First foray into TIG welding

[KevinR]

As hinted at in another thread, I've just acquired a TIG welder to complement my MIG.

Not one to purchase cheap tools when a quality item can be obtained for a reasonable price, I've invested in Jasic 200P MINI AC/DC TIG machine.  https://www.jasic.co.uk/tig-200p-mini-acdc-inverter-welder

The idea being that once I've mastered steel - and I've got a roof section to weld into a GT6 to fill in the hole where a Webasto roof was fitted - I will move on to try some aluminium.  

Posing the question, how hard can it be to lean to TIG weld - lots of hits on the Internet say one needs to be taught how to TIG weld, and its not something to self learn.

I first leaned to gas weld in metalwork at school (a very very long time ago) but haven't done it since (only gas brazing).

I consider myself to be reasonably competent at MIG welding - anything from thin car panel work through to 10mm steel sections, so again I asked myself how hard it could be to self learn TIG weld.

So here are my first efforts at just getting a weld pool going - no filler rod.

It wasn't too difficult, but I did have to sharpen the tungsten between the two bits of metal.

I'll play around for another couple of hours without filler rod on various thicknesses of steel and then I'll start adding filler rod into the equation.

[RogerH]

Have a look on the R-tech website. They have tutorials for all the metals/thicknesses/and configuration.

Getting a decent weld pool is one thing trying to insert the filler rod into it is another.

I have had some good success joining steel and Aluminium but without the filler rod.

This summer I will have another weeks teach-in and see if I can improve on using the filler rod.

It may be easier to practice on slightly thicker sheet than the normal car thickness Perhaps 2mm

 

Roger

 

[KevinR]

First experiments are using 3mm thick strip. 

Once I've got the technique of keeping the molten weld pool moving I'll move onto adding filler rod and then onto something thinner and eventually onto car panel thickness.

The two test pieces above were my very first attempts with the TIG, just to prove it works.

Lots and lots of playing with the current, slope settings and pre and post gas settings to come.

After my first hour of playing, it really looks like practice makes perfect - and I'll need a lot of practice.

Something I've learned already is that the demonstration videos are made by people that know what they are doing - I think it would be much better if there was a video of an absolute beginner actually being taught how to TIG weld, so that the mistakes are real mistakes, rather than an expert just saying avoid doing X, Y or Z and then demonstrating a perfect weld.

[RogerH]

Hi Kevin,

 for one of my jobs I needed to weld an end plate onto a tube (mild steel)

I got crafty. I fitted the tube  (only 2" long) into a small 4 jaw chuck, rigged up the torch in a set position and turned the chuck with string and gears.

After one rotation, job done. It was a revelation.  

Doing it by hand would have me tearing my hair out

As mentioned above I shall spend a week this summer doing some serious practice.

 

Roger

[ahebron]

First time I tried it was horrid.
I had watched all the youtube I could and thought hey I am welding god so lets do it.
Welds looked like birds droppings, tungsten kept sticking and everything was getting hot including myself.
The biggest cockup I made was I had the earth clamp and torch plugged into the wrong terminals thinking mig I had earth - and torch + but as we all know tig is earth + torch -
That made me think maybe I am not that much a welding god but more a welding dog.
But it made me think everytime I weld that I have the settings correct including making sure I set the pedal max and min (I have a rubber band around both knobs that keep min minimum and max maximum so it is all in the pedal).
Tig is now my go to welder these days as it is so easy to use and setup.

Everytime I weld I am learning and appreciating those who can do it properly.