Welding Tips and Tricks

tweake wrote:i'm a beginner but my 2cents worth.

keep in mind welding is only 10% of the job. your going to spend a lot of time setting up, cleaning, prepping and then 30 sec welding. 8 hours actual welding can be a lot.

i would not worry to much about gas lens just yet.
standard gear will do fine. jody has some great footage of some excellent welding done with just standard gear.
tho i can understand wanting to save gas with a gas lens.
furick/clear cups, same thing. tho someone mentioned you need a very good helmet to work with them as the extra light plays tricks with cheap sensors.
they are handy but not needed.

wedge collets are great but split collets work just fine to.

chop saw, you can't use metal blades with them as the rpm is wrong.
a band saw would be good. but if just starting an angle grinder with cut of wheels and good old fashion hacksaw.

fumes, garage door and a cheap fan.

i'm not sure about the tungsten or alloy filler rod. tho i did just get er4043.
i try to go for filler rod that works with as much stuff as possible.

gas, no idea. depends on whats available locally. over this side of the world i went with hire bottles. buy your own are expensive and can be rejected for refill for stupid reasons.

i hope that helps.

cj737 wrote:I differ in some areas than Tweake...

GAS - lease a bottle from your LWS. Its much, much easier. An 80 tank is small and it tends to run low at the worst possible moments. Either you're too low on a Friday to finish your work through Monday, OR, you exchange and refill it and are wasting 1/4 of your gas. Leased bottles can be refilled by any location of that store nationwide.

TUNGSTEN - Get 3/32 and 1/8. Ditch the 1/16. 2% Lanthanated with an inverter will serve you perfectly.

FILLER ROD - ER70S2 in 1/16, 3/32 and 1/8 and you can weld the world. Brand doesn't matter too much really, I get 10# boxes of Crown Alloy through IOC delivered cost effectively.

For aluminum, I use only 4943 and 5356 in 3/32 and 1/8. I stopped using 4043 after experimenting with 4943.

STUBBY GAS LENS - If you opt for Furick cups, you want Miller brand gas lenses. They have a dedicated O-ring slot, are larger surface area, and hold his Pyrex cups much better. And you DO want to use a gas lens from the get-go. Cups I use 5, 8 and 12s. I switched over to his ceramic cups recently and am getting better mileage out of them as I tend to break things when they hit the shop floor

For his 8 cup, you'll run ~15CFH, up to 25CFH with a 12. Argon is your friend when welding, use it lovingly. Your welds like it, your tungsten appreciates it, and the LWS is delighted when you refill it.

SAWS - Tough question, but if I had to chose a single saw it would be flip bandsaw with a quality blade. Aluminum you can cut with a Compound miter saw with a rough tooth easily, but steel wants lots of fine teeth, a carbide blade, and slow speed to protect your blade. A grinder is a must anyway, so grab a decent stock of slicer wheels and flap disks. You can make lots of quick cuts and fast work of your cutting with a quality Metabo angle grinder.

FUME EXTRACTION - Use good, common sense. If you're welding in your garage shop, install an attic fan in the gable end. Unless yours is fully insulated, there's ample inbound air penetrating to help cycle the air-air exchange with a mechanical exhaust fan. You should NEVER weld on galvanized indoors or out, so mild steel, aluminum, and stainless don't really produce enough toxins that simple common sense and some air circulation won't provide adequate safety. (Provided you aren't welding in a broom closet )

VOLTAGE - If you plan to weld aluminum on TIG, you'd best upgrade your service to 220v. you can get away with 110 on DC for thin stuff, but your machine will have no duty cycle, insufficient heat range and not get you where you need to go with 110v service.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

jwmelvin wrote:You sound like me from a few months ago.

I rented a 330 cf tank; local suppliers don’t deal with any customer tanks larger than 80 cf and that seemed annoying. And larger tanks are a lot less for the gas itself.

I bought a gas-lens kit on Amazon for my -20 torch (smaller so no stubby required). It seems to work fine. While I have noted the wedge collet, I haven’t bought any yet. I’ve been using the Midwest Tungsten 3/32”, 2% lanthated and it seems fine so far.

I bought a variety of filler but probably shouldn’t have gotten 3/32” ER70-S6 as it seems 1/16” is more appropriate for most of what I do. For aluminum, 3/32” filler is good (for 1/8” work) and I have both 4043 and 5356. It sounds like 4934 is much better than 4043 but I didn’t know that at the time. I also got some of the 308L stainless rod to experiment with and 309L for mixed steel. And Si-bronze and Al-bronze. Bakers Gas Supply was good for filler; check them and Amazon.

