Paco- that blue masking tape works really well for purging also. It doesn't leave any residue when you pull it off either, so if you're going to have to weld that area you don't have to clean it again.
Thanks HasonJinkle .... I'll try that on a same pice. I figured that it'd leave a little glue ... and need to be cleaned off. I'm lazy & once I get roll'n on stainless headers I don't like to stop. Paco
I have also used blue masking tape, it works well until u start to weld close to it, as soon as the metal gets to a certain temperature the tape's adhesive melts and the tape falls off. The foil tape that I use can be bought at home depot (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-SpecialtyTapes/SpcltyTape/ProdInfo/Spec6/AlumFoil425/).
You know what they say about practice, right? Line after line after line after line.... It might not look like much, it might seem tedious, but it's great practice for torch control and hand/eye coordination. I recently got a pretty cool gig, and the last two weeks they had a few of us at a tig class prepping for out of position military spec certifications in aluminum, stainless, and mild steel. I got my 3g and 4g with no backing on 1/8" in all three Friday night, so I'm stoked. Most of the time we were using Dynasty 350s, which makes my 200 feel like a toy. But they had me mess around on a Miller Aerowave for a bit, and that's probably the baddest ass tig machine ever made. I didn't use it to a 10th of it's capabilities, but even just the arc control and power is so smooth. And it won't start an arc if you forget to turn on the gas, which is a pretty sick feature. Thursday we were trouble shooting it all morning. For whatever reason I couldn't get a decent bead, no arc control, burnt beads, it was just bad news. My first guess was bad gas, but we went through and messed with everything else first. It turns out it was the gas. They got a shipment in a day or so before and it looks like all 15 bottles were contaminated. It welded mild and aluminum fine(although I was having arc control issues on .040 aluminum, and this is probably why), but the SS looked burnt and bad. This is a nice picture of it. Far right is with the bad argon. The middle bead is when we tried a bottle left over from the last shipment, and the far left is the new gas. So then I had to take it for a test drive I guess someone in the night class was trying to show off his knowledge and was explaining to someone else that "this weld was done by hand, and these two were obviously done by a machine" referring to that piece with the three welds on it above. The instructor told him "not exactly" lol -Josh
Josh ... as always your skill set precedes you. Nice roll. I dig the bad gas experience - been there done that .... I've had to weld at work with a Lincoln 250 wire feeder lately. It'll burn some decent thickness metal. I'm always running behind so pix are the last thing I think of. Next time. I've been accused of using a program-able machine with some of the aluminum I do. Makes me feel good ... PACO
Thanks man! Your aluminum work is sick. I'm hoping to get there. I did a lot of AL the last couple of weeks (mostly prepping for the open root stuff), but I think I came a long ways. I say we do a man versus machine throw down John Henry style
hey jdustu, those are some very VERY nice welds...makes me wish I was back in class so I had regular pratice with a tig
Josh your over the top!!! If you progress on the aluminum ... like your other work .... the teacher will have become the student!! I just picked up the latest Hot Bike mag (sept.) ... & was looking on the "contents" page & low & behold the featured bike has one of my custom aluminum seat pans .... but the builder didn't throw me any credit. How did I know it was mine .... you can read my welded on tags (upside pf the seating area) in the picture. Oh well .... the life of a welder .... PACO
Josh. Did you do your bend test for your 6G SMAW weld? Did you Cert? Do they offer a Nuke cert. for you guys? Its gonna be worth getting.
Everything is up in the air, but I'm all about getting everything they'll let me! At my current gig they want different things all the time. I was hoping to go for 6g, but they only want k plates and 3-4g right now. So we will see. This time it was the tig, I'm guessing I'll be doing out of position mig and stick k-plates soon. At Chrysler I did several 6g GTAW certs on cm and ms. 4g was as high as I got with SMAW, although I'm fairly confident that if I'd been able to do the 6g test I would have passed. They had too many guys come in and say "oh yeah, I can do that" and then waste 2 weeks not getting anything done, so they started making everyone start at 1 and work their way up. I did do some SMAW pipe, but it wasn't a "cert" class , so despite being administered by a CWI they wouldn't let me go for it.
I see a lot of cars in mags where it says so and so big shot built it and I think "I swore I saw (insert local shop here) working on that?"
I think you would pass it, I got it through my local union, it cost me a bit to get it, I've used it a few times on piping jobs, it's a lot different than stacking dimes. If we got caught stacking dimes in fitter class the instructor would pour hot water down your top crack, never saw the prick coming, I thought I lit my balls on fire, more than once. Definitely pursue it, it gives you good confidence and an advantage.
The College of Lake County has an excellent welding certification course. You can weld just about any position and any material provided there's an AWS process for it. They do bend tests and can do most other types of testing. I've taken the class several times and have MiG and TiG certs for 3G up to 3/4" and also did the ICAR sheet metal certification (they are an ICAR approved test site).
