[AT] TIG welding--a little OT

Bill "Bear" Hood mmman at NETSCAPE.COM
Sat Mar 18 17:50:16 PST 2006


John
A man can never own enough welding machines.  I have used and taught TIG welding since the 60's, but only bought a Lincoln Square Wave 175 about 4   years ago.  I got it used from a guy building a homebuilt airplane, who had lost his Pilots license due to health.  It had only 30 minutes use and came with argon bottle, foot and hand torch and lots of rods and a cart.  It is a great machine and is also a DC power source for stick welding--although I can trip out the heaters because of it's small duty cycle rating.  I have never tripped it using TIG.  It is a great shop addition.  Use silicon steel filler rods, especially on thin tractor/truck sheet metal as it fills easy and grinds so smooth.  
You do need long sleeves, gloves and cover your skin as others have suggested and I can not do without a self darkening helment anymore.  I have an expensive Jackson, but I traded a worn out 9 x 40" tractor rear tire for it at my local welding supply--the owner need one bad.  The cheaper hoods out now seem to work fine--my preference is for the solar ones over battery, but don't lay it face down on the welding bench for a week and pick it up and expect it to work--been there and have the t shirt.  
Remember, the man who dies with the most/best tools/tractors wins, just don't tell my bride I said that.  
Bear

Live every day of your life like a three year old.  Get down in the dirt with it, roll in it and smile a lot.  Bear

--- jwilkens at eoni.com wrote:

From: John Wilkens <jwilkens at eoni.com>
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] TIG welding--a little OT
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 12:46:21 -0800

Thinking about a new tool--TIG welder.  What kind of filler rod would you 
use for thin steel?  Just regular unfluxed mild steel wire--or baling 
wire--or??
I'd like some general feedback on TIG welding (thin steel, aluminum, 
etc.)--any thoughts.  What got me interested was a program I watched on the 
Speed channel about a fellow building a custom motorcycle.  He was always 
using a TIG welder and it sure looked like it worked slick--and the guy 
wasn't a pro welder.  I've had zero luck trying to weld fender-thick steel 
with a small (probably too cheap) wire feed welder.  Just couldn't control 
the heat good enough.    John

                    In the wide-open spaces of NE Oregon
   


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