Tig welding

[Hurricane]

that 3 in 1 mig welder looks like a good deal if the brand is any good, now ive seen it im thinking about getting it, ive got a unimig200 (i think) its been working fine for years, but i want to do some alloy welding.

does any one know if welding alloy with a mig would be as good as a mig?

dan.

[roadsailing]

does any one know if welding alloy with a mig would be as good as a tig?

fixed your quote to the question i think you are asking.

Welding aluminium with MIG is shit

Welding aluminium with TIG is lovely.

even welding steel is easier and nicer with a TIG than a MIG.

[Hurricane]

yeh thats what i wanted to say (im sleepy) lol

do u know whats shit about it? hard to get it right? or just a crap weld?

[af300e]

fixed your quote to the question i think you are asking.

Welding aluminium with MIG is shit

Welding aluminium with TIG is lovely.

even welding steel is easier and nicer with a TIG than a MIG.

Welding an aluminium semi-trailer tipper body with TIG is shit. Welding structural steel,with TIG is shit.

Welding intercooler piping with MIG is shit.

Application is important. Good mig welds look good and are strong. Good tig welds look good and are strong. Shit welds look shit and break/leak/offend people.

That is all.

[Toy77]

Heya,

Ill start by saying i am a crappy welder with no training.
I have a few mate who are boilermakers who have helped me out a bit - one used to own a buisiness building aluminium boats.

I have a cheaper mig i got off ricey one here. not a fancy machine and has its vices - but i have more than got my dollars worth out of it.

i weld ally with it reguarly - have done more ally than steel. It is not as bad as you would think. Plus soem of the stuff i have done would take a very long time with a tig - and depends on application.
It takes me about 3 minutes to change my welder from one metal to the other - i do this fairly reguarly. I have the teflon liner in my gun - and use this for steel as well - it does get a little grumpy with the steel line feed if i have the cable curled up (as does ally all the time). SO pretty easy really...

I have recently built a big live bait tank set up, with custom cutting board, oil and battery storage with tuna tubes - all one unit for my boat. I generally grind my welds - but yeah, it has come up very well.

I would like a TIG as well, and will buy one when i stop spending on other things... BUT as said above horses for courses... they each have their advantages. Hell the neatest welds on my car were done by Steve (hypo23) with a stick welder....

cheers
Stew

[hypo23]

the only difference between a good and bad welder is a 5inch grinder

[Duk]

Welding an aluminium semi-trailer tipper body with TIG is shit. Welding structural steel,with TIG is shit.

Welding intercooler piping with MIG is shit.

Application is important. Good mig welds look good and are strong. Good tig welds look good and are strong. Shit welds look shit and break/leak/offend people.

That is all.

MIG weld is really only for light and quick fabrication. MIG welds can look nice but they typically have pore penetration and are over stressed for that penetration.
You won't see MIG weld done on any pressure vessel/hydraulic pipe or other critical welding.
MIG welded roll cage? No thank you.

It has its place but is far from being a great form of welding (I know nobody here is saying that).

[af300e]

MIG weld is really only for light and quick fabrication. MIG welds can look nice but they typically have pore penetration and are over stressed for that penetration.
You won't see MIG weld done on any pressure vessel/hydraulic pipe or other critical welding.
MIG welded roll cage? No thank you.

All horse shit.

Advantages Disadvantages and Applications of MIG OR GMAW Welding -
1. Because of continuously fed electrode, MIG welding process is much faster as compared to TIG or stick electrode welding.
2. It can produce joints with deep penetration.
3. Thick and thin, both types of workpieces can be welded effectively.
4. Large metal deposition rates are achieved by MIG welding process.
5. The process can be easily mechanized.
6. No flux is used. MIG welding produces smooth, neat, clean and spatter free welded surfaces which require no further cleaning. This helps reducing total welding cost.
7. Higher arc travel speeds associated with MIG welding reduce distortion considerably.


Disadvantages
1. The process is slightly more complex as compared to TIG or stick electrode welding because a number of variables (like electrode stick out, torch angle, welding parameters, type and size of electrode, welding torch manipulation, etc.) are required to be controlled effectively to achieve good results.
2. Welding equipment is more complex, more costly and less portable.
3. Since air drafts may disperse the shielding gas, MIG welding may not work well in outdoor welding applications.
4. Weld metal cooling rates are higher than with the processes that deposit slag over the weld metal.


Applications
1. The process can be used for the welding of carbon, silicon and low alloy steels, stainless steels, aluminium, magnesium, copper, nickel, and their alloys, titanium, etc.
2. for welding tool steels and dies.
3. for the manufacture of refrigerator parts.
4. MIG welding has been used successfully in industries like aircraft, automobile, pressure vessel, and ship building.


In addition, BOC specifically list gases for mig welding of pressure vessels, heavy structural steel, heavy trucks so on and so forth.

Tig welding of roll cages is great for finish and good penetration can be achieved but most mild steel cages are mig welded and there is nothing wrong with it at all.
Your generalisations are not correct.

[hypo23]

mmmmm textbook stuff

[jeffro ra28]

MIG weld is really only for light and quick fabrication. MIG welds can look nice but they typically have pore penetration and are over stressed for that penetration.
You won't see MIG weld done on any pressure vessel/hydraulic pipe or other critical welding.
MIG welded roll cage? No thank you.

It has its place but is far from being a great form of welding (I know nobody here is saying that).

Yep, that is nearly %100 all bullshit

[oldcorollas]

do they even have automated stick welding robots?

[jeffro ra28]

If they did, they would either need massively long electrodes or auto electrode feeders .

Stick can be awesome, just try stainless sparklers, they run real nice !

[Duk]

Sorry Peeps, I've only based those comments on conversation I've had with the Boilermakers I've worked with in heavy (steel) industry.

Industrial quality MIG/Wire Feed welders must have picked up massively in recent years because no Boilermaker I've asked have said that they could pass X-ray standard welds with them.
For their various tickets that they do, they don't even bother with using MIG's.

[takai]

So, its second, third, fourth or even tenth hand information and you are passing it off as gospel truth.

Yup, that little "Non qualified" below your name speaks volumes, because all of the stuff on welding was complete horseshit.

[JZA70R_92]

i managed to score a few arc stick welder ive heard on te grape vine its possible to convert it to tig is this true? if so how. currently using a mig and oxy to do my rust repairs on my escort.