first TIG experience

I envy you. Have wanted to try TIG for a long time. Blew my chance when I was still in High School. They just got in the new TIG machine when I was a teachers assistant and they didn't have the electric wiring setup good enough to hold it when I looked it over. Now I know I should have pestered, bugged my teacher a bit so I could try it out...

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's videos:

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of his videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for just welding in general.

I'll second that , watch Jody's videos . He has one series devoted to telling what all those knobs on the TIG machine are for that's especially helpful .

That's the same guy the instructor says he watches when he wants to learn more. I was also told to watch Jody's stuff.

My current youtube machinist favorites are

I watched Fenner's Broke It Off , I'd have just shattered the ez-out with a punch and picked the pieces out , installed a timesert or helicoil and been done with it .

I've wondered what the unedited times are to fixture get everything and get setup to go in these videos. It may not have been too much different in the end. Other folks do seem to opt for the helicoil in similar type videos.

I tried to braze build something years ago with an oxyacetylene torch. The results were pretty awful. Should give it another try again if the flux covered rod is even still good anymore.

You should check out Jody's latest video posted earlier today (if you haven't already):

He shows how you can easily cut, polish and etch a weld cross section to see how well it penetrated and such. He used oven cleaner for the etch but I remember in another of his videos he used naval jelly.

Something I plan on doing someday if/when I ever get back to running my welders...

I wholeheartedly agree. Jody is a seemingly bottomless pit of knowledge and a really good teacher, too. It's uncommon to find both in a single individual.

The only big problem with his videos is that Jon Banquer is a big fan. Be careful of the company you keep.

Just sayin'