offered a welder

[Pete.]

If you're successfully welding with your DC I see no reason why you can't weld with that. I am just starting myself and I've managed to pick up both in a week. Not to any standard of course but improving all the time. I use a 5,6 or 7 ceramic and 2.4mm white electrode poking out about 6-8mm and ground to a very shallow point.

 

[mr migwire]

thanks pete, ive had my dc plant for a while and tbh always seem to lift the mig whenever anything needs doing, ive started using the tig a lot more now and im hoping i can get the hang of it, i used to do a fair bit of oxy / feul welding and wasn't to bad at it and ive been told the basic principles are the same,

just got to get the hang of the settings and practice practice practice.....

 

[Richard.]

thanks pete, ive had my dc plant for a while and tbh always seem to lift the mig whenever anything needs doing, ive started using the tig a lot more now and im hoping i can get the hang of it, i used to do a fair bit of oxy / feul welding and wasn't to bad at it and ive been told the basic principles are the same,

just got to get the hang of the settings and practice practice practice.....

In the ops case he would be better off with only a fraction of the tungsten exiting the cup as per the picture Paul posted . 6-8 mm he would be going through some electrode fast with that machine. I also agree that he will not hold a point with that machine but some tungstens do ball up faster than others.

 

[mr migwire]

well be gentle guys, this is the first attempts of proper ally welding with the ac tig, started from the top and played with the amps.

 

[Richard.]

Looks miles better than I thought it would given the lack of AC functions. How did the tungsten hold out. Did you follow the good advice from Paul on the tungsten size and prep. Concentrate on arc length and torch angle this will help eliminate the soot

 

[mr migwire]

i will nip out and get a pic of the tungsten richard, it was a bit sharper than advised but was already on the machine so i thought i would give it a try and thats the results, it didnt ball up as much as i thought so the cleaning must be pretty good on the machine, all told im pretty happy with it but as said earlier practice practice practice.......
the scrap i welded on the back of was 1.5mm checker plate.

 

[Richard.]

Well I'm pleased for ya mate. No. the cleaning (DCEP) balls the tungsten. It must be set more into DCEN (penitration) which is where it is meant to be. 30-35% DCEP is about right for most applications.
If your tungsten held out well and the welds look shiny then I would guess its in and around that area.

 

[Richard.]

I know it's only scrap but clean the Ali up with a wire Brush prior to welding and you will really see the benefit when your welding. The puddle should show a reflection of your tungsten .

 

[mr migwire]

this is the state of the tungsten after the welds pictured...

 

[Pete.]

Looks cracking mate for starting off. Your starts look like mine, it's so easy to touch down when you put the filler in at first because the puddle grows more than you think.

This is how I look at it - yours and my machine are the most basic you can get, so if we can learn to put down a half-decent weld with our old kit we should be able to learn to make nice ones a lot quicker when we upgrade to modern machines with pedals and slope etc.

 

[mr migwire]

totally agree pete, the better we get with the basic kit the better we will be with the advanced stuff.

and with you on the touching down at the start, i have got a stool thats a nice height for working at the bench and will be doing as much practice as time allows now i can get comfy.

 

[Paul.]

Your arc will be much more stable and controllable if you follow the grinding instructions I posted, before you start the weld proper, ball the tip up on an offcut, a bigger cup will help with gas coverage and look for about 8lpm gas flow, torch angle wants to be 10 to 20 deg from vertical, feed the rod in at a low angle and make sure that the end stays in the gas shield, the tungsten will have a shiny ball on the end when you get it right. a function of the post flow is to protect the hot tungsten after the arc stops so set it to 7 or 8 seconds or so.
Nothing wrong with a basic welder, remember inverters have not been around that long, I spent more years than I care to remember welding with machines like that and produced perfectly good results,

 

[Richard.]

Yeah my machine was built in the 90's. It has full adjustment over the AC wave pattern but it's certainly not new technology. It will weld as good as these modern inverters I'm sure. The main difference really is mine is a 2 man lift

 

[mr migwire]

lol i couldnt beleive the weight in the sip when i went to get it, conversation with the chap was (him "you want a lift with that") me "nah it'll be fine" straight back, feet apart, much farting , "yeah mate gimme a lift with it"

 

[Paul.]

Tis only a lightweight compared to what I used to use, If I had the power to run It I'd have another one tomorrow, this pics from google, mine had a water cooler on top which was half the size of the welder, you could use it to chain your bike to to stop it from being nicked.

 

[mr migwire]

holy heck paul thats a flippin monster mate, love the lifting eyes, obviously a serious bit of kit.

 

[Richard.]

lol i couldnt beleive the weight in the sip when i went to get it, conversation with the chap was (him "you want a lift with that") me "nah it'll be fine" straight back, feet apart, much farting , "yeah mate gimme a lift with it"

We use the esab 2200i at work. Its wonderful and really light even with the cooler. But other than a wider adjustment on the frequency and micro pulse it does no more than my dinosaur at home. It is 220 amp mind and mine is 200. Weight and styling are the only real differences over a period of 15 years. I would love the 2200i mind. Awesome unit.

 

[Richard.]

Tis only a lightweight compared to what I used to use, If I had the power to run It I'd have another one tomorrow, this pics from google, mine had a water cooler on top which was half the size of the welder, you could use it to chain your bike to to stop it from being nicked.
View attachment 47496

That's a beast. That will outlast generations of inverters. Like