Ask your WELDING questions here.

Yes.

In the last two years, I melted two, because I'm a dumbass.

Anyone figure out a way to automate the water flow so that an idiot who always remembers to plug-in the water cooler but often forgets to turn it on can save himself the embarasment and expense of replacing the torch lead?

I did it once. The cost of the hose and time it takes to change it are enough to remember. I now have two tig machines. Now if one breaks I can keep working.

Some machines will not turn power if the water solenoid is not on.

Sent from the phone in my shoe. Maxwell Smart.

I got the pump to work, it had dried out coolant sticking the vanes. I took it off and soaked it in some vinegar and hot water. I thought I needed a new pump, a quick google search showed that they use this PROCON pump on espresso machines, They get gunked up sitting for a long time and people soak them in acid to free them up. worked for me!

She plugs into the back of the unit, so when you flip the power switch on the welder it turns on.

Now I just need some argon. Pretty sure the cylinder I have is out of date, it also has 750psi of 75% argonx25% co2 mix. Any takers in Fort Collins?

How much is a large tank of argon going for these days if you own the tank? I don't want to get screwed.

In California a full tank of argon runs about $120.

For those that are prone to melting power cables on water cooled TIG Torches they make a brass fitting that has a fuseable link that melts before you fry the cable. Last one I bought was about the same price as a power cable. The replacement fuse strips are only a couple of bucks for a package.

Yes three lines black hose has gas usually 100% Argon with right hand threads
Second line is red has the conductor inside of it with left hand threads for water
Third line blue is return line also left hand threads for water.

Dont run the torch without the pump on. Even if there is water in your lines. You wont have very many seconds to weld without a pump running. Most Lincoln TIG rigs have a switched AC socket in the back to hook a water cooler into if it doesnt have one already built in.

Remove the switch ... so that as soon as you plug in the cooler, the coolant starts circulating?

Well, Duh.
So simple it's brilliant.

Thanks.

Finally had a few minutes to try out my free to me lincoln tombstone welder, and the 7018 AC welding rod that larryboy gave me- mucho thanks to that, I tried welding with the old 7018 rod that was given to me with the welder, it's really difficult to start and keep an arc. With the 7018 AC, it came pretty easy.
And I see that it's much easier to weld thick metal than thin stuff with a stick welder (I knew that before, just confirmed it I guess).
So here's a picture:
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_nivmeCfe5fs-MB-PjbORtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9LaYGqiFQzI/UZl0hW6_6xI/AAAAAAAAE7w/noocnajLJO4/s800/P1020061.JPG" height="600" width="800" /></a>
Not sure if you can really see much, but let me hear the criticism. . . . top weld on the lower piece was my last weld on the thicker steel, it looks ok to me for the first 20 minutes of arc welding, but I need to figure out the pinholes I get once in a while- I assume it's inconsistent arc length? I've found that it's easier for me to weld backhand, which is the opposite of how I learned to oxy-acetylene weld. Probably because the filler rod is in the opposite hand.

For first welds they look good.

I would work on keeping a shorter arc. I see some spatter that is usually caused by too long of arc or dirty metal.

Slow down a little and don't mess with the thin stuff unless you have too.

Keep at it.

Yeah, 7018 is a drag arc type of rod...strike the arc by dragging, then you want to stay almost in contact while welding.

Thanks. It seems like once I get an arc started, I can almost keep the rod coating touching the metal to keep the arc the right length. I was noticing that as I was welding.

Any tips for the thin stuff if I do have to? Or is welding <1/8" with a stick just not done any more? I have some 3/32" rod, it's a lot harder to keep up with than the 1/8".

Looks like you confirmed my suspicion while I was posting. . . . thanks for the welding rod, we'll see if I just use the whole lot of it practicing or not. . .

Things I've notice for welding thinner metal- move faster. Also let the metal cool a LOT before attempting another weld- it retains a lot of heat so once its warmed up you'll blow holes in it a lot faster. You can also lower your amperage and go slower, bit of a trade off there and for me I just have to play with it 'till I get the results I want.

Rough rule of thumb- arc length (gap between the tip of the electrode and the workpiece) should be about the thickness of the welding rod- which means CLOSE!

The pinholes are probably due to the fact that it looks like you're just welding over top of rust / paint / etc...

One last thing- your good weld on the thick metal- notice how where you started the bead is quite a bit higher than where you ended? I believe that is cause by not preheating your metal before you start moving. By the time you get to the end, the metal is good and hot and you are getting a lot better penetration.

Great start! Takes my 7th graders a lot longer than 20 minutes to get to that point!

Thanks! About that paint/rust- I started out having some trouble getting an arc started, and I remembered some things that pro welders have mentioned in the past: have a good ground and prep well. So I cleaned up the ground clamp area, and brushed off the welding area, but there was still some paint and rust.

I've done a fair bit of gas welding and a little bit of mig welding on borrowed equipment before this, so the 20 minutes of welding experience comes with an asterisk.

I'm going to be really tempted by one of those combination stick/dc lift arc tig welders if I end up needing to weld much thin metal and tubing.

14/ga and 12/ga sheet metal can be welded with 3/32 5-p+, 5-p, or 6010 as all three will run at a fairly low amperage. 7018 requires more heat
and is not really suitable or practile for anything lighter than 3/16" (12/ga is about 1/8" and 14 is .0781 or just over 1/16th" thk. 6011 is also a fair light guage stick electrode that has a little quicker "freeze" than the other 60xx mentioned above.

I never had much luck with thinner steel until I got a good measure of experience hobby arc welding. You need to be on your game but in time you should be able to weld 1/8", 3/32" ok. Back the amps off until you can just start & maintain an arc with a 3/32" rod & see how you go. Once you can lay a bead at low amps turn it up a little if required to get adequate penetration.

Everything that is important to a good weld like cleanliness, good joint fit etc becomes critical on thin stuff. You need to be very precise with your starting, speed, feed, stick angle, staying on line, stopping. Make sure you & the work are in just the right position for every run before welding. Like Dorkpunch says, let the work cool, do short runs ideally. I got to where I enjoyed the challenge, it's quite satisfying when you get it right. The new TIG with the foot pedal is like cheating

Cheers
Clint

Found a bit more time to go through a couple more rods today, this time on cleaned steel. Went well. Not sure if the higher amp (145, at bottom) or the lower (130, top two beads) is better. Also did a fillet weld, which went fine, and would be better if I had a longer piece I was welding to get a bit more consistent.

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/R1scqohjwBqRY7L465f06u4BpFZPVMsAsIdfA-OyIm8?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-QdZ4bARph1Y/UZrkLaE1IjI/AAAAAAAAE8M/frFcC8pi1_c/s800/P1020066.JPG" height="800" width="600" /></a>

Looks much nicer!

My usual theory to get the amps right is to try on a test piece & keep crankin em up until I see undercut then back it off a bit Others may have more scientific advice Be aware that as the piece heats up you will need less amps or to move faster - this will be noticeable on smaller bits like your practice scrap.

Cheers
Clint

Thanks, and thanks for the tips on welding thinner metal.

My scrap isn't as small as it looks in the picture, it's about 5" across channel, about 1/4" thick where I'm welding, but about 3/8" thick on the flanges. It heats up, but not as fast as a 1/4" coupon would.

Thats lookin a lot better.
The porosity is caused by improper storage of the rod.