TIG electrode grinding

The included angle affects the shape of the arc. A blunter point gives a narrower arc, and a sharper point gives a wider arc. Check out

for more details

Depends on what you are welding. A bumper bracket for a 54 Ford truck? Nope contamination won't have much affect here.

A high pressure pipe fitting for a nuclear reactor? Yes contamination of the electrode could cause an eventual weld failure do to impurities in the weld.

Very effective and very expensive.

Just buy yourself a $35 bench grinder , and keep the wheels in good shape. A coarse wheel for shaping and a fine wheel for polishing. Always point the tungsten UP while grinding so all the scratch lines are inline with the tungsten.

If you are welding aluminum NEVER grind off aluminum with a grinding wheel. It will clog the wheel and get smeared onto all the tungstens that follow. Use a belt sander to remove the blob of aluminum or notch the tungsten and break off the end.

I do have a dedicated tungsten grinder for portable use. It uses a small diamond wheel to grind the tungstens. It cost $180, and I only use it for location work. It looks like a dremel tool.

In my shop I use a belt grinder to rough my tungstens and a diamond wheel to polish them.

You may like to start at the link below, you'll need the Adobe Reader.

In machine welding it's considered a parameter of the weld. There are considerations for manual TIG welding, such as a small flat on the tip will help with tip life, and arc characteristics.

Very, the grinder should be used for tungsten only.

Have used them very little, so maybe someone else could speak to this. IMO though I'd say unless your doing machine welding where repeatability is important, a bench grinder is more than adequate.

Richard

Tell me more about polishing tungsten's. I've just used the grinding wheel to get the shape. I don't think I've ever heard about polishing. What effect does the coarseness of the grinding wheel have on the arc and/or weld?

Lane

quicker starts and better stability, esp. @ lower voltages (with ancient equipment)

It is difficult to understand what you post unless you post the previous parts of the conversation you are answering.

Steve

i often wonder about that; though read (10 years ago) that re-posting was i'll advised; perhaps some patent would be more appropriate, though every other message seems to use full (previous) message quoting. thanks for the tip

parts of the conversation you are answering.

The finer the polish on the tungsten the bette the arc quality.

For coarse grinding use a green Silicon Carbide wheel. Use a fine grey Aluminum oxide wheel for polishing. It does make a difference in arc control and arc starting.

I rough my tungstens with a 60 grit ceramic belt on my 2" x 72" Baldor knife grinder.

I polish them on a 6" diameter diamond grinder that used to be a Darex reamer sharpener fron Boeing Surplus. It is probably a 320 grit.

It is. The entire re-post is a default of the crap put out by M$. Too many people can't be bothered to do anything about it.

Ted