Common sense TIG & MIG info?

[Hot Chop shop]

Common sense TIG & MIG info...

So I have read and watched lots of stuff on TIG welding... thanks to Jody at welding tipsandtricks and lots of youtube videos and threads on here and other sites...
But I feel like sometimes there is some common sense stuff for noobs that is obvious... So obvious that it doesn't get mentioned... If you have any of those tips please feel free to share it.

A few questions I hope to get answered...

What do you do when the filler rod gets to small? Do you lay it in a weld seam and use the lay wire technique or just toss it?

If the wire ends up with a bubble on it do you cut that off before the next bead or just use it? (Seems easier to contaminate the tungsten if you use it)

When grinding tungsten do you only worry about the tip? If there is discoloration or grinder marks down the shaft away from the clean tip is that okay? Or will it effect the arc?

How short can you grind the tungsten down and still be okay to use it?

Does splatter on the ceramic cone effect the arc? and do you stop and clean it when changing the electrode? (If so, what do you clean it with and how do you know when to discard and replace it?)

Any help is always appreciated!

 

[Bobhdus]

For home use, there are "ideal practices" to use which are not real stringent, but in an environment where structural/ weld integrity is highest priority purity of flow, weld dilution, zero contamination should be observed. With that said here are some "tips" (in reverse to your questions), that I learned and I always try to practice.

Keep cup clean to stop irregular gas flow/ turbulence and to prevent stuff from falling into the puddle. Splatter on the ceramic cup should not really affect the arc so much in tig welding (unless it's a really small cup), and it's usually on the end, but it can in mig welding where if you touch the work piece it could arc from the contact tip through the outer nozzle to the work piece.

Tungsten can be as short or long as necessary to weld as long as it has good contact and grip in the collet. I usually grind every impurity off the tungsten, sometimes I even use wire wheel. It's not a bad idea to clean tungsten with acetone before welding. Discoloration means it was overheated or something "fumed" up into it and coated it with residue. Remove if you can. If overheated, it could cause it to lose its properties, but with that, I do not know.

Always snip the filler wire ends. On mig, a dirty or balled wire end can cause a bad start. Snip at an angle to help restart into a puddle... On tungsten, any contamination is from not keeping it into the shielding gas, touching filler to the tungsten, or the weld bubbles or spits up on it. Not a big loss to just cut the ends off the tungsten and start over with a fresh point though. Some people will clean the filler or tungsten with acetone too because oily gloves can cause contamination too... Another good practice with tig wire is to leave the ID stamped end on the unused end so you can ID it if your filler wires get mixed up.

If its a bunch of short pieces and your low on filler wire then tig them together, or just toss them. The last end is the dirtiest area of the rod. I've used needle nose pliers just to get that last bit used up though. Lay wire doesn't work too good by just laying it in there. The wire shrinks and will not be consistent without you controlling it a little... Hope this helps...

 

[Bobhdus]

Clean ceramic cup with whatever works. Standard needle nose pliers are smooth and can prevent you from cracking the cup and will fit inside the ceramic cups. With mig, there are pliers made for cleaning the nozzle and reamers and some that do both...

 

[bad_idea]

Grind a point on each end of the tungsten, makes changing to a sharp tip that much quicker/easier. They have different back caps for longer/shorter tungsten pieces to fit into tight area.

You can tell the guys that have welded nuclear pipe, they snip the end of the filler wire off each time they stop/start.

 

[Hot Chop shop]

For home use, there are "ideal practices" to use which are not real stringent, but in an environment where structural/ weld integrity is highest priority purity of flow, weld dilution, zero contamination should be observed. With that said here are some "tips" (in reverse to your questions), that I learned and I always try to practice.

Keep cup clean to stop irregular gas flow/ turbulence and to prevent stuff from falling into the puddle. Splatter on the ceramic cup should not really affect the arc so much in tig welding (unless it's a really small cup), and it's usually on the end, but it can in mig welding where if you touch the work piece it could arc from the contact tip through the outer nozzle to the work piece.

Tungsten can be as short or long as necessary to weld as long as it has good contact and grip in the collet. I usually grind every impurity off the tungsten, sometimes I even use wire wheel. It's not a bad idea to clean tungsten with acetone before welding. Discoloration means it was overheated or something "fumed" up into it and coated it with residue. Remove if you can. If overheated, it could cause it to lose its properties, but with that, I do not know.

