Technical Can we have a thread all about tig welding early ford sheet metal

True color, instead of everything being green tinted as with standard lens and welding helmets, with true color everything looks the same just alittle darker. Much like looking at things thru a set of sunglasses.

I have one and like it.

..

 

yes, so i have only gone and bought one of them cheap tig welders
looking at the pictures I am thinking
what is the cold tig setting
turns out

on the back of the machine is a plug, you plug the helmet into the machine
so when you are tack welding the helmet darkens before the arc is struck
.
still have no idea what 2T and 4T is all about
it does have a flexible head w17 torch, and a button on that for gas
and an up and down for amps

says it can take a foot pedal - but where?

 

The slide finger control OR the foot pedal not both. Plugs into same place on the machine.

 

I’ve been welding for about 140 years.
never needed anything of the sort. What I’ve found is the more things involved then the harder it is (not easier) and more shit goes wrong. About the only thing that is kinda new that I find beneficial is “AC balance” for aluminum tig. Then I don’t need it to get the job done it just makes it nicer to look at and on some days it’s a little bit easier to weld.
The auto dark helmet was kinda neat when they first came out, I wasn’t thrilled but eventually warmed up to them.

I get asked why do I have 2 mig machines, well one does low amp welding better and the other does higher amp welding better. Plus I don’t have to swap over from 0.30 to 0.23 .
I get asked why do I have 2 tig machines. Well because 3 is too many for 1 guy. For some reason when I weld LOW amps with one it makes a goofy blinky twirling arc that is quite annoying. Welds great at higher amps and AC. The other one loves low amp welding, it’s clean tight stable and very crisp. If I turn it up it gets not so nice and blows the duty cycle.

 

Never seen a mask linked to the machine. Might be good (but another wire to get tangled up in) or it might be a workaround for poor performing (reaction time) mask or inadequate sensors? I dunno.

Cold welding seems to be like 1000th of a second, virtually no penetration tack welds. Curious as to how well they might hold up with distorting forces elsewhere on the job when being fully welded. Hopefully you'll be able to tell us soon!

2t, 4t? 2t is press for on, release for off. So the button has to be held down to be able to weld. 4t is press and release for on, press and release for off. Depending on the machine there might be a slope in, slope out feature in the 4t, ie press for low start, release for full power, then press for lower power then release for off.

A button for gas? Hope that's for pre and post flow control (which is usually automatic) and not completely manual gas as that's a pain in the bum!

Chris

 

A plug in helmet sounds like one of those unneeded gadgets to me, that's what a auto darkening helmet is for. It doesn't need a cable to tell it when to darken.

..

 

so, the welder has arrived


comes with a euro plug....
hmmmmm

 

A very slow tease unboxing?

Chris

 

erm,
the trouble is,
they put into the box a euro 2 pin plug to UK 3 pin plug adaptor.........
this adaptor does not have a euro earth pin lock-out
SO you can connect it and switch the live and neutral around!!!
there is no way to ascertain polarity!!!
AND the UK plug has a 20 amp fuse.
plus it has been boxed up with the wrong tig torch
it should have a 4 function torch
on / off
amp up amp down
and a gas flow check button
sent with a pilot arc start switch only

did indeed heed your advise 'just now'
and bought a tiddler torch

£5.94 pence delivered ?
because I dont know what i am doing,
should i have bought a plain unswitched wd-9 with flexible head
and simply bought a on off foot switch

 

while I am on
why do you use acetone rather than isopropyl alcohol for cleansing
just got some acetone delivered and I forgot how much i don't like it and prefer ipa

 

Never seen a tig on off foot switch, not saying they don't make them just never seen one.

All the foot pedals I've seen are for adjusting amps on the fly. Push down more amps, let off less amps.

Infact my boss in unbelievable tig welder, one of the best I've seen. He runs the amp setting at max and does all the amp adjustments with the foot pedal. Sheetmetal to 3/8" plate, steel, aluminum or stainless, never seen him ever adjust the amp settings.

.

 

HITBOX 5 Pin Foot Pedal for TIG Welder HBT2000P Cold TIG Welding Machine | eBay
ahh, thats it

sliding resistor?
i thought it would have spun a variable resistor / rheostat thing

 

If I understand that one correctly, you can adjust current with knob on side then the foot pedal is just a on/off switch.

I use a standard foot pedal on mine, I like the idea of a standard pedal. it's like a gas pedal, the more you push down the more heat you get.

Maybe you can't use a regular pedal with the cold weld ?

Where I have used mine is welding smaller stuff, I roll into the heat and get a puddle going then back of just enough to start letting it cool enough to move to the next "dime", a slow pulse if you will, then roll back in the heat and start all over again.

.

 

I think you'll find with that pedal that it will work just like a gas pedal as described above but the knob allows the maximum current to be dialed in. On better equipment the pedal allows for 0 to 100% of the setting on the machine. On cheaper gear the pedal bypasses the machine setting so full machine power is available on the pedal at all times which makes it difficult to control for low power, eg when working with sheetmetal. The knob on the pedal is I presume a means of improving this situation. I just bought a much better machine for this and other reasons.

Chris

 

ahh, what was confusing me...
integrated gas and power cable
the gas flows inside of the power cable

so, the question is, do i need an integrated cable for a WP=9 torch....
is an integrated cable the way to go?
i now understand the cable fitments to the machine
there are two
the small one is DKJ10-25 DIN - 8.9mm
or 10-25
I am guessing the wp=9 and wp=17 from the above take the same input thread of
3/8''
--------------
the wp-26 torch is bigger

5/8ths to torch
and 35-50
1/2'' od

is it less cumbersome with an integrated cable

 

also, the gas diffuser thingamybobs arrived
so if for example you have a gas lense or diffuser at 10mm
if you then fit an 8mm shroudy thing upon it, is the 'point' - it acts like a venturi and speeds the gas flow ? or am i talking shite? - again.....
i think what i mean is, if the lense is 10mm why would you not simply use a 10mm shroud

 

The single lines are known as mono's. Not sure of any particular advantage other than they are neater as there's no sleeve required to keep the power cable and gas line together ( as it's combined). To use a mono lead you'll need an adapter that plugs into the machine for the power but which also has a gas connection going into it (the power terminal on the machine is solid; the gas has to get into the center of the lead).