I recently bought the 4x6 HF bandsaw and it seems good though haven’t yet adjusted it to cut straight and changed the blade. I do have the new blade (from McMaster) and will adjust the rollers when I put that on.

You will need angle grinders. I have three and it’s barely enough (cutoff wheel, grinding wheel, sanding disc); could use one with a wire cup too. I just got a small angle for grinder to help too.

So far fumes haven’t been a huge issue. I wear a half-face 3M cartridge respirator with P95 dust filters and that helps considerably. On the recommendation of someone here or on WW I bought a Striker Supreme XL helmet and it is fantastic.

You will want some TIG gloves. I’m experimenting with a few of the Tillman options.

tungstendipper wrote:Get as many cutting devices as you can (as time goes by, you will). It's nice to have options.

ex framie wrote:Datto 1600,
I ended up buying my bottles.
But we seem to have a different system here in oz.
I have 2 D sized bottles, when empty I call the supplier I bought them from and they deliver a serviceable full one. You just pay for the gas, a price that in the usa would make your eyes bleed.
Bottles here have a 10 year life before inspection.
Also they run about 500 psi less than the monthly rental one from boc, liquid aire and core gas.
Still im about 300 a year in front over renral of 2 bottles.
The rest you seem to gave a handle on.
Cheers

Datsun510 wrote: SAWS - You say "...would be flip bandsaw" Is that a typo, or a type of bandsaw?

-Cory

Franz© wrote:OK, you got a machine, and you got a cylinder of gas, and it sounds like the man who sold you the cylinder was fairly honest since he gave you a pressure gauge and explained how to use it to you.

Now, lets look at what you haven't got!
It definitely sounds like you haven't got experience welding with a gas torch, so you're going to read a truckload of crap on the InTURDnet, and believe too much of it.
Then again, what do I know, I only been at this trade since before Heliarc came along in every shop.

FIRST, build yourself a decent VENTILATION system, NOT an Exhaust System, before you grab your first Argon headache or puke in your helmet. You don't need either experience. Ventilation means replacement air for the contaminated air the fan sucks out. DO IT RIGHT!

Then grab a hunk of Tungsten, and some steel and spend a few hours learning what you can do with the arc. Don't even think about sticking 2 pieces together, just learn how to walk the arc around and control puddles. Don't get all wrapped up in which Tungsten BigmouthBob on the Welderbaiter board said to use, we did it all with 1 grade of Tungsten for 20 years before all the experts came along and we did it pretty well too.
Don't even try adding filler to the puddle till you can steer the arc where it needs to go.

Once you have the arc down, start trying to add filler and grinding tungsten.

Once you got the grinding and filler down, clamp a couple pieces up and see if you can stick them together without adding filler. When you have that conquered, run down to the toy store and get yourself some playdough and some popsicle sticks. That will allow you to learn weld building cheap and without a helmet. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper.
When you get it firmly understood the popsicle stick is your torch arc, put the helmet on and duplicate what you did with the playdough with the torch.

Now practice till you can do it laying flat on the bench with repeat-ability. Don't even think about vertical till you have horizontal down. Also don't try aluminum till you have steel conquered.

You should have thrown the shopping list out someplace along the time line.

tweake wrote:

Datsun510 wrote: SAWS - You say "...would be flip bandsaw" Is that a typo, or a type of bandsaw?

-Cory

i think hes referring to a horizontal bandsaw that can flip up and become a vertical bandsaw.

tungstendipper wrote:What a sweet car!! How quick is it? Horsepower? Weight?

Franz© wrote:OK, you got a machine, and you got a cylinder of gas, and it sounds like the man who sold you the cylinder was fairly honest since he gave you a pressure gauge and explained how to use it to you.

Now, lets look at what you haven't got!
It definitely sounds like you haven't got experience welding with a gas torch, so you're going to read a truckload of crap on the InTURDnet, and believe too much of it.
Then again, what do I know, I only been at this trade since before Heliarc came along in every shop.

FIRST, build yourself a decent VENTILATION system, NOT an Exhaust System, before you grab your first Argon headache or puke in your helmet. You don't need either experience. Ventilation means replacement air for the contaminated air the fan sucks out. DO IT RIGHT!

