I ended up just getting 100% straight argon gas again, because a mild steel project has popped up which I'll be completing before going back to playing with my aluminum manifold. (Welding a frame crack in my brother's 1967 Pontiac GTO.) I also got a price data point on 100% Helium cylinder from my L...

My local welding supply offers two blends of helium/argon mixes, a 25% He mix ($67 retail price per bottle) and a 75% He mix ($75 per bottle). Straight argon is $43 retail price per bottle. The price I've actually paid for straight argon has been $35-$40 (after taxes and hazmat fees), so it's discou...

I can tell you that I installed a 1/16" diameter orifice in my TIG gas hose connection, to try and reduce a sudden rush of shielding gas I am getting every time I press down on the foot pedal to start an arc. Besides wasting gas, this sudden rush had other drawbacks... the noise was kind of ann...

If you take a file to it, aluminum will be soft, gummy, and shave off easily, while Zinc-laden aluminum (pot metal) will be harder, and resist the file more so you'll have to press down harder to get the file to shave anything off.

For mail order welding supplies like tungstens, collets, filler rod, etc (maybe not the hastelloy W though ;) ) I really like HTP welding. They will be happy to send you a catalog. You can call them and they will just pick up the phone, no automated menu. They have provided me with good service on m...

Try putting your helmet outside on a sunny day, facing the direct sun for 4 hours. Some auto-darkening welding helmets are solar powered, and others have battery power. Solar powered ones need to be charged new out of the box, or when they've been kept stored in the dark for a long time. Charging my...

I've had bad luck with chinese floating ball type regulators, shown pictured at lower left, in various states of disassembly. Chasing down argon leaks can be a hassle too, and can get expensive. First place to look for a leak on a suspect regulator is the over-pressure relief port, which is usually ...

I ran my Everlast Super200P that way initially (argon routed through the dryer/filter/regulator via a quick connect fitting). It worked, but I didn't run it long enough to really test the TIG argon shielding ability through a dirty/watery filter-regulator. In a quest to eliminate potential argon lea...

I am posting what I've been working on lately, to let others look over my shoulder and maybe have some tips, and also document what settings have been working on my machine, an Everlast Super200P. Maybe be useful for other owners with similar equipment. Here are the panel settings I've been running ...

What I'd like to know is to properly read a "floating ball" type flow meter, are we supposed to read the flow rate indicated at the top of the ball, the middle of the ball, or the bottom of the ball? Also, I'm curious to know if anyone has done any tests to determine the accuracy of their ...

It might be useful to think about what is a good speed of shielding gas flowing out of the cup. If we knew that a gas speed out of a cup were a good speed setting, then it would likely hold true for any cup size. We could then easily determine what cfm is needed to develop a given shielding gas spee...

I had a problem with my LWS providing underfilled argon tanks as well. I think I got two in a row of underfilled tanks, including one that about 2/3 full compared to what I paid for. They did "take care of me" however, and they gave me a free refill, but it took an extra 1-2 trips for me, ...

Ditto... I was having major problems TIG'ing aluminum until I got the shielding gas flow right. My problem was, I think, too much gas flow, but I tried varying a lot of other things so some other things may have helped too. You will know if you don't have the shielding right if you are experiencing ...

I'm hoping to learn how to master this problem as well, so I will add what I've learned so far, and hopefully others will too to help us all get further educated. I'm working on an cast aluminum intake manifold, modifying it to fit another engine application, and it has not only oxide inclusions, bu...