Tig Welding

We went to the world of wheels in Pittsburg to day and I tried a little tig welding at the Miller Welding booth. This is the first time i have ever Tig welded. It was the Dynasty DX 200 machine with the wireless foot controller. Very sweet machine. I have only ever gas welded once and like I said this is the first Tig so go easy on my....

This is the first pass and you can see where I had trouble getting moving.



Here is the second pass on the back side.

I did a shytload of aluminum MIG welding back when I worked at Barret Trailers, Hell I can weld aluminum better than steel lol. I have a TIG torch for my old Snap On MIG welder, cant do aluminum with it as its a scratch start deal, air cooled etc................one day I'll get a fancy TIG welder where I can burn some aluminum up with it lol,

Thats pretty good for a first timer, aluminum takes a little more skill that steel.

Being related to several professional welders I have noticed a common denominator.

A good welding machine can make a poor welder better. A good welder can make a poor welding machine look better. A poor welder with a poor machine, well he is going to have troubles....

looks damn good for a first try.i have a miller sw180 i bought new and i like it.tig welding is nothing like a mig,i mig on the wrecked cars all the time and i still have problems with the tig.when i see some trick tig welding on a tube chassis or some aluminum it makes me want to go practice!

Looks good for a first attempt at Tig welding. How thick were the test pieces? Kinda looks like maybe .050".

not bad for first time, I've seen a lot worst from guys who say they know how to weld,so you going to buy a tig machine

Jason for the 1st time not to bad with alittle practice you will get it.Tig welding does take practice watching the puddle and knowing when to dip the filler rod ,some like the foot control, some like the hand control.I myself like the hand control as far welding big stuff and leaning over it or working around stuff as it helps to keep the same heat going and not smashing the peddle down to much.Some might weld hotter or colder than others so what one person heat range is might not work for you but will help you find the range you like.One thing about aluminum it needs to be super clean to make it turn out right dirty aluminum will make for a ugly finished product with black in it.You half to watch what you clean the aluminum with do not you brake clean it will make you sick from the fumes you breath when welding .

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Looks good for a first attempt at Tig welding. How thick were the test pieces? Kinda looks like maybe .050".

No it was 0.125.

dave d wrote:not bad for first time, I've seen a lot worst from guys who say they know how to weld,so you going to buy a tig machine

I want to but holy crappo the DX 200 machine is big money. That's probably why it worked so well.

69F100 wrote:Jason for the 1st time not to bad with alittle practice you will get it.Tig welding does take practice watching the puddle and knowing when to dip the filler rod ,some like the foot control, some like the hand control.I myself like the hand control as far welding big stuff and leaning over it or working around stuff as it helps to keep the same heat going and not smashing the peddle down to much.Some might weld hotter or colder than others so what one person heat range is might not work for you but will help you find the range you like.One thing about aluminum it needs to be super clean to make it turn out right dirty aluminum will make for a ugly finished product with black in it.You half to watch what you clean the aluminum with do not you brake clean it will make you sick from the fumes you breath when welding .

I read that about the brake clean. Pretty scary really.

The square wave technology used on the newer machines really helps make welding aluminum a lot easier vs the older machines that only used sine wave.

I have used both acetone & brake cleaner in the past to clean base material & filler rods, but in either case I always waited until everything was dry/evaporated before welding. I have also tried both lacquer thinner & naptha, but both were a little too oily. But regardless of what cleaner you decide use it just makes good sense to wait & make sure everything is dry before welding.