How easy is it to tig weld?

[FranV8]

to be honest i think that matter on your money situation and whether you would like to learn tig welding, if you are really interested in welding as you said it was your ultimate goal why not do a course? mig is the easiest to weld and tig at the highest level can bring up an amazing finish. comparing the best mig welding i have seen and best tig i can easily say tig provide alot nice finish, your runs can be thinner and neater as your in more control and less heat is added into metal, mainly where you are welding where as mig adds alot of heat to the whole material

I think you'll find TIG has greater heat input than MIG, TIG is more likely to warp the workpiece, MIG has greater risk of cold non penetrating welds.

 

[Water skier 16]

Immensly !!! I'm trying not to be rude but are you aware of whats involved in the various processes ???

I understand powder coating, but with chroming all i know is that it looks abit like stainless steel but corrodes easier. With regards to welding i have read up on MIG and TIG but i dont know the steps of post weld cleaning of stainless with TIG.
Sorry for the stupid questions!
Cheers James

 

[Robotstar5]

Sorry for the stupid questions!

The only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask!

 

[langy]

I understand powder coating, but with chroming all i know is that it looks abit like stainless steel but corrodes easier. With regards to welding i have read up on MIG and TIG but i dont know the steps of post weld cleaning of stainless with TIG.
Sorry for the stupid questions!
Cheers James

I will reply tomorrow unless someone chips in in the meanwhile as my head is hurting

 

[Water skier 16]

I will reply tomorrow unless someone chips in in the meanwhile as my head is hurting

Sorry Langy.

 

[hotrodder]

Chromium is what makes steel 'stainless'. With stainless the corrosion resistance comes from a surface rich in chromium oxide. Under normal conditions this oxide layer is self healing in that scratches etc expose fresh material to the oxygen in air. While chromium oxide protects the finished piece this affinity (attraction) for oxygen makes life more fiddly during welding as the back of stainless often needs to be protected i.e. will oxidise like mad if air isn't kept away. For more detail google/search this site for tems like 'passivation' and/or search the TIG forum for 'purge'

Chrome plating in the sense we're talking about is mostly decorative. The actual chrome layer is the last applied, is crazy thin and provides the 'colour' and depth of shine but we're getting ahead of ourselves...
As Langy said first everything is polished (as with painting preperation IS EVERYTHING), then it's copper plated, polished again (the copper can be used kinda like body filler would be i.e. to fill minor imperfections). Then the part is nickel plated (this is what provides most of the protection) before the trip to the chrome tank. Plating, like paint/powdercoating, can't 'heal' itself. Chrome is very hard but once it's damaged it's damaged and you have to start over

As long as the welder knows what they're doing and doesn't have the DTs then post weld clean up with TIG fillet welds is minimal. There'll be some heat tint to remove which is actually a 'thickened' oxide layer which shows up as different colours due to it refracting light differently. It'll disappear during polishing. Same deal with butt welds but it'd be more common to sand the weld flush for a seamless look. A search of this site for 'pickling' will get you more on stainless finishing and the various different techniques depending on the finish required

 

[Water skier 16]

Thanks for that information, much appreciated!
Cheers James

 

[TwoByFour]

Unless you have endless money I advise you to stay away from stainless. I went wild on stainless when outfitting my sailboat. The stainless cost about 2 times what the "Grade-A" shipbuilding steel that went into building the 34' hull did. It's nice and shiny and all that, but if I were to do it again I would not go anywhere near as far with the stainless. The cost and fabrication/shining time it takes is just insane compared to painted (with a proper marine environment paint system) or hot-dip galvanized mild-steel. If I had done it from regular steel instead, I could replace it all several times before the cost would come close to all the stainless.

Most of what we humans build ends up in the landfill or smelter sooner or later anyway (boats sink, cars get crashed) and it doesn't really matter whether it is shiny or not when it gets scrapped.

Fabricating something from stainless is...

• Many times more expensive than mild-steel.
• Much harder to form or bend than mild-steel.
• Much harder on drills and other cutting tools and requires slower cutting speeds and better lubrication/cooling.
• Is very slow compared to mild-steel due to all the small things you need to worry about. Stainless must not get in touch with regular steel, requires special tools for stainless so that it doesn't get contaminated. If you are aiming for high standards (which is the only way to work with stainless in my opinion) you pretty much can't work on stainless stuff at a facility where you usually work with mild-steel and you certainly can't work on a stainless project alongside a mild-steel one in the same facility.
• Polishing stainless to a mirror shine takes endless time, depending on how poor the initial finish was and how shiny you want it to be.

I would encourage you to make a roll-cage from mild-steel and...

• Have it chrome-plated as suggested in an earlier post.
• Paint it or have it powder-coated.
• Have it hot-dip galvanized (zinc) if that is aesthetically pleasing enough. No worries about corrosion for about 20-50 years and the cost is probably about the same as if you were to paint it. You could even have it powder-coated over the zinc plating if the zink wasn't pretty enough for you.