Always snip the filler wire ends. On mig, a dirty or balled wire end can cause a bad start. Snip at an angle to help restart into a puddle... On tungsten, any contamination is from not keeping it into the shielding gas, touching filler to the tungsten, or the weld bubbles or spits up on it. Not a big loss to just cut the ends off the tungsten and start over with a fresh point though. Some people will clean the filler or tungsten with acetone too because oily gloves can cause contamination too... Another good practice with tig wire is to leave the ID stamped end on the unused end so you can ID it if your filler wires get mixed up.

If its a bunch of short pieces and your low on filler wire then tig them together, or just toss them. The last end is the dirtiest area of the rod. I've used needle nose pliers just to get that last bit used up though. Lay wire doesn't work too good by just laying it in there. The wire shrinks and will not be consistent without you controlling it a little... Hope this helps...

Thanks for taking the time to respond to all of my questions! All great information.

Grind a point on each end of the tungsten, makes changing to a sharp tip that much quicker/easier. They have different back caps for longer/shorter tungsten pieces to fit into tight area.



You can tell the guys that have welded nuclear pipe, they snip the end of the filler wire off each time they stop/start.

I like the idea of grinding both doing ends... (Cause I dip the tungsten too often) I read somewhere not too cause then you can mix up your tungsten without the color ID... but right now I only use 2% lanthiated electrode 3/32 electrode so don't see an issue of mixing them up.

 

[sqznby]

Common sense TIG & MIG info...

So I have read and watched lots of stuff on TIG welding... thanks to Jody at welding tipsandtricks and lots of youtube videos and threads on here and other sites...
But I feel like sometimes there is some common sense stuff for noobs that is obvious... So obvious that it doesn't get mentioned... If you have any of those tips please feel free to share it.

A few questions I hope to get answered...

What do you do when the filler rod gets to small? Do you lay it in a weld seam and use the lay wire technique or just toss it?

If its too small, throw it in your scrap bucket. Lay wire only works well with longer pieces, the length helps with controlling it

If the wire ends up with a bubble on it do you cut that off before the next bead or just use it? (Seems easier to contaminate the tungsten if you use it)

Always start fresh

When grinding tungsten do you only worry about the tip? If there is discoloration or grinder marks down the shaft away from the clean tip is that okay? Or will it effect the arc?

The tip is the most important part. As long as you don't have any contamination from when you dip your tunk, it should be good. Though, I'm **** and like to grind them clean

How short can you grind the tungsten down and still be okay to use it?

As short as you like or as short as you feel comfortable using them

Does splatter on the ceramic cone effect the arc? and do you stop and clean it when changing the electrode? (If so, what do you clean it with and how do you know when to discard and replace it?)

Always clean before use. Typically the spatter will fall right off, you can use your mig pliers or needle nose pliers to remove it

Any help is always appreciated!

Hope that helped
As for sharpening both ends of the tunk, I prefer not to. If you dip your tunk
and have a ball on the end or even a small spec of spatter, now you have to take the cap off completely instead of loosening the cap and sliding the tunk out. Also if you choose to use small tunks, you limit yourself to the size/length because of the bad end will not fit into the collet

 

[dr_clyde]

If I'm using absurdly expensive rod, like silvaloy 15 or something, I'll just TIG the rod stub onto the next full piece. Otherwise, I just toss them in the scrap when they get too short. I do try to keep the alloy stamp, especially on stainless.

I always clip a bubble or ball off my filler. Makes for inconsistencies otherwise.

On tungsten, the point is the only part that needs attention. As long as there isn't base metal that has wicked up the electrode. This happens mostly with aluminum. Don't worry about discoloration and small grind marks.

If there's any spatter on the cup, I knock it off. Doesn't happen too often though.

I grind both ends of the electrode. I only use ceriated, so I don't need to worry about the alloy, and I sharpen a dozen or so at once. Beats trying to sharpen inside a tank or on a lift or something.


Don't bother cleaning your tungsten with any sort of solvent. This is not needed.

