New to Tig few questions

[Jimmy_Mac]

Hi Guys, looking for a spot of advice and guidance if possible please.

I have a Esab caddy 2200I T33. Picked it up for what i felt was a decent price of £515. no pedal or reg just the machine original TIG and stick torch and ground lead.

Eventually i would like to weld bicycle frames, so thin wall tubing 0.8-1.5MM mostly. I am also restoring a classic mini which i have already done a lot of panel work on with a MIG but there is plenty of little brackets and mounts to fab up for various parts.

I have read through the Tutorial on here and watched plenty of guides on YouTube, and think i am doing ok ish so far.

I have a few regrets with my machine choice tho, think i got a bit carried away with what i felt was a deal? It seems most people working on bikes are using Pulse which my machine dose not have, also the lack of a pedal, this seems less of i issues i think. Yet it dose seem the Caddy requires the OEM pedal at a ridicules price £400-£500.

I don't have much in the way of flat scrap to practice on (really need to pick some up) and have so far been drawing allover some 2mm exhaust some 1.5mm box section and have done some but welds on some 1" diameter 2mm wall tubing. (all mild steel)

I am struggling with keeping my angel of attack acceptable when moving around the tube. The weld pool seem to have a odd pattern to it when cool, almost like a crows foot. i think this is related to a poor angle of attack?

The torch its self seem a bit big and bulky for delicate work the only number i can see on it is THX 200. not sure not the compatibility for a smaller torch? i don't think i will ever use the machine above 100AMPS so i don't mind a small air cooled torch. Although i do like the idea of building my own water cooler.

I have been using a 1.6MM grey tungsten nice and sharp sticking out about 2mm from a #7 cup, 7 LPH, the amp setting the machine recommends for material thickness, about 4 seconds down slope (any less and i get a big crater)1.7sec post flow. 2x 0.6mm MIG wire twisted together as filler rod. I have some 1.6mm ER70S on the way but now think i should have gone for 1MM or 1.2MM instead.

Anyway i will stop rambling and accept any advice to try and get me in the right direction for welding up some bike frames, which i am starting to think will be much harder than i thought it would be.

Cheers
James

 

[Chris Stevens]

Used to have a Caddy which is a good machine, but lack of OE foot-pedal will make things more difficult if you are wanting to weld thin wall tubing.

If you are a beginner to Tig, you need to spend a good deal of time running bead on plate, before moving on to actual joints.

Watercooling is a good idea, but personally I would say foot-pedal should come first. If you keep an eye on Ebay you might find Tig with footpedal and cooler comes up, and this might cost less than upgrading your machine?

 

[Miggy89]

im guessing you have a euro torch then, if you wanted something easier to handle like the us style torches have a look at the ck torches

 

[Richard.]

I have to disagree somewhat in the replys and say you don't need a pedal if your planning on using it for thin walled tube nor do you need a pulse. Alu is useful with a pedal but for DC you will be fine with flat consistent current. It's all I ever use. 0.8-1.5 you'll be lucky if you exceed 50 amps there for a wp9 gas cooled torch will suffice for that. Once you start getting into Alu a pedal and cooler will help you out.
Torch compatiblity on your machine doesn't get much easer as its a dins, a fine thread gas connection and a 2 pin plug. You can't go wrong and you can rob those parts off the bulky torch saving you a few quid.

 

[Chris Stevens]

I would imagine the OP is referring to aluminium bike frames?

 

[Richard.]

Is he?
I didn't realise that.
Yes that's quite an advanced place to start. Especially at the lower thickness of 0.8.

 

[Appyasme1]

The issue of the Torch is quite simple. The parts you require are as follows. A Walther connector part number LP-004 to screw on to the Gas Connection on the machine. This connector has a female outlet, on this you will need a compatible male end. Next a gas power connector part number D3595-1-1,cut off the nut on the hose and crimp the tail of the gas connector into the hose.

 

[daleyd]

I would imagine the OP is referring to aluminium bike frames?

Where does he mention ali?

 

[Chris Stevens]

I would have thought maybe not great deal of point buying an AC/DC Tig, if he doesnt intend to make aluminium frames?

 

[Richard.]

I would have thought maybe not great deal of point buying an AC/DC Tig, if he doesnt intend to make aluminium frames?

How do you know it's acdc.
Caddy ta33/ta34 is available in both. DC and acdc.

 

[daleyd]

He says he bought

I would have thought maybe not great deal of point buying an AC/DC Tig, if he doesnt intend to make aluminium frames?

He doesn't mention it an AC/DC tig anywhere.

 

[Jimmy_Mac]

Cheers for the advice guys! looks like i am on the right train of thorght with my current position/ambitions.

