The Start Of My Welding Adventure

[Crans]

After forking out $1000 over the last few years for intercooler piping dump pipes exhaust systems to be fabricated i finially decided it was time to learn to tig and start saving my self some money(Not to mention a heap more tinker time, we all love tinker time).

I looked around at all the TIG options for the last month and decided a simple little 180amp DC TIG would do the job.

Headed down to WeldSmart in Perth's southern suburbs to buy my new toy. I must say the sales guy was good, I ended up walking out with a 200amp AD/DC Tig for a very discounted price.

http://www.weldsmart.com.au/welding-australia/tig-welders-gtaw/tig200acdc-pulse-200-amp-tig-pulse-mma-inverter-welder-new-euro-design

This is the same welder BOC sell for over $2000

The welder came with a tig tourch, ARC Lead and foot pedal.

Had a bit of a play with it the next night, using the left over MIG gas my mate had.

Here are our not very pretty extreme amature results:

As well as the crappy welding I got some nice UV burns on my arms and slight warming up on the face. Lesson learned long sleve shirt is a must.

Spend the next night watching youtube videos and researching how to properly setup the TIG and learned the importance of working with clean materials. A simple wirebrushing is not enough.

So today armed with a bit more knowledge i managed to do a little better:

We also started modifying an old trolley that used to have a wodden top to be our new welding bench.

Here are some pics of a new steel plate being welded to the top of the bench:

Here is a pic of a longer weld ground down flush, You can see the weld penetrated pretty well:

I will update this thread in the next few days with the finished bench, as well as any other work I do.

Edited June 17, 2012 by Crans

[Duncan]

good thread...keep posting updates

[Crans]

Welding finished on the table.

We didnt tack it down enough so the top warped quite a bit, not to worry its just a dodgy welding surface, atlease 1 half if fairly straight

A few more practive welds. Need to get better at moving faster and feeding filler without stopping all the time.

[turboedsloth]

Whats it like using the foot pedal? I've just picked up a larger Lincoln TIG and it makes my caddy look like a toy.

[Crans]

Havn't started using the foot pedal yet. Getting used to using the thing first. I suspect the foot pedal will weld with the slight holes at the end of some of the welds.

Basically it will just let you adjust amps on the fly, ATM i am just adjusting it on the machine

[Risking]

Connect up the foot pedal if your bench welding.

You actually want to slow down looking at some of those welds.

Slow down and allow the weld to pool properly before adding rod

Use the foot pedal and try to run a consistent pool along 3mm without filler rod. Once you can control the pool then start adding rod

[Crans]

Thanks for the tips I though i was going too slow?? That probably means im running too high amperage??

More practive thursday, can't wait for my 15amp socket to go in so i can bring the welder home.

[Risking]

What amperage are you using and what is the material.

Generally if I'm using 3mm sheet and welding with argon I'll use 60-70amp for a butt join.

[Crans]

90 amp for the bench 60-70 amp for the practice pieces going of 30 amp per mm

[ISL33P]

Great to see you having a good cracking.

First thing before considering anything else, make sure the materials you are welding, as well as the tungsten and gas cup are clean. Doesn't matter what you do, if these aren't clean you will just frustrate yourself in trying to improve.

From there on, throw the filler to one side and just learn to run welds with no filler.....and go from there.

Cheers,

Ariel

[Crans]

Got some more practive in tonight, I think this is my best work yet.

Also made up a third arm, not too bad I guess.

[Crans]

15amp power socket installed in my shed today, welding is comming home yay.

[boostn0199]

Good work mAte, ive been in the same boAt got a small tig setup about a month ago and have been practising great skill to have.

[Crans]

Post up some pics

[boostn0199]

Post up some pics

Heres a couple I've got. Still pretty average at it but its all practice I guess.

[Crans]

There not looking too bad at all. What welder did you get?

Did a trial run today on modifying a turbine housing and connecting a waste gate to it.

We did not pre heat or slow cool the cast housing on this trial, but we will be doing it properly when my new t67 arrives this week.

There are a few cracks, but mistly after griding it down i can see it welded ok, will be better with the proper pre heating. the the test pipe was quite thin and was very easy to blow through it.

Here is an internal pic showing the hole cit in the housing, we didnt cut it as big as we should have after all it was just a test.

The mill used is old and wiggled too much so we ended up using a die grinder. Will probably take me 4 hours to properly grid out a 44mm hole, had to constantly wait for the aircompressor to catch up.

Hopefully will have a finished product by the end of the week.

[boostn0199]

There not looking too bad at all. What welder did you get?

Just got a basic ebay one http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Rossi-3-1-Inverter-Welder-TIG-Cuts-Welds-S06-/230786697998?pt=AU_Welding&hash=item35bbf58b0e#ht_2788wt_1044. Seems to work alright just only downside is its not AC so cant weld alluminium.

[Crans]

HF start or scratch/lift start?

[boostn0199]

Yep its got HF start.

[Crans]

A little update, finished modifying the wastegate pipe on my exhaust manifold