Welding Tips and Tricks

I tried to research this online but found nothing.

What causes the tungsten to swell when you dip it in the puddle?
Does that swollen section need to be cut off before resharpening? I have tried both cutting it off and grinding it back down to its normal size and both worked the same afterwards.

The "swollen" tungsten is actually a blob of metal which has adhered to the tungsten. Think of dipping your finger into a jar of honey or chocolate syrup. Aluminum especially likes to climb up from the puddle onto the electrode.

Ken

yea, what he said.

If you are doing work in your garage for your neighbor or doing some fab work it should be fine, but if you are working in a nuclear plant, at Nasa or on aircraft parts, you may want to get new tungsten due to possible contamination. But I assume you aren't doing those jobs just yet and dipping is just a part of learning so just keep sharpening and save the money instead of cutting the tungsten and wasting tungsten.

Heat the tip up and shake off the blob, makes grinding easier. Valid for garage welding only

I never dip so I can't answer the question

exnailpounder wrote:I never dip so I can't answer the question

Wow. I wish I had that skill.

Cheers guys, retirement shed welding only so no mushroom shaped clouds are about to form anywhere nor shuttles fall out of the sky
That explains why they work the same after you grind the thickness back.

Farmwelding wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:I never dip so I can't answer the question

Wow. I wish I had that skill.

Yea but what he doesn't tell you is that he uses a 3/4" arc length. No wonder

Oscar wrote:

Farmwelding wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:I never dip so I can't answer the question

Wow. I wish I had that skill.

Yea but what he doesn't tell you is that he uses a 3/4" arc length. No wonder

Dang...now my secret is out

Oscar wrote:

Farmwelding wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:I never dip so I can't answer the question

Wow. I wish I had that skill.

Yea but what he doesn't tell you is that he uses a 3/4" arc length. No wonder

So a cup like this one and about 80 CFH too

Hi John
I'd add that depending on how bad the "dip" is you can (or cannot) get away with just re-sharpening and continue welding.

If after a re sharpen the arc glows or emits different colors that indicates some of the contamination is still in the tungsten, also the tip will not last as long with the still contaminated tip. That is when you know its time to cut off the 1/8" or whatever is required and grind a fresh point.

Also if I'm running for example a 1/16" (insert any diameter here) tungsten near the top end of it's amperage capacity and dip, the contamination will more then likely be worse because the super heated tungsten will draw the metal into itself rather than just being on the surface.

I tried 80 cfh and I passed out when the argon filled the room. Since the I have backed it down to 60 and open the windows

exnailpounder wrote:I tried 80 cfh and I passed out when the argon filled the room. Since the I have backed it down to 60 and open the windows

Jeff, perhaps you could setup a camera to do a timelapse of a typical day in your shop, should be fun to watch

I usually just sand, or sharpen off the material that sucked onto the piece of tungsten, but too many times doing this you will notice ill effects (splitting, balling etc...) So I welded some tin snips off to the side of my desk and I use them to snap off the last 1/4" or so of tungsten and then I regrind and start over. Or use chemsharp because that stuff is awesome.

weldit321@gmail.com wrote:I usually just sand, or sharpen off the material that sucked onto the piece of tungsten, but too many times doing this you will notice ill effects (splitting, balling etc...) So I welded some tin snips off to the side of my desk and I use them to snap off the last 1/4" or so of tungsten and then I regrind and start over. Or use chemsharp because that stuff is awesome.

Cutting the tungsten with tin snips, have you had any issues with the tungsten splitting? Also would like to see your tin snip setup if possible.

LtBadd wrote:

weldit321@gmail.com wrote:I usually just sand, or sharpen off the material that sucked onto the piece of tungsten, but too many times doing this you will notice ill effects (splitting, balling etc...) So I welded some tin snips off to the side of my desk and I use them to snap off the last 1/4" or so of tungsten and then I regrind and start over. Or use chemsharp because that stuff is awesome.

Cutting the tungsten with tin snips, have you had any issues with the tungsten splitting? Also would like to see your tin snip setup if possible.

Tin snips will cut tungsten? I use side cutters on 1/16" but they won't cut 3/32" without splitting it. I bet snips would really mangle a tungsten.