Ask your WELDING questions here.

[Poolside]

Originally Posted by Skippii

Is this weld any good?
7014, AC.

Sorta looks like everything's melted together, but you can't always tell from a picture. I've welded twin axle trailer tongues that didn't look as good.

[Dale950]

I'm looking at purchasing a new welder ( only have an old Arc ) , Ive been away from welding for years but I used to do it a lot in my work . I want at least a Mig , gasless or both .
Even something that could weld aluminium would be good ?
What's new in Welders now ?
I just think I seen one that can do Arc , Mig & Tig , is that true ?

Thanks

[DaBit]

I aquired a DC-TIG welder not that long ago. One of those older transformer based units. It came with a WP-17 torch.

Now, I'm used to small and light tools (in my daily life I do some soldering which often involves electronic components with 0,5mm/20mil pin-to-pin pitch). That WP-17 torch is quite huge, and the hose connecting the torch to the welder is not that flexible at all. This is especially a 'problem' when welding small-diameter pipe. I suppose it will improve with more hours behind the torch, but still.

Since I am welding below 100Amps with an 1,6mm - 1/16" tungsten 90% of the time: aren't there smaller, lighter torches with a more flexible hose/cable? What's the hot setup for this?

[Strong Bad]

The low quality welding cable is not as flexible due to it has less strands of wire while making the same gauge as quality cable. Also air cooled torches are more bulky than water cooled.

[DaBit]

Originally Posted by Strong Bad

The low quality welding cable is not as flexible due to it has less strands of wire while making the same gauge as quality cable. Also air cooled torches are more bulky than water cooled.

I don't think I have low-quality welding cable.

The machine is a Lastek LASWIG 160 DC-H. Which is, as far as I know, a relabeled Fronius design. Should be OK, right?
The ground clamp is a sturdy one with heavy gauge flexible cable. Not one of those Chinese welding cables with a crocodile clamp on it. I think the torch is the same quality, but they wrapped the welding hose/cable plus the control cable in a woven (nylon?) sheeting to prevent damage.

I think that it's designed for far higher currents than what I'm using, which requires heavier gauge cable and a larger torch than necessary.

Is the difference in 'ease of manouvring' between a nice, small watercooled torch and the WP-17 aircooled torch huge? And which one would you recommend for up to 100Amps welding current (80 amps would be fine too) and 1,6mm (1/16") tungsten?

[mark1305]

Dumb question time...

I know you can't lay gas cylinders down and draw from them if they contain liguid (like acetylene tanks with the acetone and maybe CO2 which is liquid at normal tank pressres), But, can you lay argon and argon/CO2 (C25) cylinders down while using them?

My reason for asking is that I'm looking at shrinking the footprint of my MIG cart. I already put up with using a 40 cu ft bottle of C25 to keep the package small, but I noticed that if I could position the bottle under the welder just a few degrees above horizontal I can trim the cart down to make room for other things on the limited floor space I call a garage/shop.

TIA.

[tbarstow]

Originally Posted by mark1305

Dumb question time...

I know you can't lay gas cylinders down and draw from them if they contain liguid (like acetylene tanks with the acetone and maybe CO2 which is liquid at normal tank pressres), But, can you lay argon and argon/CO2 (C25) cylinders down while using them?

My reason for asking is that I'm looking at shrinking the footprint of my MIG cart. I already put up with using a 40 cu ft bottle of C25 to keep the package small, but I noticed that if I could position the bottle under the welder just a few degrees above horizontal I can trim the cart down to make room for other things on the limited floor space I call a garage/shop.

TIA.

Yes, you can use them in any direction.

[Poolside]

What °K is your workshop? I mean, generally.

[mark1305]

Originally Posted by Poolside

What °K is your workshop? I mean, generally.

I just have to ask the smart ass retort, "Why, what temp range will argon or argon mixes between 80 psi and 1800 psi liquefy?" ( my tanks typically start at 1800-2000 psi and my regulator is the 80 psi type, so that's the residual pressure in the tank when flow stops.)

But my shop probably averages around 302.6 Kelvin for 6-9 months out of the year. Yeah, it's a sweatfest all except the coolest months of the year. I have to keep an oiled rag next to the bench to wipe sweat droplets off my cheap ass Chinese mill/lathe to keep it from flash rustng overnight where I touch bare metal parts of it. I spray all bare metal tools down with Maxxima Chain Wax at least once a year to prevent flash rust from the humidity.(And it works great). Welcome to Floriduh.