A gas lens smooths the gas flow to get more even gas coverage. The different aperture sizes of the ceramics are really more if an access issue. Generally you should use the widest possible, within reason. But when you get into tight corners smaller helps and you then don't have excessive tungsten stick out. It must concentrate the gas floww too I guess.

Dive in, the waters lovely. Its not as if we're building space shuttles.

Chris

 

Don't know what you plan to use for sharpening your tips, but when you first start welding you will be doing that a lot. I would start with a little thicker metal and practice just making a puddle and moving along the metal. Then once you start to get a feel for what you are doing, start adding filler as you go. Try to keep the torch as upright as possible. There is often a tendency to tilt your hand as you move along the weld and that changes gas coverage and heat input. You might look at getting a diamond wheel for your grinder to sharpen the tips. It does a beautiful job very quickly. I have multiple grades (fine, medium,coarse) on mine and one end for aluminum the other for steel. Then I have a small belt sander to finish them vertically. I have found that the finish is so good that I usually just use the coarse and fine and skip the belt sander. Works much better than common grinding wheels.





Very small chopsaw from Harbor Freight for when you want to cut a tip off.

Magnetic quick reference chart.

 

A most Gracious thanks to all for imparting you knowledge so far......
As a starting point

bought one of those.
before plugging it in.... - the uk heavy duty plug hasn't arrived yet......
I am going to swap in a wp-9 torch with flexible head
going to fit a stubby gas diffuser into it 1/2'' 13mm hole
going to fit a number 8 pyrex cup
size 8 = 8 times 1/16th gives me a 1/2'' orifice.
or 13mm - so the diffuser and cup are the same size..........
I don't know why.....
going to fit red 1mm tungstens
sharpened 5mm 1 to 5 - again no idea why.
tungsten stick out will be all the point = 5mm
have bought as advised Super Steel ER 70S-2 rods 13'' 330mm long at 1mm
100 for £16
i also bought some 1.6mm 70s-6 rods 1 metre long x320 for 25 quid - so have no idea why there is a price difference there?
have been watching the videos.
I think i understand the doubling your error in up to x4 with regards tip height , speed, amps and cleanlyness....
the plan is 'i think' for the first outing
i have lots of old ford panels, well they are all 1937 - 3 pair of doors to play with.
make a 'horse' or roller skate for the torch to keep the tip 2mm from the surface
get the amps and speed dialed in on 4T
train myself for height and speed? without the skate.
then switch to pulse and add filler as the pyrex and tungsten light bulb flash.

plus
pre cut and sharpen half the tungstens to 1.5' long so as to use the short cap.got myself a 320 diamond cutting disc, i think i am going to clamp it flat and spin the little bits in a drill/>?

bought the wrong regulator - female, need a male into bottle.

i think thats the plan?
was thinking pedal - but i think it maybe easier to start learning with HF startand fixed height, button on , button off.

again, thank you for taking the time to steer a complete beginner

 

This is how I was taught. My welding instructor used to say " you don't set your car to go the speed limit, why would you do that with your machine."

 

Another tip from another beginner: Spend quite a bit of time developing your initial weld "pool" before starting to move and dipping. It's important to start with a good weld pool. if you don't, the rest of the weld bead can be problematic. Don't RUSH it. Take your time. Weld on thick(ish) plates for a while just running beads and practicing

 

I strongly recommend that you consider taking a welding course. I took mine at a local community college, and it was definitely worthwhile, and a great value. Not only will it give you the opportunity to do a lot of welding (and learn how to set up the equipment) under the eyes of a seasoned instructor, but it can help you to avoid developing bad habits, as well as teach ways to make your welds better and save time.

 

yes,
1mm red tungsten on DC
amp range is 20 to 80

conflicts if for example on dc - 10 to 60 max

that is good to know,
as I know I shall never use the silly little welder at more than 80 amps

yes, i didn't get the initial start for puddle,
its almost like you are cracking through the outer harder oxide layer .

 

Not sure what you're saying here but for the avoidance of doubt it could be true if you are practicing on hot roled steel with the millscale not removed. If so, don' t do this, grind it off. Tig welding doesn't like this. The scale causes weld contamination which may not really matter but crucially it will cause problems with the puddle with flare ups contaminating the tungsten. The weld prep is a bit of a pain but the payback is huge.

Chris

 

I havn't started yet
get the mill scale
still waiting fo rthe £6 torch
and I bought a mono cable
and the diamond disc hasn't shown up yt.

big window helmet for 30 quid - ?
its not tea bag

 

I believe it. My Dad was a excellent oxy/acetelyne welder. I kept some of his work hanging in my garage. The weld uniformity looks like a machine.
He said people with good penmanship tend to make nice welds. I was still in school at the time so I didn't know if he was pulling my leg to make me study harder.

 

Thankfully, I weld better than I write !

 

Yes Sir,
I do too. But I think it was his way of trying to get me to improve on my as he put it "Hen-scratching".
I'll never be able to disprove his theory because he had calligraphy for handwriting and makes my "good" welds look like something Jonathan Livingston Seagull left.

 

Just came across this...

https://www.millerwelds.com/resourc...ig-weld-auto-body-sheet-metal-with-ron-covell