Cold Tig, anyone made there own feeder?

[auswelder]

Just wondering if anyone has made a Cold Tig feeder before.

I'm considering making one as when it comes tig welding i'm not very good at controlling the wire manually.

Over the last few days i've been doing a little research. From what i've gathered its basically the same setup as a mig wire feeder, just the controller is a little different. It has some adjustable timers to add the wire and retract the wire to suit. Some have a pulse option which I probably wouldn't need.

I have a spare wire feeder here, a mig gun which I can use the liner and possibly a few other bits from.

Anyone have any idea what I could do for the controller?

Thanks

 

[pedrobedro]

Are you going to use reels of mig wire with this device or lengths of tig rod ? You could try something a bit less ambitious like holding the rod in a tube like a biro body so it feeds itself by gravity and stop it with your finger but I doubt if you will get the control you need from a mig feed set up. If you could get a motor slow enough or a stepper motor controlled by a rotary potentiometer you could advance a bit at a time.

 

[auswelder]

I would be using spools of mig wire. There are a few companys out there making these setups but there is not a lot of info out there on them. They sure do look like a great idea though, how well they work i'm not sure.

 

[auswelder]

http://www.lincoln.com.pl/pdf/podajnikdrutu.pdf

 

[Shox Dr]

When sitting watching TV, practice feeding a filler rod, you'll find the best way to feed the wire. Start off with a large dia rod 2.4mm, and then work down. It won't take long

 

[auswelder]

But where is the fun in that This would make tig so much quicker and I may even be able to ditch the mig.

 

[Shox Dr]

You have a lot to learn young grasshopper.

Rub on, Rub Off

 

[pedrobedro]

This would make tig so much quicker and I may even be able to ditch the mig.

It's not going to speed the arc or weld puddle up just because it's feeding the wire in for you, the parent metal still melts at the same rate. Speed the deposition up and you'll just get bad welds.

 

[auswelder]

I mean every time I run out of filler wire or when I acidently touch the wire to the tungsten or when the tungsten touches the work piece because i'm using up both my hands

 

[Seano]

I mean every time I run out of filler wire or when I acidently touch the wire to the tungsten or when the tungsten touches the work piece because i'm using up both my hands

Such is the nature of tig welding young padawan...

......practice.......practice..........practice......and then.............practice some more......

WcW

 

[matt1978]

It's not going to speed the arc or weld puddle up just because it's feeding the wire in for you, the parent metal still melts at the same rate. Speed the deposition up and you'll just get bad welds.

Cold Wire feed systems can increase welding speeds. Of course the welding current must be increased first in order to cope with the increase in filler deposition but it can still lead to much faster welding speeds.

Other benefits are for welding really long seams without stopping.

Downsides are the phsical size of the head of the tig torch once it has had the wire delivery tube fitted. It does restrict the range of applications considerably.

Auswelder, the main problem you will have in using a Mig feeder is that they generally dont have a low enough gear ratio to start with, you would have to modify it somehow, so that it will reach lower feed speeds than are required with mig, but it could be done

 

[Weldingartisan]

You have a lot to learn young grasshopper.

Rub on, Rub Off

I think the quote was 'wax on, wax off'. You don't want to encourage to much of this 'rub on, rub off ' it may effect his eyesight! W/A

 

[auswelder]

ha all you lot seem to be against it, I might play around with the tig at work on some ali until I become good at it (saves me from renting another bottle and buying material)