Francisco .... what ya got going TIG? Gas? Josh - that's not the first time ... Hank Young Choppers, Redneck Eng. & a few other have sported my stuff & claimed total credit. I got the check though!! The only guy that gave me credit EVERY time was Leroy Thompson Choppers in Ohio. Stand up people. PACO
Paco, TIG on the aluminum, gas on the SS and mild steel, I have not done gas in 25 years, this thread made me want to put in a little time on it. Your stuff looks nice, mine used to be a lot sharper but if you don't use it you lose it.
I did another piece this year that's going to be auctioned for Bras for a Cause, I made this one out of aluminum.
Yeah, thickness kinda' changes how much heat you can get away with I learned how to weld by tigging threaded inserts turned from 1" bar stock with a 14mm hole to Honda oil pans. Shop I was at sold a ton of 'em in the late '90's, and I welded 'em for myself and several other guys in the shop. Now, I eventually got to where I could lay down a reasonable looking bead on steel with a TIG. But, there are some examples here that are better looking than my best stuff. Bookmarking this one for inspiration! -Bill
I just found this thread and am in total awe at some of you guys' abilities. Anyway, I have a question: how in God's Green Earth do you guys maintain consistency? I can TIG aluminum, and my welds look good, but they are nowhere near as consistent as what I see here. Also, no matter how hard I try, I almost always get a crater at the end, any way not to? I'd certainly appreciate any and all tips from anyone, thanks!
I think a lot of these guys that make the welds that are perfectly identical have a combination of excellent rhythm and a TIG machine that has a pulse function. It is a lot easier to make perfect puddles every time if you can set the pulse amperage and duration, and have it always be the same. That makes the puddles all identical, all that is left is timing with the filler and proper placement of the electrode, which is mostly about rhythm. Some guys can do it without the pulse, but they are a very rare thing. I know many excellent weldors, but not a one of them can make foot long beads where every single puddle is exactly identical to the others. They are very very close to perfect, but you can always find some tiny variations in puddle size along the way. Those absolutely perfectly repeated puddles require a little bit of robotic assistance, at least in my experience. Now, long flowing continuous beads are another thing entirely. Also, I've had the best luck avoiding the end crater by backing the amps off as I make the last addition of filler. I keep backing the amps off, while waiting for the puddle reform the last time. When it does, and it looks the way it's supposed to, I roll off the pedal a little faster and pull the torch back to break the arc (but keep the cup aimed at the last puddle 'till it's cool). That's how I do it. Be warned, I may or may not be doing it right, and you'll notice that this thread is devoid of any contribution from me, and there is a reason for that. These guys with their robotic hand/eye coordination and sense of rhythm make me feel like a ham fisted fool when I weld. It's decent looking, and strong, but certainly not as pretty as what gets posted on this thread.
I use a 25+ year old Airco (Miller) Dialarc 250amp water cooled machine. No pulse....just a lot of practice and determination. I think those two things are the key, and obviously a little bit of rhythm doesn't hurt.
Yeah, rhythm is my biggest problem. I can't play musical instruments worth a damn either, so TIG welding takes a lot of concentration and curse words for me to pull off properly. The weld beads that you and the guy that builds my race engines make are my bench marks. I'm always trying to match you guys, but fall woefully short most all of the time. Alas.
Thanks guys, I appreciate the tips. I use a Miller 350 Syncrowave and love it, so I'm sure the problem is me. As for the divot, I'll give Ryan's method a try today, I have a broken casting to weld, we'll see how it goes. Thanks!
Nah, it's not about pulsing, it's all about hand/eye coordination. I never pulse aluminum, and when I use pulse on stainless I set it well over 100 pps so it doesn't effect the look of the bead at all(what it does is minimize the heat, it helps with distortion). This was done with the pulse set at something like 110 pps. It's pulsing 110 times per second, so it's not giving me the ripples, the ripples are coming from the dip of the filler as the metal goes in and the puddle freezes. The first thing is that you've GOT to be able to see the puddle. It sounds obvious, but you can't do anything until you know what you're looking at and how it effects the appearance. The ripples you see are all freeze lines. Once you can read the puddle and what it's doing, you can try to manipulate it. That's where the hand/eye coordination and rhythm come into play. At that point you are moving the puddle so that it leaves a trail that is even and smooth. You're watching the top and bottom to make sure the width is the same, and front to back to see that the freeze lines are even. When I was an apprentice learning to weld, my journeyman would tell me "be the puddle, grasshopper"
I always thought a Bra was supposed to have cups to hold boobs Not be a flat chest plate that looks like something a chick built like a 10 year old boy could wear
Yeah, I was under the gun on this one lol Luckily it doesn't have to raise boobies, just $$$$! Last year's took in $400 for Gilda's Club Metro Detroit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/browndogwelding/sets/72157621806124558/
See, those puddles are not identical though. They're close, and certainly aesthetically pleasing, but they're not perfectly identical. It is easy to see that they were done by (very skilled) human hands. Same thing with Bass's work (though his stuff is as close to perfect as I've ever seen).
The Jalopy Journal
