Teaching myself Tig welding
04-11-2017, 11:48 PM
#31
I have both, they just do different things. The TIG is much cleaner and you have much more control and is the best (arguably only) way to do stainless or aluminum. You can have MIG setups for stainless and aluminum but they suck for your typical garage hobbiest. On steel, MIG is still king to me anyway, its just so much faster and cheaper to do. I use 3x the gas on the TIG as I do on the MIG, not to mention a lot slower.
04-12-2017, 06:38 AM
#32
I have both, they just do different things. The TIG is much cleaner and you have much more control and is the best (arguably only) way to do stainless or aluminum. You can have MIG setups for stainless and aluminum but they suck for your typical garage hobbiest. On steel, MIG is still king to me anyway, its just so much faster and cheaper to do. I use 3x the gas on the TIG as I do on the MIG, not to mention a lot slower.
04-12-2017, 07:27 PM
#33
I have both, they just do different things. The TIG is much cleaner and you have much more control and is the best (arguably only) way to do stainless or aluminum. You can have MIG setups for stainless and aluminum but they suck for your typical garage hobbiest. On steel, MIG is still king to me anyway, its just so much faster and cheaper to do. I use 3x the gas on the TIG as I do on the MIG, not to mention a lot slower.
Have they ever tig welded DOM?
04-20-2017, 01:20 AM
#37
I'm a 100% self taught welder on both mig and tig. Bottom line, it takes time, practice, more time and experimenting with your machine.
When you look online at all the welding threads and pictures that post up, pay attention to final appearance and you will notice that the weld bead is almost like a signature. If you look closely, you will see differences in almost everyones weld. The first thing I always tell someone who comes over and wants a lesson or two is that trying to make an exact replica of another guys weld will almost always result in you pulling your hair out with frustration. What you should be doing is getting an understanding of the process and how to make a strong weld. Once you are able to "weld properly" the appearance will fall into place with practice. In the beginning, I spent hours wondering why my welds didn't look like that guys or this guys. It wasn't until I backed off and cleared my head to focus on making a proper weld that I actually starting showing progress in weld appearance.
The biggest mistake for the guys focused on copying anothers final appearance is that they will find that guys machine settings and torch/filler set up and weld with that for hours focused on making a copy without ever changing a single thing. Do yourself a favor and practice while making changes to your set up. You will likely find that your style works better with some combination of settings that is different. Once you become a better welder, then you will find that going back to a setup that is successful for one guy may be successful for you. The point I'm trying to make is that as your skill gets better, you will likely need to change somethings as you progress.
I hope I explained what I have in my head.....lol
When you look online at all the welding threads and pictures that post up, pay attention to final appearance and you will notice that the weld bead is almost like a signature. If you look closely, you will see differences in almost everyones weld. The first thing I always tell someone who comes over and wants a lesson or two is that trying to make an exact replica of another guys weld will almost always result in you pulling your hair out with frustration. What you should be doing is getting an understanding of the process and how to make a strong weld. Once you are able to "weld properly" the appearance will fall into place with practice. In the beginning, I spent hours wondering why my welds didn't look like that guys or this guys. It wasn't until I backed off and cleared my head to focus on making a proper weld that I actually starting showing progress in weld appearance.
The biggest mistake for the guys focused on copying anothers final appearance is that they will find that guys machine settings and torch/filler set up and weld with that for hours focused on making a copy without ever changing a single thing. Do yourself a favor and practice while making changes to your set up. You will likely find that your style works better with some combination of settings that is different. Once you become a better welder, then you will find that going back to a setup that is successful for one guy may be successful for you. The point I'm trying to make is that as your skill gets better, you will likely need to change somethings as you progress.
I hope I explained what I have in my head.....lol
12-08-2017, 09:47 AM
#40
I have been practicing at work with aluminium. I can get it done but like mentioned it looks nothing like a pro's weld. I do alot of practice with welding pop cans butts together. It is not easy but helps with pedal control as it's super thin and easy to blow through. Also it's alot cheaper material to obtain. **** drink 2 beers and weld the cans together. Then go to the more expensive test material and you will see improvement. At least I did.
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wretched73 (12-08-2017)