Tig welding

[aussie260z]

I've found the TIG to be great welding aluminium. You have all the control you need to get the heat input right and I also got a pedal with mine so you can easily control what is going on. Fillets and outside corners aren't a problem. I've used a Cigweld (think the model was TransTig 200 ACDC) machine a lot a TAFE and I can't find much difference in their operation. I think the main thing would be the Cigweld has a nice digital display for every setting where mine only has the amps with the digital readout.

I used the Transtig from CIG for the first weeks I was at TAFE and liked it alot - then we were moved around and I had to use the Lincoln Electric Invertecs and they were sh#t in comparision! I ended up moving over to the very, very old school Lincoln Electric Transformer TIG (like half the size of a small car :-)) and found that much better!

Show some pics of your Alluminium Fillet Welds, I got mine ticked off - but they were no where near as neat as the Fillet Welds on Mild and Stainless Steel - real fine line of getting enough heat to create the weld pool and to much heat - particulary towards the end of the material!

I had a bad experience with the EBAY Mig I bought, so I think I am just going to bite the bullet and grab the EWM or Kemppi!

[Muziiz]

Ok so I got the welder its a 200amp ac/dc welder comes with plasma cutter or something..

so I need argon gas .. seems most places whant me to open an account and rent the bottle ! since I wont be going through shitloads whats the best way to go about this ? I did see a guy on ebay selling the actual bottle then offering $89 refills .

I also need to get welding rods but so many selections !

anything else i will need ?

the good thing is I been watching a lot of youtube vids seems like practicing on aluminium is the best way to learn? the guy said if you can master aluminium he rest is sh#t easy ...

[twentyEight]

Just rent ther bottle, BOC charge about $40 per quarter for Pure Argon (needed for TIG) and it's worth it as you get what you pay for, your quote above is probably non-pure Argon (used with MIG) is a lot cheaper, but is nowhere near as good.

For filler rods, buy 2 types - Stainless steel filler rods (perfect for mild steel and stainless steel - and brass from what I'm told), and Alloy filler rods. You should rarely need any others. Stainless steel rods should be no more than $2-3 per rod, any more and you're getting ripped off.

[marc280]

I know I find the bottle rental a bit of a killer as well.... I was getting the D size bottles or argon, but it works out much cheaper to get the E size and the bottle rental isn't that much more per month. I think a D size is about $90 and an E about $130 from memory. I looked at some bottles on ebay, but then you have to get the bottle tested every now and then. You could always go the disposable bottles, but I think they are really only useful if your doing very little welding.

If you didn't get a gas regulator with your machine, then your going to need one of them too. Make sure you get one with a flowmeter so you can see how much gas your flowing.

For the welding rods I would be getting a general purpose filler rod to do mild steel (I think the most common one is LW1-6 grade).

Then if your going to be welding stainless I think the easiest way to go is getting a 316 grade. Even though it is more expensive than the lower grade rods, if you aren't going to be welding a lot of stainless then you can still use it to weld 316 grades and below successfully.

For Aluminium I use a 5356 grade rod as it can be used on quite a few different grades. Take a look at the following link if you've got a bit of time to do some reading....
http://www.bocworldofwelding.com.au/...-Aluminium.pdf

Hope that helps a little.

[matty12]

you will also need tungsten, in different sizes of course,filler rods once again in different sizes.
I use 5356 and also 4043 rods for ally welding one does plate and the other castings,once again in different sizes.Most shit i use is either 1.6 or 2.5 even have some 3.6mm stuff.

[Muziiz]

Ive got me gas, electrodes and filler rods are on the way.

Went to plug the welder in turns out i need 15amp power point.

I suppose no way around this ill need electrician to wire me up 15am dedicated circuit bugger...

[roadsailing]

Ive got me gas, electrodes and filler rods are on the way.

Went to plug the welder in turns out i need 15amp power point.

I suppose no way around this ill need electrician to wire me up 15am dedicated circuit bugger...

yeah whatever you do don't (and by don't I mean do) cut the plug off and put a 10 amp plug on. I bought my mig second-hand and the earth pin had already been filed down for me.

[Muziiz]

yeah whatever you do don't (and by don't I mean do) cut the plug off and put a 10 amp plug on. I bought my mig second-hand and the earth pin had already been filed down for me.

Yeah dont think ill be filing down the earth plug. Its an old house so best to run wire from power box its only 5meters away .

I know an electrician who does cash jobs he is reasonable in price.

Tig welding is turning into adventure ! Though end result looks promising plenty of welding to be done for the house and offcourse the celica conversion.

[matty12]

Mine came with a 20amp plug, which was not anything like or even came close to fitting a normal 20 amp socket.I had to go and buy a new 20 amp plug and put it on the machine.I also got a 20 amp power point installed at home if i ever use it there.

[Muziiz]

Matty mine could be a 20 amp also all i know is its bigger than the normal plug

[matty12]

20 amp has larger ground, neutral and active pins.They are all the same size as a 15 amp ground pin.

[Muziiz]

Well got my dedicated 20amp circuit installed today so thats another step to tig welding !

[matty12]

Good times

[Muziiz]

Hi all been a while on this thread... tig is going ok but i really need to finish my project so the tig has been sold off (not confirmed yet) to a friend.
I am going to buy a mig welder much less mucking around as i really hated the foot pedal business on the tig.

I am interested in below machine it states it can do aluminium and that it comes with necessary bits to do this.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-3-1-250AM...item5195e7323e

[matty12]

you can weld ally with any mig just have the right gas and a lose liner. A push pull hand peice is best to stop the ally from birdsnesting in the maching but still possible to us a push machine, just keep the hand peice and line as straight as possible.

A mig is a hell of alot faster thats for sure.