 

[Tig Master]

Sharpening both ends usually ends up fruitless as the dipped end won't fit into the collet as it is now too big. Bin there done that. And as for clipping the end off that is also easier said than done,for those that mentioned it elaborate on the process.For the "noob's"

T

 

[AndyA]

It may not be "proper" practice. When the filler gets short, I just stick it in the puddle and stop the arc. This welds the filler to the piece and holds it in place for you. Take the new filler rod and weld it to the free end of the short piece. Then strike the arc, get the puddle remelted and start welding again.

When remelting the puddle, intentionally put a little down pressure on the filler so it's pushed against the work. That way it won't "jump up" and touch the tungsten when it gets melted off. After the puddle is melted and the filler is loose, you can pull back the filler and proceed normally.

When stopping the arc, pause a little bit and keep gas coverage until the metal has cooled a little.

 

[sqznby]

And as for clipping the end off that is also easier said than done,for those that mentioned it elaborate on the process.For the "noob's"

T

Are you talking about the end of the tungsten?

Depending on your sharpening method/tool.
Most tungsten grinders have a cutter built into it to cut off the chunked up end.

If you use a bench grinder, you can use the stone for aggressive grinding and a diamond wheel for finish grinding

You can also use a hammer and tap the end that is chunked up and it will usually break off. Then head over to your grinder to finish it up.

 

[bad_idea]

Tungsten is brittle. Grab it w/ a pair of pliers and stick it between the vise jaws, then snap it off. Be careful not to slice yourself w/ the tungsten when snapping. As far as sharpening both ends, when you get good at tig welding you will dull the tungsten before you get a booger on it.

 

[dr_clyde]

Tungsten is brittle. Grab it w/ a pair of pliers and stick it between the vise jaws, then snap it off. Be careful not to slice yourself w/ the tungsten when snapping. As far as sharpening both ends, when you get good at tig welding you will dull the tungsten before you get a booger on it.

Thoriated tungsten is brittle. You can just set the blob over the edge of the table and whack it with a hammer. Ceriated and lanthanated tungsten will splinter and tear lengthwise. They must be cut.

 

[Tig Master]

Not many average home welders would even think of investing in a tungsten sharpener.They are 3 to 4 hundred and up. A good belt sander will get you in the sharpening business with a 6" 320 grit diamond wheel on your dedicated bench grinder for 1/2 the price of a tungsten grinder.Breaking with a hammer usually sacrifices too much of the electrode when it breaks.With a 60 grit belt smoke that booger-ed end off and proceed to the diamond wheel.

T

 

[Tinner]

Thoriated tungsten is brittle. You can just set the blob over the edge of the table and whack it with a hammer. Ceriated and lanthanated tungsten will splinter and tear lengthwise. They must be cut.

Any tungsten will snap if you lay it on a sharp square edge and strike it with another, so you have kind of a shearing action going on. I use a piece of 2 1/2" machined stock as a hammer. I have a spot on the edge of my table I ground to a sharp edge.

It comes in handy when I have to weld in one of those spots where you booger a lot of tungsten.

In general, you are correct and even my method will fail 5-10% of the time.

 

[Muffin77]

I collect thelittle pieces of filler and when I get a few I tack them together to make another filler stick...for tungsten length you can get as short as the gun allows it...also for griding I lay it on the base and tilt up then knock the point off with it ground like that I haven't got a stray arc or tungsten trying to ball on me

 

[Hot Chop shop]

All great information... Thanks for taking the time to help a noob out! I'm sure I'll run into lots more questions.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Guster]

Not many average home welders would even think of investing in a tungsten sharpener.They are 3 to 4 hundred and up. A good belt sander will get you in the sharpening business with a 6" 320 grit diamond wheel on your dedicated bench grinder for 1/2 the price of a tungsten grinder.Breaking with a hammer usually sacrifices too much of the electrode when it breaks.With a 60 grit belt smoke that booger-ed end off and proceed to the diamond wheel.

T

Also prefer grinding my balled electrodes rather than breaking the balled end off. Found a few that exploded once they heated up properly due to cracks that formed when a bit was broken off. Takes just as much effort to grind the ball than it does to grind down a badly cracked one anyway.

Chuck my blunt electrodes in my battery drill and have at it on the belt grinder. Can do a whole bunch of them in a few minutes. Even the short ones without burning or loosing a fingerprint in the process.