TIG welding

Lincoln "wrote the book" on welding, and indeed have a bit of a library, fwiu, so I'm sure they have sumpn on tig. And since you bought their brand, you might be able to hit'em fer a freebie! Ernie L., if he sees yer post here, will certainly have good advice. Or post on sci.engr.joining.welding.

But, there is nothing like school for tig, book or no book. Gotta do it! Or offer to sweep/clean up yer local welding shop fer a few demos. I went to school, which was disappointing, altho better than nothing, and afterwards hired a real pro to actually show me stuff on *my* machine (econotig, ca 1996, proly not as good as yer lincoln). He said, w/ regards teaching me on my machine, Well, I'll do my best... And then he sighed.... He really was tryna be diplomatic. Later on, he let me use some of his bad-assed tiggers in his shop. Big diff! Much easier to weld w/ his, than w/ mine. ThermalDynamics, I think.

Lincoln and Miller both have decent intro welding books that cover TIG.

Do a google groups search for my posts on sci.engr.joining.welding. I post a lot of TIG stuff.

Here is my compiled responses to basic TIG questions.

Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"

Ernie,

Ahm printing this one out!! Thanks.

Ed just mentioned welding alum w/ O/A. wow!! How does one do that?? Special fluxes? And argon?? :)

"Gas Tungsten Arc Welding" by Minnick.

It really is a lot easier to learn when you can have someone demonstrate the correct technique and then critique your technique. Not everything you need to learn is in the books.

Missing a night or two of a class over 10 weeks won't be catastrophic, particularly if you have you own equipment at home to make up the hands on time.

Have you done any other sort of welding? If you have then I would not put a lot of effort into finding a welding school. My experience with welding schools is that there is very little instruction. It is 5% instruction, 95 % practise. But of course that 5% can be invaluable in getting started.

I took welding at a Votech night school when I was a teenager. All they had were oxy/acet and stick welding. Many years later I decided to get a TIG welder, but before I did that I thought I ought to try it out. Being over 60 years old, I was able to go to the local community college at minimal cost. There were only two of us interested in TIG and a mess of new students taking gas and stick welding. Over the length of the course, I got maybe an hour of instruction. Maybe I would have gotten a lot more if I had needed it, but my experience with gas welding let me know what I wanted the puddle to do. And the rest was just adjusting to the differences between gas and Tig welding ( which took very little time ).

Dan

Yeah, my jaw nearly dropped when the instructor told me the course I signed up for wadn't a tigging course. But, proly just to get rid of me, he set me up in a booth, to let me tig away. Wound up bringing about 30 lbs of alum scrap from my shop for everyone to practice on (cuz then evrybody wanted to tig!), cuz they didn't have any!!

The instruction was indeed minimal, and haphazard, but better than nothing. Everyone once in a while you get a real crackerjack instructor, who can make a big big diff in your welding, but how can a prospective student know this in advance? General welding knowledge is indeed helpful in tigging, as well, if only as a reference point, which to me always increases comprehension.

Also, as I mentioned, instruction on your particular machine can be a big help as well, and a knowledgeable person can give you a good perspective as to what your realistic machine limitations are.

Does Ernie make housecalls?? :)

Actually, the OP might post on the welding ng, see if anyone is near him.

TIG aluminum filler rod, special flux and special goggles.

go to

Within a 100 mile radius I am willing to make house / shop calls.

Shorten your learning curve tremendously by finding a welder who will give you some private lessons. See my post in sci.engr.joining.welding titled "A Welding Story" for my comments on welding mentors.

If you can find someone who will teach you one on one, you can learn things about 10x faster. Nothing substitutes for experience, and you WILL have to "just do it" to get the hang. But, just like bowling, you improve fast at first, then more slowly as you get better. You can get a lot of info from a welder for a few bucks and a few beers.

Ask around at welding supply shops and other places. Ask around among friends, because sometimes there is someone who knows how but just doesn't weld much any more.

TIG ain't rocket surgery, but there are a few things you gotta get right to get started.

If that fails, find a class, pay the money, and go every time. Classes are a real steal because they let you use high quality machines, give you lots of free practice materials, and USUALLY have good instructors. The two I had were ex-Navy men, and really good men as well as welders. Some may want you to be proficient at stick first, but get to know the instructor, and tell him about your home tig. Most of the time, if you show talent and an ability to listen and follow directions, they let you try the processes you are interested in.

Most courses start off with OA (gas) welding. Seems like tinkertoys, but it is ALMOST EXACTLY the same as TIG welding in principles, you just use a different heat source, one being flame and the other being electric arc. The principles, motions and movememts are identical. Don't be miffed if they want you to do that first, because you will be able to take it straight home and apply it to TIG.

Just some suggestions, like you asked for.

Steve

Almost, but one key difference is the footpedal. With gas you can back the flame away to reduce heat input. If you get in that habit with gas, you must break it with TIG. With TIG you use the footpedal and/or move the torch faster but never further from the work.

Visit the Tinman like Ernie sez. No argon, just O/A. The biggest key here is the special goggles. It's fairly easy to do with the right goggles (and some practice), quite difficult to do without them. The special goggles eliminate the sodium flare from the flux that otherwise obscures your view of the puddle -- and ya can't weld well if ya can't see the puddle.

Well, yes, but when attempting to compare apples with oranges, the writer is entitled to a little leniency. You must admit that the main point I was trying to make is a valid one ......... heat it up, get a puddle, add some filler rod, move on, repeat, repeat, repeat.............

Steve

and ya can't weld well

Funny, dat never bothered me! :)

Right. I only mentioned it because the OP hasn't formed any habits yet. It took me quite a while to break that pull-back habit when I started using TIG.

Just rivet patches on the holes in the sheetmetal, right? :

"Don Foreman" wrote

Well, don't tell him EVERYTHING! He should have to learn a few things the hard way. ;-)

TIG welding ain't the easiest thing in the world to do.

Steve