[tricepilot]

Ah, just what I was looking for.

Just bought a used Miller Dynasty 200 DX TIG, and am being given some lessons/pointers/tips/help etc. from two different welding shop owner/friends.

Ultimate goal is to be able to build a chromemoly bicycle frame or even something from this website:

atomic zombie

I have a bunch of scrap, a table, filler rods (for steel), tungsten, etc. For now, I'm just running beads and practicing joints, at different amperages. Just trying to "learn how to ride a bike", type of thing.

I purposely passed up arc and MIG welding and went straight to TIG. I know that gas welding is a good precursor to TIG welding...too late.

I have two auto darkening welding helmets, and as soon as I can get decent at it, I'll be passing the hobby on to my son. I hope he stays with me and sees how I mess up.

I'll be reading through this thread now that I've found it.

My current roadblock: laying down "dimes"/using filler rod. I still have to find out what "dipping" really means. I'm at the point, I think, where I'm using the torch to melt the rod, and I know that's not good. Tonight I practiced correct angle on both the torch and the rod, and dipping the rod into the puddle.

If there's a good video that explains how to coordinate the filler rod, amp control (foot pedal) and moving the torch along the workpiece, I'm all

Just got a box of clamps via UPS today. I purpose to practice, practice, practice, then head up to Ashland to attend the frame building class at

United Bicycle Institute

Ergo, forgive me for not pre-reading the thread before posting. I just got all excited with I saw the title and just jumped in.

Kinda how I operate.

[Poolside]

Originally Posted by mark1305

I just have to ask the smart ass retort, "Why, what temp range will argon or argon mixes between 80 psi and 1800 psi liquefy?" ( my tanks typically start at 1800-2000 psi and my regulator is the 80 psi type, so that's the residual pressure in the tank when flow stops.)

But my shop probably averages around 302.6 Kelvin for 6-9 months out of the year. Yeah, it's a sweatfest all except the coolest months of the year.

The Argon will be a gas at those temps and pressures. But at those temps the CO2 will be liquid above around 1000psi or thereabouts. Which will not be much of a problem if the liquid gas doesn't pass through the regulator. With a 25% mix the liquid will not reach the valve even with the tank flat on its side.

But something to think about with an Argon/CO2 mixture is the ratio of the output when the CO2 is liquid.

[mark1305]

That last sentence is an interesting point. (You can tell I'm not up on all the relevant gas's behavior.) But as a mix, will the CO2 precipitate out and liquefy at around 1K psi? Or being in a mixture, will it remain in the gas state and in the mixture? I'm guessing since argon is inert, there would be no molecular bonding in the mix to prevent separation, and the gaseous mixture is sustained primarily/only by Brownian Movement.

If the CO2 is sloshing around as a liquid in the bottom of the tank until I draw the pressure down below the liquefication threshold, I'd be more worried about it hitting the regulator as a liquid if I had the tank laid down too far - not very likely if C25 tanks have no siphon and draw from directly under the regulator, but if you knew my luck with abnormal incidents... And for what I normally weld, having the mixture shift toward the argon component wouldn't hurt anything except when I'm at the machine's limit on mild steel and looking for better penetration from the presence of CO2.

Are all you lurkers taking notes? This is one of those light hearted give & take exchanges that should illuminate some of the more esoteric issues that sooner or later come into play while you're welding.

[Poolside]

You can always mix your own, with one tank each of argon and CO2. Get you a couple of cheap Chinese flow meters, and crank up the CO2 above 25% when the conditions need it.

[tricepilot]

The classic "stack of dimes" look - I read somewhere in this thread that it applies to aluminum.

If so, why not steel.....but more importantly.....how does one coordinate amp control/filler rod/torch movement to get the "look"

[Pablo83]

Originally Posted by tricepilot

The classic "stack of dimes" look - I read somewhere in this thread that it applies to aluminum.

If so, why not steel

I've seen it done with steel also. This look is specific to TIG welding and Alu is most commonly TIG welded. Steel is welded with many processes that each have a different look.

Originally Posted by tricepilot

how does one coordinate amp control/filler rod/torch movement to get the "look"

Practice