I built my own using a Shurflow pump. I didn't bother with the radiator or fan but relied on a large reservoir (5 gal), to keep things cool. Just wondering if that would be adequate for heavy welding or would the water eventually get too hot? So far I haven't done any welding that would put it to th...

Hi everyone, Thought I would share this. I am still having a hard time keeping my tungsten out of the work when practicing with aluminum. I was getting tired of grinding the tungsten each and every time it happened. The other night after dipping the tungsten yet again I decided to try just polishing...

What kind of airplane are you building? I ask because I saw the fuselage drawings.

Good advice Oscar, I think that is what I will do.

Thanks for the links Dirtmidget, the paper from Diamond ground was great. I will print that one out and keep it in the shop. I think that what I saw may have more to do with the way I am grinding the tips and less to do with the type of tungsten.

Thanks for the replies, I tried the lanthanated after watching Jody's video. I am mostly practicing on thin wall 6061 tubing and like to be able to keep the arc parked on top of the puddle as I go. I would worry that the lanthanated might make this more difficult. I am running a Lincoln square wave ...

I have been using ceriated electrodes on both steel and aluminum since I started. Last night I tried some lanthanated and found that it didn't hold as tight an arc as the ceriated. I made several practice passes on an eighth in piece of aluminum stock. I resharpened the electrode multiple times and ...

Thought I would share this with the forum. I am new to tig and have been practicing daily. From the very beginning I had problems with oxidation while welding aluminum. I would have to turn the argon up to twenty five or thirty to get the weld to behave. Lately it was getting worse. I checked everyt...

Thanks for the replies. It all makes sense. I have a couple of owner bottles and I swap them out when they are empty. My supplier is just a depot I don't think they fill anything there. When I see the needle on empty I will just call it done to avoid any problems.

I am new to tig welding and have noticed something with my shielding gas. I have been trying to use every last drop of argon so even when my regulator shows empty I continue to weld as long as my flow meter shows the correct flow. What seems to be happening is that even though I show the proper flow...

Miter Joint.jpg Thanks for your input. The attached image is what I was talking about. On my welds the bead protrudes on the outside corner and that is why I was wondering if there were a particular method for this weld. In this image the outside weld looks flush with the outside edges of the tubin...

For practice I have been welding 2 inch .035 6061 round tubing with ninety degree miter butt welds. I have had surprisingly good luck but was wondering if there were a preferred method to weld the outside corner portion of the joint. Also I noticed very little info on this type of weld when I google...

After spending a day researching this I decided on distilled water and DEX coolant. There are a thousand different opinions on this. Distilled water for sure if you mix your own. A gallon of DEX antifreeze was seventeen bucks so I'm not sure you shouldn't just use the stuff that was made for it. I h...

I have a nice one. The Lincoln Viking series. I bought it when I was tasked to build a grate over a drain pit for washing large farm equipment. I stick welded it together with a Miller Bobcat I have on my truck. So far so good. Nobody has fallen in yet. "Fingers Crossed" I just ordered a C...

Thanks Oscar. Sounds like good advice. I have only been at this for a couple of weeks. You are right about coming at it systematically. I have already started forming some bad habits as I try to jump ahead. Number one being the way I feed wire into the weld. My flat beads on steel are pretty good re...

I am just starting out learning how to weld with TIG. My focus is on thin wall 4130 tubing which I am welding with the water cooled PW 18 torch. I am having trouble getting a consistent bead and I would compare it to building a kitchen cabinet with an eight pound hammer. I have watched Jody's vid on...