Welding Tips and Tricks

22 guage steel flat but weld what size tungsten and filler would be best? Need to do some practice.

Hey, someone asked a question I definitely know the answer to! I work in automotive restoration. I weld mostly 18-22ga, mostly on the thinner end due to rust, ect.

1/16 tungsten (I like 1.5% lanthanated. have had problems with ceriated splitting)
.030-.045" filler
#4 cup @ 8-9 cfm
small stickout
small arc length (1/16 or less)
30-35 amps DCEN

I don't use pulse currently, but my precision tig 185 only goes to 20hz, so I don't have that puddle agitation range.

I use .045" er70s6 for filling holes (cleco holes and the like) or where there is significant rust you can't remove
and .035" or 1/16" er70s2 for everything else. for 22ga, I'd stick to the smaller rod.

depending on the joint you're doing and the purpose, you can sometimes just melt the two pieces together w/ no filler, which for distortion purposes is the best. if you get everything jigged up right and keep your heat low, you can weld an entire seam in one pass w/ little to no distortion. just remember, keep your hand right on the metal next to the weld. if you have to move your hand, you need to stop and let the metal cool off.

if minor distortion isn't an issue, tack about every .75" and start skipping around filling inbetween the tacks. you'll get some 'darts' where your welds stop, but if you planish the weld, they'll go away for the most part. the skipping around will prevent the part from distorting on a large scale, but as I said, you'll get minor distortion where you stop your welds.

also, at this low amperage, make sure you set your helmet down to a 9 or 10 shade so you can see what you're doing. 30 amps of tig arc really isn't that bright, especially if you keep your arc length short. I weld with a 12 shade @ 90A AC for sheet aluminum, and the arc looks about the same brightness as 30A through a 10 shade.

one thing I will also add, when you're practicing, weld a couple of razor blades edge to edge. I've been welding for a few years and just welding a few razor blades together improved my heat input on thinner materials 200% it's really frustrating at first, but very informative. when you go back to 22ga, it will feel like welding plate. it won't feel like it's always trying to run away.

thanks

ogorir wrote:.....

I use .045" er70s6 for filling holes (cleco holes and the like) or where there is significant rust you can't remove
and .035" or 1/16" er70s2 for everything else. for 22ga, I'd stick to the smaller rod.
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raw mig wire ?; or do you drag it through a piece of sandpaper like a brass filler rod ?

I only use mig wire in a pinch because it's a paint to deal with it coiling around. I bought some .045" er70s-6 cut-length rod that I use for filling small holes.

but, i have used mig wire in the past (after spending 5 minutes trying to straighten it out...). I just used plain old .030" er70s-6 that was left from the end of a spool. no prep, other than to cut the mig blob off the end it's the same wire w/ the same copper coating as the cut-length TIG rod, just cheaper (roll form) and harder to deal with(again, roll form).

kinda makes me want to get a cold wire feeder, as they make er70s-2 on a roll, too, but I can't justify the cost. I only go through about 5 lbs of steel rod a year.