Also, MIG is much faster and much more efficient than TIG. In my opinion MIG welds can be just as pretty as TIG welds, just in a different way. They May not be as 'solid' or strong (penetration/gas entrapment), but for most everyday applications that is not an issue.

Carl.

 

[Water skier 16]

Thanks for that information Carl, much appreciated.
Cheers James

 

[langy]

Unless you have endless money I advise you to stay away from stainless. I went wild on stainless when outfitting my sailboat. The stainless cost about 2 times what the "Grade-A" shipbuilding steel that went into building the 34' hull did. It's nice and shiny and all that, but if I were to do it again I would not go anywhere near as far with the stainless. The cost and fabrication/shining time it takes is just insane compared to painted (with a proper marine environment paint system) or hot-dip galvanized mild-steel. If I had done it from regular steel instead, I could replace it all several times before the cost would come close to all the stainless.

Most of what we humans build ends up in the landfill or smelter sooner or later anyway (boats sink, cars get crashed) and it doesn't really matter whether it is shiny or not when it gets scrapped.

Fabricating something from stainless is...

• Many times more expensive than mild-steel.
• Much harder to form or bend than mild-steel.
• Much harder on drills and other cutting tools and requires slower cutting speeds and better lubrication/cooling.
• Is very slow compared to mild-steel due to all the small things you need to worry about. Stainless must not get in touch with regular steel, requires special tools for stainless so that it doesn't get contaminated. If you are aiming for high standards (which is the only way to work with stainless in my opinion) you pretty much can't work on stainless stuff at a facility where you usually work with mild-steel and you certainly can't work on a stainless project alongside a mild-steel one in the same facility.
• Polishing stainless to a mirror shine takes endless time, depending on how poor the initial finish was and how shiny you want it to be.

I would encourage you to make a roll-cage from mild-steel and...

• Have it chrome-plated as suggested in an earlier post.
• Paint it or have it powder-coated.
• Have it hot-dip galvanized (zinc) if that is aesthetically pleasing enough. No worries about corrosion for about 20-50 years and the cost is probably about the same as if you were to paint it. You could even have it powder-coated over the zinc plating if the zink wasn't pretty enough for you.

Also, MIG is much faster and much more efficient than TIG. In my opinion MIG welds can be just as pretty as TIG welds, just in a different way. They May not be as 'solid' or strong (penetration/gas entrapment), but for most everyday applications that is not an issue.

Carl.

While I agree on some points 90% of this is untrue, I guess all the stainless stuff I make is now scrap !!!

 

[Robotstar5]

I guess all the stainless stuff I make is now scrap !!!

Yes, you're going to have to throw it all away and redo the 'rod in galvanised mild steel?

 

[langy]

Yes, you're going to have to throw it all away and redo the 'rod in galvanised mild steel?

Why do people feel compelled to answer these threads when they obviously dont know the answers !!!

 

[Morris]

Unless you have endless money I advise you to stay away from stainless. I went wild on stainless when outfitting my sailboat. The stainless cost about 2 times what the "Grade-A" shipbuilding steel that went into building the 34' hull did. It's nice and shiny and all that, but if I were to do it again I would not go anywhere near as far with the stainless. The cost and fabrication/shining time it takes is just insane compared to painted (with a proper marine environment paint system) or hot-dip galvanized mild-steel. If I had done it from regular steel instead, I could replace it all several times before the cost would come close to all the stainless.

Most of what we humans build ends up in the landfill or smelter sooner or later anyway (boats sink, cars get crashed) and it doesn't really matter whether it is shiny or not when it gets scrapped.

Fabricating something from stainless is...

• Many times more expensive than mild-steel.
• Much harder to form or bend than mild-steel.
• Much harder on drills and other cutting tools and requires slower cutting speeds and better lubrication/cooling.
• Is very slow compared to mild-steel due to all the small things you need to worry about. Stainless must not get in touch with regular steel, requires special tools for stainless so that it doesn't get contaminated. If you are aiming for high standards (which is the only way to work with stainless in my opinion) you pretty much can't work on stainless stuff at a facility where you usually work with mild-steel and you certainly can't work on a stainless project alongside a mild-steel one in the same facility.
• Polishing stainless to a mirror shine takes endless time, depending on how poor the initial finish was and how shiny you want it to be.

I would encourage you to make a roll-cage from mild-steel and...

• Have it chrome-plated as suggested in an earlier post.
• Paint it or have it powder-coated.
• Have it hot-dip galvanized (zinc) if that is aesthetically pleasing enough. No worries about corrosion for about 20-50 years and the cost is probably about the same as if you were to paint it. You could even have it powder-coated over the zinc plating if the zink wasn't pretty enough for you.

Also, MIG is much faster and much more efficient than TIG. In my opinion MIG welds can be just as pretty as TIG welds, just in a different way. They May not be as 'solid' or strong (penetration/gas entrapment), but for most everyday applications that is not an issue.

Carl.

Well, it is more expensive than mild steel so you got that bit right.