It didn't appear that he was adjusting travel speed at all while going, but his travel speed did look fairly slow. I'm still green, but that's what I noticed. To me, it would make sense for a slower travel speed to avoid trapping slag. Too fast with the pulse would allow the puddle to cool too much ...

My work shed is smaller, and plywood floors. I only do tig inside of it. All grinding is done outside, anything with abrasive chop saw outside (even if it wasn't wood floor and all, I would still do outside to keep grinding dust to a minimum around my equipment). Any stick I do is outside as well (n...

I carry all my stuff in a cheap 3 gallon bucket from Home depot. Chipping hammer, half round bastard file, vice grips, wire brush, couple discs (zip, flap, grinding), ball peen, crescent wrench, sparker, square, and few other odds and ends (some spacers for 1/2" and such and some 3/32 tig fille...

Just adding to this thread. Not sure if it's been discussed much. I stumbled across a video from ChuckE2009 on youtube where he demonstrates pulse smaw. Would love to see Jody do a vid on this!

If you are interested, here's the vid

ca1dOFtH_1Y

Welcome. Not a single parent here, but was an adult student last year. Having kids and family while going to school and working to keep food on the table and a roof overhead sure wasn't easy, hats off to you doing it as a single parent! Congrats and best of luck!

First of all I'd like to thank everyone for the responses. To answer a few questions, I'm not entirely sure what the majority of her welding materials would be, I know at work she does about 90% stainless steel, and she just learned to aluminum weld recently, so I would imagine that she would like ...

I'm in Ontario as well (if you mean Canada). Bought an Everlast powertig 250ex. Have had zero problems with it, shipped very fast (the Canadian dealer is located in Ontario). All questions were answered without problems or any "uh uh, uhm" (knowledgeable staff). I did a fair amount of rese...

I don't envy you right now. Friend of mine is working out in Alberta right now and i've seen much the same pics from him (He's an inspector . . . one that can actually weld though lol . . . last I know he was working on some unspecified stuff running tig at a hydrogen plant). I don't mind the snow, ...

Running a nice straight bead will help that slag peel right off on it's own. When I first started, I couldn't run a straight bead if my life depended on it. It was a matter of adjusting a few things. The way I was standing in relation to the plate (try moving your body). Sometimes turning the plate ...

Got my first good zap while tig welding in summer. It was damn hot, i was sweating. Gloves got wet. I got a wake up! As for the no shirts and stuff . . . another very experienced welder I know, who is also a weld instructor at our college, told us of a friend. His friend used to tig wearing a button...

Just a note about kegs, not really welding. I know you guys are on the other side of the border, but here in Canada there are still a lot of aluminum kegs kicking around, new and old. I ended up having to source a stainless keg through the US as aluminum wasn't suitable for my needs. So just posting...

Currently taking my pressure pipe course. We are practicing using long flatbar with 3/32 land, 3/32 gap and 1/8 6010. I have been running at about 85A on flat and horizontal without problem mostly. However, I had a tack let go and spread apart. When it opened up, I had to really step out. When you a...

Ah memories. Now fix it overhead so you can learn to weld while hot slag gets past your mask/cap/collar, rolls down your stomach, burns through your under wear, singes your pubic hair and rolls down your leg into your sock. Brings a tear to the eye, don't it. :mrgreen: You, Sir, need a belt. lol De...

Ah memories. Now fix it overhead so you can learn to weld while hot slag gets past your mask/cap/collar, rolls down your stomach, burns through your under wear, singes your pubic hair and rolls down your leg into your sock. Brings a tear to the eye, don't it. :mrgreen: BTDT . . . 7018 overhead not ...

This is one of the "projects" my instructor had us do in school for OFW. It gives you outside corner joints, lap joints, fillet welds and more. When done those, you can always do some padding so you don't waste, and padding at a variety of angles/inclines. You could make it with metal and ...

I can't speak for the 325 ext, but i have the 250ex and love it. I'm on the Canadian side, and the dealer here was fantastic, answering all questions, getting info out to me about shipping very quick, and I received my machine only 3 days after ordering. It's only about a month old, but has run flaw...

I bought some 7018 3/32 from one LWS (which i won't be going back to) and get home to find out they were not hermetically sealed. Didn't feel like heading back out so went forward anyways. They stuck and sputtered and were a PITA to start up, but once the heat got in them they ran not bad. I wasn't ...

Not sure if there is a thread of projects like this, but would love to see more of hand cut stuff if anybody has pics.

No worries, I didn't take it as trying to shame me. You have experience and it shows, and be proud! I've been around, and in my past (and present work) it has taught me to be thick skinned. Offending me is damn near impossible. Now i'm just a cranky middle aged bugger learning some new tricks and mo...

I currently use the purple, have used thoriated as well. Haven't noticed much of a difference, but still new. I also have heard t E3 don't hold up as well as thoriated at higher amps, but haven't been at higher amps myself. The thoriated scare is over done. I only glow a little lol.

Way to put me to shame, those are some nice pieces of work! Having my own plasma cutter is still I the future, but not far off. First is compressor and suitable size tank, on that I won't have to upgrade later if a need ever arises for air carbon arc. So many "tools" to buy, I'll need to s...

I'm getting the hang of running a little higher amps. I see what you mean now. If I go lower amps, I am having to move much slower, and the heat melts the back side of the plate as well. With higher amps, there is a much nicer puddle, I move quicker, which means there is less being transferred to th...

These were done while I was in school back in the spring. Freehand plasma cutting (of course i drew on the design first, i'm not that talented lol). Just figured I'd share. They still need to go in a box with some translucent colored glass behind them and a light with switch (kinda like a bar sign)....

I'm complaining to Everlast. They never told me I had the option of a red head!

All great suggestions. Thanks! Been setting the amps higher and using the foot pedal to control puddle. It's taking a bit of getting used to, but i'm picking up quick. exnailpounder . . great analogy with the guitars, especially since I play as well. First guitar i ever owned was a cheap Hondo acous...