I wouldn't disagree with anything said here (I don't have near enough experience to have an opinion on this one!). That said, as a guy who is new to TIG, I suppose I err on the too clean side simply because I am trying to build my skills and if a weld turns out poor I want it to be due to my techniq...

Jeff,

That is some beautiful work! Thank you for posting these multi-photo repair journals that you have done quite a few times.

-- Pete

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. Now just to get some money saved up… It's so much easier to save if there is a goal in mind! Leaning toward a 2 gallon Dynaflux at this point, looks like around $500 will get it purchased. Throw in a torch and connection kit and the total should be do-able in ...

Good afternoon fellas. I hope you all had a good weekend, can't believe that tomorrow will be monday already! I stayed up late last night TIG welding, and waiting for the torch to cool down, and welding some more, and waiting some more. Starting to think that it might be time to start looking at wat...

Looks good! This liquid backing idea was ingenious and appears to be pretty effective. Is it common to do this in industry?

-- Pete

Thank you - very good info!

-- Pete

I bet an aluminum table would be a great heatsink for welding thin stuff... As previously said, it will get warm quick. My over-engineering side wonders if anybody has built a water cooled welding table for such a purpose...

--Pete

I've had one of those for about a year and love it! As a professional mechanic (and hobbyist welder), I've always felt that having very good tools is important - it's hard to develop optimal skills if the tool is letting you down. With the 200DX, I know exactly who is to blame if the weld doesn't tu...

Thanks for the comments, I was afraid (but knew) that you'd ask to see the back. Not quite as pretty!

Last weekend I built a jig for the plasma cutter to bevel plates at 37.5 degrees to get some practice with open groove welds. Here is where I am at after a few practice joints… 1/4" plate, 3/32" gap, 3/32" ER70S6, 105 amps root, 115 amps hot pass, 125 for the remainder. There are a fe...

I hope every-bodies holiday weekend goes well. For the pros here, possibly a break from welding, and for some of us amateurs, a chance to get some welding done! Catching up on Jody's videos, the one about using aluminum bronze caught my attention - and raised a couple of questions. I have no doubt t...

Paid $3200 for mine, bare machine, delivered.

-- Pete

I'm not sure if this will help or not, but I recently switched from Praxair's Stargon mig gas blend (Ar/CO2/O2) to the normal 75/25 (Ar/CO2) blend for cost reasons. Spatter went up quite a bit, and the arc sounded a lot more harsh and aggressive. With the blend, a tap or two on the nozzle dislodged ...

Those are some beau-t-ful welds! Thanks for the weld and equipment pics. It's neat to see the quality work that skilled professional welders can do.

-- Pete

I'll look forward to checking out those pictures of your welds and setups. Right now I'm using a Miller Dynasty 200DX, with a "9" series air cooled torch, 1/16" 2% Lanth tungsten, and welding on .050 304 plate. Machine set to 50A, but probably far less than that used with the pedal. D...

Thank you for all of your thoughts… Looks like I need to step up my game and get some purge equipment together! It's always good to read the replies backed with experience that can be found here.

-- Pete

The previous thread on stainless welding got me wondering, at what material thickness does back purging become necessary? I've been test welding progressively thinner stainless and at some point the sugaring starts (without a purge), just wondering what the experts consider to be the max thickness t...

Will do. Thanks for your thoughts!

-- Pete

Good thoughts, I ordered a box of the green bristle discs to try them out.

Most of the stuff that I do would fit into a 4ft cabinet, the longer pieces that wouldn't could be accommodated using a few ideas that I'm still putting the final touches on.

-- Pete

I appreciate those thoughts, the dust danger is a real problem. Between the blasting media and whatever nasty coatings that are being removed, it's not something that should be inhaled! My hope is to reduce if not eliminate these concerns by using the good filters, and then plumbing the discharge ai...

I was hoping to pick your brains for ideas... Most of the projects that I TIG weld on need the mill scale from hot rolled steel removed, usually not just in the weld area do to post-weld finishing processes. I've tried quite a few methods and have searched through the past posts here for ideas. Grin...

I do blacksmithing as a hobby and have run into several tool making that are similar to what you are working on. I'm not sure if the advice that follows is the "correct" way to do this, but it worked well for me when making several spring swages and hot work tools out of 5160. I preheated ...

Another think to consider might be a Chili Forge, I purchased one of these years ago and really like it. These are very well insulated small forges that run on LP. The combination of their burner design and insulation makes for a very even heat without hotspots in the forge chamber. The LP usage rea...

I have had both the 150STH and SyncroWave 200SD (on the DC side, pretty comparable to 200 you mentioned). Both will run off a 30 amp breaker, the 200 prefers a 40 if running at the top of the range though. As others have said, the 150 does not like 6010 rods, yes you can lay down a weld with them, b...

I appreciate all of your thoughts. I don't know how I'd learn TIG the right way without this forum and Jody's videos! I'm a single dad who works a lot of hours as well as raises my two daughters - taking college or vocational training is just not on the horizon right now. With all of your help and i...