I have that same book. As I recall the info is very dated. Think I will see if I can find it.

Not sure what you are asking. Can you explain a little more?

I got $38 for the steel, and a bit of aluminum. They said prices have dropped since this virus thing got bad. I can remember getting 10 or 11 cents per lb some ten years ago. I should spend some time hiking around the yard. I can buy steel from them at $.15 per pound. I'm going to need a bunch of sq...

No luck on wiring up the welders yet, but I did find my external circlip pliars. They were in the red box that got put in the office. My whole collection of snap ring pliars were in the same box. No idea why a box of tools, and various chemicals, would be put on an office desk. I must have been half...

Well, I got enough stuff arranged to make room for the customer's truck. Still no luck on the pliars, but I will keep looking. Yes, finding things that I haven't seen in years. A number of items are becoming 'free to a good home'. Others, are headed for the trash. I saw the photos from Dave, and was...

You give a lot of details about your settings, but say very little about your preparation. "Cut and sanded", isn't good enough for Tig. You must remove the old oxide, grease and oils, dirt, etc. It needs to be "brite clean". I'm also going to guess that your arc length is too lon...

Does anybody see my small external circlip pliars?
I spent a few hours searching for them this evening, with no luck. Maybe it will go better in the daytime.

Here is a slightly different angle...

In October, I got a new landlord at my old shop, and he informed me that the rent was going up by $700 per month effective the first of Feb. I told him that I wouldn't be staying at that rate, and started looking for a new place to rent. I found a place for only $350 more per month, in a place that ...

He will be on 'Hoarders' next season. " Here is an interesting case..... you can barely get in this guy's house due to all these red welding machines. Forget trying to get in the shop, or the garage. They are completely stuffed with these red welders. He even has them in his bed! "

After looking at the pictures some more, I take back what I thought it was.
Can you show us some wider shots?

That 'ring' looks like a valve seat to me. Is it off a single cylinder engine? Or, would you have other cylinders to reference? I have experience machining heads for new valve seats. I never did any of the welding, just the machine work. I think 4943 would be a good choice for build up of the seat a...

You might look at ER5554 filler. It is a Magnesium alloy filler made for higher temperature applications. If the 4043 doesn't color match well, this would give you a different alloy that is temperature stable. I have no idea about the color match.

Prayers sent...

"A hell of a way to run a railroad "

The big down side of the extension cord will be the cost. I think you said it would come from the dryer plug. I will assume it is a 30 amp circuit. Probably wired with #10 wire from the breaker to the plug. You are going to add 100 ft of wire to the circuit.(50 feet down, and 50 ft back). If the wel...

Richard,

You didn't say anything to me about the planets being aligned when welding aluminum. Is there a published schedule of planet alignment?
Here I was, thinking that I was doing something wrong.

My mistake. I was trying to attach a file (PDF) which isn't allowed. I thought that I had deleted that post. I will figure out how to get the info posted later.

I downloaded the manual for your welder ( BOC SmoothArc 185 AC/DC) It looks like the AC Balance knob is setting % Cleaning Time. So set it to about 25%

I did manage to find this bit of info. Notice under the correction factor chart, the note about adjustment valve location and pressure.

I think tweak nailed it on the head. For setting AC balance, see if it is setting the percent of EN (Electrode Negative) time, or the percent of Cleaning time. Cleaning happens during the EP Electrode Positive part of the AC cycle. You want something around 25% cleaning time, which would be 75% EN t...

On my current 'regulator/flowmeter', the adjustment valve is on the outlet side. The pressure of the gas flowing past the ball, is at regulated pressure. The pressure drop occurs at the outlet adjustment valve, after the flow has been measured.

Oscar, I have a few questions.... The gauges are calibrated at 50psig according to the instructions. The higher the pressure, the more dense the gas is. At the torch nozzle, the gas is at atmospheric pressure, and has expanded to about 4 times the volume it had at 50psig. Is the adjustment valve at ...