I intend to work with steal mainly. Most of the bike tubing manufacturers won't disclose the details of the steel they use, i believe most of the stuff is heat treated CrMo and Carbon steel. some CrMo aloys seem to crop up a fair bit with manganese and vanadium. I don't know a huge amount about different steels and different filler rods required but on the most part people use ER70S or WeldMold 880 (which i can't see listed for sale in the UK anywhere)

Cheers for the advice on the torch looks like i don't have to spend a fortune to get something more delicate.

I should get a bit of seat time tomorrow and will stick some pictures up of how i am getting on.

Cheers again great forum you guys have got going here!

 

[Jimmy_Mac]

sorry i didn't make the ACDC steel ali thing clearer. It is a ACDC machine that i have, i may have a play on ali at some point, i hear it is good to practice laying beads on ali plate as it cools nice and fast, and you not need to brush it up as much?

 

[Jimmy_Mac]

So few shots from today/last week.

 

[Jimmy_Mac]

So the last shot of the exhaust pipe is about 1.3mm thick and was my first attempts, i was using 2 or 3 strands of .6mm MIG wire twisted on the combi drill. I am fairly happy with a few of the bits on here i think, biggest thing i am finding hard is the consistency.

The round tube was next, the 3 butt welds at the top are on 1.8mm again using mig wire. the lower one is 1mm thick i think. i was finding it really hard to keep the ark tight around the curve.

The two long oval tubes at the top are 1.6mm i was using 1.6mm ER70S i was finding this really hard to keeping the wire from cooling the weld pool too much and sticking. I moved back to the mig wire and had a bit more success, again the consistency is not there. some is sitting really flat or even sunken and some a bit too proud, i can't decide which i am aiming for?

Then i realised the ends of the oval tube had some nice thick stuff on 3.5mm it think, this was so much easier! I was getting more confident decided to try and go around the outside then fill in the middle making the most of the small amount of thick stuff i had. My consistency was instantly better and the weld was flat ish with a small ridge. It seemed to get way to hot on the outline and a bit contimanated in the middle, then i ran out of gas

I was running 7lph feels like i have got through this a bit to quickly, I have closed the bottle off when i am not using it.


I will pick some more gas up asap and maybe some 2mm/3mm plate from somewhere and see if i can get some nice need beads laid down, the shop i got my gas from dose tuition also think i will enquire on the pricing.

any pointers are greatly appreciated

Cheers

 

[Richard.]

They are coming on nicely.
Have you got yourself a manual for it. The arrow keys allow you to change things like slope if you hold them down for a few seconds I believe.

 

[Appyasme1]

They are coming on nicely.
Have you got yourself a manual for it. The arrow keys allow you to change things like slope if you hold them down for a few seconds I believe.

Think you can down load on the Esab site.Try it,if you have problems let me know!

 

[Brad93]

For steel I would use around 5-6lpm. You may want to increase your post flow somewhat, I use around 4-5 seconds on mild steel at 40amps.

What gas bottles are you using. I get about a month out of my BOC y size bottle and I do A LOT of stop/start welding.

 

[Jimmy_Mac]

Cheers Gents, picked up some more gas today but forgot to ask about the tuition classes, i ran off when i was quoted £420+VAT for a foot pedal thats with 25% off the list price!

I tried a longer post flow which helped with crators i think, i was blaming on the down slope not been long enough. With more post i can have a shorted down slope.

I do have a manual for the machine, there is a few hidden settings one of which is slope up, and pre flow, i have not played with these ones yet what would you recommend?

I have got my hands on some more 3.6mm plate but it is galvnised cleaned it back with the flap disc but still paranoid about the fumes and even the grinding dust. Should i be or is it not as bad as i think?

on the thicker stuff i can seem to lay a beed much narrower than 4-5MM dose this sound about right?

back on the thiner stuff i have started dragging the cup on the work piece (is this cheating?) also i have a 15MM thick slab of steel i have been welding on rather than in the vice, this has allowed me to get my for arm on the desk and with a block for my hand to rest on then the cup on the job and i feel really stable and seem to up the consistence of the beads. this has made me feel a bit better about my current torch but still fancy something a bit lighter/smaller.

I think one of these is on the cards...
http://www.rapidwelding.com/dynamic/DisplayItem.aspx?c=CK-CK925RSFRG&zl=3
am i right in thinking i will need a Dins adapter a trigger/switch and ideally a hose cover thing?

I will fire up some more pics at some point

 

[Brad93]

You don't want to be welding galv unless you have to. You never get all of it especially with a flap disc.

Preflow maybe 0.5 of a second, doesn't need much. Post flow wants to be about 5 second up to 40 amps.
Down slope 3 or 4 seconds.
Up slope not always needed.