Good books or sites on TIG welding?

Chris,
Have you visited as it has a decent collection of articles, relating to basic TIG welding, as well as site listing of books, and other electronic resources? Hope this is of assistance.

Lincoln electric furnishes an excellent manual with its machines. Bugs

I spent quite a bit of time borrowing library books about tig welding. None of the ones I saw went into in depth discussions and they were all very basic and lacked detail. The best one is the free TIG welding handbook from Miller:
also miller has very cheap tig welding calculators.
You are on a good track regarding getting some instruction. I am also learning the basics of tig welding.
I am curious, what welder do you have?
i

--Post to sci.engr.joining.welding and follow the links to Ernie's site..

Chris: I recently went through this when I bought my Thermal Arc 185 earlier this year. In my opinion there is really is very little good information all in one book or resource. The Miller material is quite good, but it lacks the some of the practical answers to new user questions. Using gas lenses, for example...how far can you extend the tungsten from the cup and still have it work effectively? What worked for me was to get all the free stuff from Miller, rent a video from Technical Video Rental, go to the book store and look..don't buy unless you really think the book has something great to offer. I have been disapointed by some of the books I've purchased as they still leave out critical hands on info. Search this website for Ernie Leimkuhler's posts for newbie users. I've learned more from his posts than anything combined. I've copied most of his posts to a seperate text file I keep in my workshop. The most important thing is practice. Go to the junk yard and find clean mild steel and start welding it...I even get stainless to practice on. Copper too. Good luck -Mike

Geez - I borrowed some books from the Washington University library, and they were so DEEP, I just about got lost and had to come up for air. They had history, and chronology of the development of the TIG process, all kinds of info on how it works at the molecular level, etc. Nothing on technique, of course.
But, for general compatibility of alloys, what filler and Tungsten rod to use, tips on technique, and how to set up the welder, the welding process and the workpieces for best effect, the Lincoln TIG book is about the best without having to wade through tons on stuff to find those great tidbits.
Jon

Fantastic info and links, you have all saved me money and time, I'll also find this Ernies site and download what I can from there, all very much appreciated guys, thanks again.
Ohh, and the machine I bought is a Migatronic 220, mainly because it was both single and 3 phase, and I can't afford proper three phase at the moment, i just run a transverter, which most certainly would NOT like running a TIG :)

The American Society for Metals (ASM) has a great welding book, but the first time reading it is overwhelming. It is hardcover and about as thick as a J&L or MSC catalog. If you are serious about welding you will find it very valuable over the years, but maybe not at first. Let's just say the book doesn't come as standard equiptment with every Grizzly welder!
Dixon

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

I haven't seen this old Linde Heliarc manual suggested yet, so here is the link:
I'm no TIG guru, so I can't say if it is all that useful. It is a bit dated, "copyright 1959 by Union Carbide" . I stumbled upon it looking for something else...
Here is the link page that it came from, maybe there are some other manuals of use there:

Just spent a couple of hours reading and downloading info, superb site, thanks!