Tungsten

[Richard.]

If you have your balance set up right For the current you want depending on what you want the tungsten to do it should get to a state then stay where it is. It only takes one glitch and its a redress. Gas, post gas, contamination. I have a large selection on them prepped up for different applications and nearly all of them have a ball on the end ranging from half a mm to 2.5mm. The half mm one I would use for thin gage Alu less than 50 amps and it should stay like that with 70-75% on the balance. The 2.5 mm one I can use similar balance setting (maybe 65-70%) but the ball on the end is stable over 150amps. It's been a while for me two since I prepared one of my ac tungstens. I have at least 2 for every case scenario.

 

[antonio costa]

You have a top notch technique Richard much better than mine. Especially when doing repairs on cast I need to reddress them fair bit, if it's a big repair on a really dirt casting I need to reddress the tungsten at the end. On laminated aluminium they last about 3 or 4 hours of real welding time unless I screw something up. At work it's easy to control

On AC once you stabilise the balance and they have gone to the shape of your desires very rarely do I need to dress them up again. My ac group of tungstens seem to last as long as my DC ones.

 

[Richard.]

You have a top notch technique Richard much better than mine. Especially when doing repairs on cast I need to reddress them fair bit, if it's a big repair on a really dirt casting I need to reddress the tungsten at the end. On laminated aluminium they last about 3 or 4 hours of real welding time unless I screw something up. At work it's easy to control

I'll totally agree with you there when welding cast Alu that's spitting back the tungstens don't like it at all.

 

[Mr shiney]

I have a wheel to repair tomorrow. Disk break was stuck so an attempt at drilling it out resulted in a knackered hub. I have to weld it in and re tap the thread. I bet it will be a pig.....

 

[Maker]

I got my Multi strikes from Richard a couple of days ago and did a bit of welding, it's held up much better than my thoriated did.
I also received some lanthanated, thoriated and ceriated in a case from Antonio Costa today, I'll give them a try later. Maybe I'll do a side by side comparison like the WeldingTipsAndTricks video of them all some time soon.

 

[Richard.]

The hfms tungstens are head n shoulders above the rest on ac and dc. Ciriated are my least favourite. They don't ball as evenly and can be a bit of a duff striker after a few runs. I used to be a traditional red/white guy then after seeing some of Hotrodders posts I thought I would buy a pack of the Huntingtons. I'll stick with them now as the only go to tungsten.

 

[antonio costa]

I totally agree with you Richard about the ceriated, I just send one to Adam so that he can judge for himself. I dislike them with a passion! My favourite ones are 2% lanthanated for Ac and DC. Although I still use thoriated ones lots of times especially at work. Actually if I had to chose between ceriated and them for Ac I would go with thoriated, they aren't made for Ac I know but in my opinion they still perform better than the ceriated ones. I really need to buy a box of those multi strikes! I just sent them an email to see if they have anyone selling them around here. Sometimes local dealers surprise, I have a nearby welding shop that sells ck gear and at great prices with lots of things in stock. Now I only use wedge collets thanks to them.