TIG tungsten's

[superls]

ahhh need some advice again

been tigging some stainless recently, I've been using a 2.4mm red tipped tungsten, that was working perfectly, anyway the red topped one is now in need or replacement, so I got a new one out of my stash but it was white topped, I thought well it looks the same, but I could hardly weld with it it was terrible, suspecting the welder, I put the red one back in, welds ok, so got another one out of the stash, a grey one, again thought oh that looks the same, again, could not weld with it, so I'm stuck with using a stubby red one that needs replacing as its getting too short to regrind.

they were all 2.4mm, as that's the only collet I have, I've got red tipped ones in 1.6 but no collet.

why couldn't I weld with the white and grey ones? are they that different?

Cheers

 

[GrahamGKD]

As far as I know the grey tipped ones are ceriated. I normally keep those for aluminium and use the red tips for steel and stainless steel. I notice the grey tipped ones Weldequip sells are stated to be general purpose though? Graham.

 

[GrahamGKD]

You could have a trawl through the TIG manual on the Miller resources site:

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/TIGhandbook/pdf/TIGBook_Chpt4.pdf

From a quick look it seems to suggest 'grey' (there is no white as far as I can see) is used for 'unspecified' tungstens.

Graham.

 

[Garreth]

The tip colours are -

Red = Thoriated for stainless and mild steel DC neg only

Grey = Ceriated for all materials AC or DC neg

White = Zirconiated for alloy AC only

There are exceptions to the above of course. Grey should weld stainless OK but probably not as well as red. I tend to use grey or gold ones (lanthanated) for mild steel and alloys and red ones for stainless.

I wonder if you have got white and mucky white tipped ones (ie look grey but aren't !) and thats why you're getting the same results with both ?

Garreth

 

[pedrobedro]

I use grey which are ceriated for everything AC or DC no problem and it saves keeping different types. Miller are American and probably use different classification to UK suppliers.

 

[Garreth]

You could have a trawl through the TIG manual on the Miller resources site:

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/TIGhandbook/pdf/TIGBook_Chpt4.pdf

From a quick look it seems to suggest 'grey' (there is no white as far as I can see) is used for 'unspecified' tungstens.

Graham.

I think sometimes the Americans seem to use different colours ! Grey = WC20 = ceriated. Have a look here -

http://www.elmerwallace.co.uk/Tungs...(TIG)/WC20 - Ceriated - Grey tip/C2-6-1-0.htm

We got ours at work from these people.

Cheers !

Garreth

 

[superls]

The grey was definately better than the white, (yes it was deff grey) they were out of a brand new box. Looks like ill have to source either a 1.6mm collet or some 2.4mm red tipped ones. I need a new shroud anyway so will have to invest i think

 

[langy]

X 2

the tip colours are -

red = thoriated for stainless and mild steel dc neg only

grey = ceriated for all materials ac or dc neg

white = zirconiated for alloy ac only

there are exceptions to the above of course. Grey should weld stainless ok but probably not as well as red. I tend to use grey or gold ones (lanthanated) for mild steel and alloys and red ones for stainless.

I wonder if you have got white and mucky white tipped ones (ie look grey but aren't !) and thats why you're getting the same results with both ?

Garreth

 

[Barney1973]

Gold tip Lanthanated tungstens are a good all rounder,they last longer and can be used on mild,stainless and aluminum steels.