Just bought this today

Nice.... When my dad bought me my first welder, years ago, I came home everyday and practiced on scrap. Every day run some weld till it starts to look ok.
 
Put your eye protection on....
Make sure that your fuse box will handle the amperage. Use the proper size copper for the draw.
Then take a look at the size of collets and cups you got with her. You may want to add a selection at some time in the future.
Consider starting with a 3/32 collet and #7 standard cup.
Pick up some 2% Lanthanated Tungsten & a pound of 3/32 filler rod. Others may recommend Cerium or Thorium. Some will tell you to where repiratory protection while grinding TIG electrodes.
You will want a "fine" grinding wheel that you use exclusively for grinding tungsten. Always grind point down!!! Wear eye protection!
Shear some approximately 2x5 1/8 scrap. Cold rolled will weld nicer with TIG (GTAW) than hot rolled. I made alot of scrap.
Set up a nice surface away from the wind/breeze.
You don't need thin calf/goat skin gloves but they sure make it easier.
Jodi at Tips and Tricks ( http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tig-welding-videos.html ) does some great videos that will get you started.
I promise that you will get frustrated as it will tax your hand eye coordination!
Please keep us posted.

Daryl
MN
 
I had forgotten about the welders sun tan. Thanks for the reminder. I will get something to wear for that.

I got some gloves on order, my other ones are thick and not very flexible.

I have to see what collets the torch has, and I'm going to try and see if the torch takes standard parts.

I looked at work for some scrap to practice on and all we have is 15-5 stainless, 4130 steel, and 7075 aluminum. Nothing mild steel. I will have to go to the surplus steel yard and see what I can find.
 
alloy said:
I had forgotten about the welders sun tan. Thanks for the reminder. I will get something to wear for that.

I got some gloves on order, my other ones are thick and not very flexible.

I have to see what collets the torch has, and I'm going to try and see if the torch takes standard parts.
Click to expand...

Everlast sends very standard torches with their welders, so if it is the original torch, you'll be able to buy parts and accessories anywhere. There are some pretty good deals on eBay. I bought a bunch right away when I got my welder, and they last very well. I may not ever have to buy more. Air cooled torches are usually WP-17 or 26 and water cooled are WP-18 or 20. The consumables (cups and collets) are interchangeable between them. Mine is a water cooled WP-18 (huge). Someday I would like to get a WP-17 air cooled torch because they are smaller and easier to handle.

I bought some Campbell Hausfeld leather welding sleeves on eBay for $15 that I'm real happy with. They are leaps and bounds better than Harbor Freight. The HF sleeves have elastic ends that are too small (for MENS arms, anyway).

Enjoy!

GG
 
I'm going to try and figure out what torch I have. I've seen 3/8" thread back caps on eBay and at work the back cap is 5/16". I haven't measured mine yet.

I got some black stallion gloves off eBay. I never even considered harbor freight for them. I see they have some setup magnets and a few other things that should be usuable at the quality they offer. But for the things that really count I'll go name brand.

I have my mill on a 20 amp circuit, my compressor on a 30, and a heater on a 20 amp all are 220.i will probably swap out with my mill for power so my compressor and heater still run wham I'm using the tig.
 
I use vise-grip style clamps for almost everything. The magnets play havoc on your arc if they are anywhere near your torch while welding. Your arc goes every direction but where you want it :lmao:

GG
 
GarageGuy said:
I use vise-grip style clamps for almost everything. The magnets play havoc on your arc if they are anywhere near your torch while welding. Your arc goes every direction but where you want it :lmao:

GG
Click to expand...

I didn't know that. I just learned something new :)
 
OK, quick question.

In lanthaneted tungstens I see blue and gold, and in thoriated I see red, grey, blue, and green in the description.


I've done some reading on this but am not clear which one to get in lanthaneted to start off with. I just haven't found a clear enough explanation to tell me what to get.

Suggestions?
 
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I've had really good luck with Jeff at USA Weld.
http://www.usaweld.com/Contact-Us-s/95.htm
I'd consider giving him a call. He is a straight shooter.
In fact at one point they shipped me the wrong product. I called to ask if I had ordered the wrong item.
They immediately apologized and shipped out the correct product and postage to return the wrong item.
Jeff seems to know alot about different welders.

Consider checking out: http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/tech_tips/TIG_tips/how_to_weld.html

2% Lanthanated should be bright blue.
Other Lanth will be different.
http://hdb.en.alibaba.com/product/5...wt20_wl20_Tig_welding_tungsten_Electrode.html

CR steel will be the easiest it's worth purchasing some sheared pieces.
If you try to start with SS or Aluminum, you might get really frustrated.


Daryl
MN
 
2% Lanthanated is blue
1% Lanthanated is gold

Blue is generally considered a good all around tungsten for inverter machines.

Green is pure tungsten, and does not work well with modern inverter TIG machines, but works quite well on the large transformer TIG machines.
Red is Thoriated, and probably comes in second place (to Lanthanated) as a good all around tungsten.

For specific jobs, some tungsten mixtures have certain strengths or weaknesses. There are even tri-mix tungstens available now. It can get confusing.

GG
 
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