Just brought my first tig welder

[oiler]

hi all

just brought my first Tig welder and i know nothing ?
but have Mig welded in the past.

my first question is
i intend to make up a set of exhaust manifold in stainless steel tube with a wall thickness of around 1.5mm,

so what are all the deferant colure tungsten tips all about ?


OILER

 

[500e]

http://www.thefabricator.com/article/arcwelding/guidelines-for-tungsten-electrodes

 

[langy]

hi all

just brought my first Tig welder and i know nothing ?
but have Mig welded in the past.

my first question is
i intend to make up a set of exhaust manifold in stainless steel tube with a wall thickness of around 1.5mm,

so what are all the deferant colure tungsten tips all about ?


OILER

I like a man that likes a challenge !!!

Red thoirated 1mm tungstens is what i use on SS with a gas lense, 1mm rods are also a big help on manifolds

 

[mybuttssplit]

2.4 tungsten, red, black, gold or grey tip. gas lense no.8 cup 2 or 5% hydrogen mix for your torch and purge. 2.4 wire and about 80A youll lay it down beautifully. just the root and cap in one pass

 

[langy]

2.4 tungsten, red, black, gold or grey tip. gas lense no.8 cup 2 or 5% hydrogen mix for your torch and purge. 2.4 wire and about 80A youll lay it down beautifully. just the root and cap in one pass

On 1.5mm tube ?

 

[Rrunnach]

On 1.5mm tube ?

He must have done one of my courses

 

[oiler]

i have another question on tig welding

when you weld stainless steel, that is new and clean
do you to put the grinder over where the joint would be welded like if you was mig welding
ie, do you need to clean the metal first with TIG

 

[Jim_gsxr1000]

i have another question on tig welding

when you weld stainless steel, that is new and clean
do you to put the grinder over where the joint would be welded like if you was mig welding
ie, do you need to clean the metal first with TIG

Yes! Always clean with tig even if you think you don't need to, tig is very fussy about cleanliness, I use a flap disk, a stainless wire brush is also usefull if you don't want to leave big marks on your exhaust system

 

[mybuttssplit]

On 1.5mm tube ?

Yes on 1.5mm wall. I use this one milk pipe in all positions and I ain't had any chop outs yet.....

 

[mybuttssplit]

On 1.5mm tube ?

Infact even when I was at babcocks I use these same settings except have my amps a little lower on my micro-bore tests....

 

[oiler]

Infact even when I was at babcocks I use these same settings except have my amps a little lower on my micro-bore tests....

hi sorry dont under stand please exsplane ?

 

[mybuttssplit]

hi sorry dont under stand please exsplane ?

i posted up earlier with the settings i use to help you out
"
2.4 tungsten, red, black, gold or grey tip. gas lense no.8 cup 2 or 5% hydrogen mix for your torch and purge. 2.4 wire and about 80A youll lay it down beautifully. just the root and cap in one pass"

but then some people started questioning it and so i answered by saying i use them same settings on microbore pipework too. hope that helps

 

[hotrodder]

Being blunt it doesn't i'm afraid. Oiler can't TIG weld yet so expensive reducing gas blends that are only suitable for stainless and nickel alloys aren't much use, especially as they're about being able to weld faster.

Oiler (again still being blunt), as Langy pointed out (more diplomatically) you're trying to run before you can walk. MIG experience is next to worthless with TIG which is a totally different game. At the top left of the page is a link to the TIG tutorial. Read it and then search the TIG forum for 'stainless'. Between them it'll all be explained... arc length, different flavour tungstens, what a purge is and why it's done etc

 

[oiler]

i yes i have looked at the tutorial page
most help full

but tig torch
i have looking on the web about tig torches
and i under stand you get better results when using a gas lens.

so i brought one for my wp-17 torch that take 1.6 mm tungsten.
what i don't understands is why do you need insulator when fitting a gas lens to a torch
and how many do you need ?

if you dont ask you wont know ?


oiler0

 

[hotrodder]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=449467#post449467, pic there that shows a gap between the gas lens ceramic and the standard cup gasket/insulator. A bit further on in the thread there's pic showing the gas lens cup insulator fitted

Exploded diagram here showing all the different torch bits and their part numbers which are typically used by other brands of torch too

 

[rohart]

To Oiler, first you practice laying down beads on plain 3mm MS. Then you try thinner. Then break through to see what happens. Do all this with filler rod and without filler rod. Do it using 1.6mm electrodes and then with 1mm electrodes.

The basics for any steel are pure argon, thoriated tungsten, DC only and electrode negative (DCEN).

Then try it with SS.

And do you have a pedal ? I guess you can do without one for thicker MS, but for delicate SS work I'd say one would be a real help. It lets you calm things down without breaking the arc when it looks as if you're putting too much heat in. SS has less conductivity than MS, so the heat can build up more quickly if you're not careful.

But following up the PDFs that Hotrod pointed to, can anyone tell me what these lava nozzles are for ? There are more listed for the WP9 than for the WP17.

 

[hotrodder]

I think the deal with lava nozzles is that they have better resistance to thermal shock but are otherwise more fragile than alumina

 

[Llama]

I think the deal with lava nozzles is that they have better resistance to thermal shock but are otherwise more fragile than alumina

Yup, this is what I have read too.