Then grab a hunk of Tungsten, and some steel and spend a few hours learning what you can do with the arc. Don't even think about sticking 2 pieces together, just learn how to walk the arc around and control puddles. Don't get all wrapped up in which Tungsten BigmouthBob on the Welderbaiter board said to use, we did it all with 1 grade of Tungsten for 20 years before all the experts came along and we did it pretty well too.
Don't even try adding filler to the puddle till you can steer the arc where it needs to go.

Once you have the arc down, start trying to add filler and grinding tungsten.

Once you got the grinding and filler down, clamp a couple pieces up and see if you can stick them together without adding filler. When you have that conquered, run down to the toy store and get yourself some playdough and some popsicle sticks. That will allow you to learn weld building cheap and without a helmet. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper.
When you get it firmly understood the popsicle stick is your torch arc, put the helmet on and duplicate what you did with the playdough with the torch.

Now practice till you can do it laying flat on the bench with repeat-ability. Don't even think about vertical till you have horizontal down. Also don't try aluminum till you have steel conquered.

You should have thrown the shopping list out someplace along the time line.

Franz© wrote:I got a whole bottle full of pills for the blood pressure so no need for concern on that score.

Maybe this approach will work for you.
Ya learn to drive the B-210 before you even think about the Z car.

Melting metal together so it turns back solid someplace other than on the floor is an ancient black art, and electric melters didn't come along till the last century.

When you have a rod in one hand and a torch in the other and you're trying to see through a wall and make it happen, there is just too much going on for a kid with no experience to get through. If you mastered O/A from behind a shade 5 lens you have a good start on mastering Heliarc. That process has only been around since the 60s.

It's not all that hard if you go about it 1 metal at a time, and understand you'll drop a lot of puddles on the floor. Might even be easier than welding aluminum with Oxy/Hydrogen.

Take a break between steel and aluminum and learn about oxidation rates and spend some time learning the difference between a solvent and a cleaner.

cj737 wrote:TIG welding can be done by mere mortals with some guidance, lots of practice, and more guidance along the way. Given your confession about your objectives and background, I think you'll be rather capable of getting 2 pieces of metal to stick together without risking someone's life needlessly.

Your 110v welder will be your limitation, not your ambition or devotion or interest. Whenever you can, wire up a 220v outlet near a workbench and close to the garage door (so you can work outside when appropriate) and then invest in a welder more suited to your interest level and needs. A 110v TIG will do "auto" and restoration type work on steel all day long. It won't be a production level machine, and it will miss some fancy features, but with some patience and technique, it will do the job.

I dig the 510. Lots!

Edit: I just realized from your other thread you have an AHP. Very capable machine, so ignore that bit above. But it sounds like you might need the power receptacle perhaps? To do ally TIG, you will want 220v.

Franz© wrote:I was just busting your chops. I hear you, Franz.
As the old saying goes, "There are many roads to Rome". I'll pick one, for three, and enjoy the inevitable lessons of humility on the way.

I recently bought the book called Metals And How to Weld Them, so I figure that's a good start at understanding the basics.
I don't have the money, nor the space, to buy an O/A setup, so I'll have to just figure out Heliarc the hard way, one error at a time. Luckily my living isn't based on welding, so I've got time to make puddles on the floor.

You put me in mind of a young buck back in the 60s, got on a brewery job where an old pipe weldor was nailing together 2-4" stainless beer pipes and some black iron pipe too. That old man was a real golden arm, and the young buck figured he'd get some learning. Young buck had his own Lincoln buzzbox at home, and on the way out one night the old golden arm handed the young buck a fist full of SS rod telling him to go burn and learn. Few days later they're having lunch and the old boy asks the young buck how he's doing with the SS. Young buck sits there and hangs his head admitting he can't keep that damn rod burning to save his ass.

Golden arm pulls a paperback rod book out of his pocket and tosses it to the young buck. Young buck thumbs through and when he gets to the right page he sees the rod is DC only. That afternoon the young buck gave that same rod a try on the SA 200 and learned SS is sweeter than butter. Young buck learned, old man taught. You gotta know what you're welding together and what you got to use before you start the machine,, The weld is made between the ears of the man behind the mask long before the arc is struck. Learn all you can, and have a plan before you move.

I still have that book, don't have all the fancy rods in it we have today, don't have anything about MIG in it, or Heliarc but it's the most valuable book I own.

Datsun510 wrote: Metals And How to Weld Them

What's the name of the book?