Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm currently writing my thesis work, which I found to be a BIG job. So I have lately read quite much books and articles about TIG- and TIG-orbital welding and also stainless steels.
Conclusion so far... Shit that how few I truthfully knew about welding and material science!

So all those articles, books and pictures of welds around here and Facebook made me think that what makes a good welder?
Is a person a good welder who just melts two metals together and who don't care less about what bead look like? I don't think so. To me good welder is 100 % keen about welding and always want to improve his own skils.

That is the main reason why I like this forum. Despite that this is down and dirty style forum, we can still create developing topics that aren't neseccarily about welding. Where people share their thoughts and everyone learns a thing or two. Good example is back purge topic, where we are talking about metallurgy! Not usually very muched talked topic among welders

So thanks for everyone and lets keep up the good work!

Now back to this topic. Found this very well written article about tungstens. It contains good basic knowledge, but also some more precise. Enjoy
http://www.google.fi/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& ... 5269,d.bGQ

Markus,

Many of the welding forums I've visited are just people trying to show off, and "one-up" each other. I certainly don't belong there, as my welds often disappoint me where appearance is concerned.

Here, everyone seems to be truly interested in learning more about what they do... and will put out the effort to find and share information.

That's the difference between a "welder" and a "craftsman"... The desire to constantly improve. Not just in skills, but in knowledge.

I, for one, appreciate the effort you've put forth. I realize you have a specific goal, in your Master's Thesis, but it shows you understand where most of us are coming from.

I'll have to take a minute or three to read the link you posted.

Steve S

found Diamond Ground products many years ago their info is right on and have used their products since.
Prices in the ball park compared to LWS

Best of all the info is complete and" FREE" pdf or will send the booklet

also will provide 1/2 sticks of a sample by request. Prompt shipping and you can call in orders or just talk

Flattening tip of the tungsten was new for me. Has anyone tried it?

I haven't tried it on DC, but it helps keep the tungsten in good shape on my transformer on AC. I might give it a try on DC on some heavier steel to see if changes anything.

And amen to what you and Steve posted above. This place is fantastic.

Markus wrote:Flattening tip of the tungsten was new for me. Has anyone tried it?

I have considered it but wonder how I would do it. I use a bench grinder. I wouldn't want to grind a needle point and then hold the tungsten perpendicular to the wheel at speed - that's a recipe for disaster.

I use belt sander or tungsten grinder to blunt tip. square off end ,like spark plug makes an easy arc start, tends to keep tip cleaner without melt back .

I normally do it AC and DC, although I've never experienced tungsten erosion to the extent where it really makes a difference on DC. I've used needle points and blunted both, and find that while starts with the blunted are nice, if your not square-ish when you flatten it it kind of makes the arc go a little wonky on startup.

--Sam

http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/tungsten/geometry.htm

http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/tungste ... ngsten.pdf

For what it's worth, I've been putting a small flat on my tungsten (typically 3/32 thoriated) for welding sch 10 stainless steel pipe. A needle point tends to cause easy tip deformation. It seems to control the heat a bit better as well. Regardless, I'm keeping the flat.

Jody's put out some great info in his vids about manipulating the tip of your tungsten to control the arc behavior.

I've put a fine point on a 3/32 electrode and flattened it a bit for use at relativeley low amperage, where you might use a 1/16th to get a smaller ball and a tighter bead at a higher frequency.

2% Lan is good for this, because of its higher arc stability at lower amperages for a given diameter electrode. My experience has been that to try what I've mentioned above with a 2% Thor or a Pure electrode will have you inventing words you don't want your kids repeating.

I haven't experimented much with this stuff on DC, but I'll tell you, if you're on AC and having trouble with your bead width and your adjustments to Freq and Balance aren't quite getting you where you want to go, start trying some new ideas with your tip grinding. It can make all the difference in my experience. (I run a Thermal Arc 186 200 amp inverter, which may be a relevant point to throw in here, Things get different with transformer machines from what I understand).

There's tidbits of all this stuff sporadically through a bunch of the WT&T vids, but I can't remember if he dedicated one to this or not. I know he did one (or more) on electrodes in a general sense that touched on it.