Fired up my tig machine

[7milesup]

I'd love to be able to do that

Thanks. I do not have that steady of a hand. I just can't seem to get over the "hump" to get all of the puddles consistent.

 

[kb58]

My welding teacher had a saying, "the more you practice, the better your equipment gets."

 

[frugalguido]

Another high on my list projects is to build a tungsten sharpener. I know there are many available but they are either 1.) Too expensive or 2.) Too chintzy.
I used a Piranha when I was taking a night class for welding and wanted to buy one but at well north of $600 I could not justify it. If I could source a motor I believe with our machinist skills it would be fairly straightforward to make a good one. Use a 4" or so diameter diamond disk and collets to hold the tungsten....

I have being working on one, basically copied a Piranha. I will get some pictures, One problem is the diamond wheel of the correct size , which is in the Piranha is 3" and they want stupid money for, $300. I have using a 2" wheel which works ok, but I don't have the capability to notch the tungsten with the 2" wheel. I did order 4" wheel and I am hoping to cut it down to 3" will see.

 

[7milesup]

I have being working on one, basically copied a Piranha. I will get some pictures, One problem is the diamond wheel of the correct size , which is in the Piranha is 3" and they want stupid money for, $300. I have using a 2" wheel which works ok, but I don't have the capability to notch the tungsten with the 2" wheel. I did order 4" wheel and I am hoping to cut it down to 3" will see.

You are reading my mind.

 

[pontiac428]

Just a health note on grinding tungsten electrodes: Pure tungsten is not a significant health risk, but ceriated (beta) or thoriated (alpha) electrodes do. If you build a grinder, find a way to enclose or evacuate the dust if you're going to use Ce or Th.

 

[Aukai]

Are CBN wheels ok to use, I'm assuming they are, not sure if it's good for the wheel.

 

[Aaron_W]

Are CBN wheels ok to use, I'm assuming they are, not sure if it's good for the wheel.

I don't know about CBN for grinding, but assuming you have been using these with HSS? You want a dedicated grinder for your Tungsten to avoid contamination. My welding class had a cheap 6" Bench grinder committed to the TIG welders.

I just got one of these grinders from Eastwood, about the same price as a decent 6" bench grinder. Seems to work well enough and takes up a lot less space than a dedicated bench grinder. They go on sale frequently for $79-99 but with Covid their availability has been spotty. Also nice if concerned about the dust because you can easily grind over a trash can and keep most of the dust out of your shop.

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-tungsten-grinder-57365.html



I grabbed one of these sheet metal gauges at the same time, thinking for $9 it can't hurt to be a little more accurate in estimating the thickness of metal being welded.

https://www.eastwood.com/sheet-metal-gauge.html

 

[pontiac428]

Are CBN wheels ok to use, I'm assuming they are, not sure if it's good for the wheel.

CBN is great. Tungsten electrodes aren't that different from tool steel, which CBN does fine on. I have a Chinese CBN wheel that I beat on like it owes me money, and it's holding up tough like Tina after Ike passed out for the evening. I think they'd be great candidates for a dedicated tungsten grinder.

 

[7milesup]

I absolutely should not be giving out advice because I am a relative noob when it comes to getting good TIG welds, but I thought I would mention this...
I was watching YouTube videos on TIG welding recently and trying to figure out how to "stack dimes". One of the them mentioned moving the torch 1/3 of your puddle, stopping, and dab the filler. Rinse and repeat. So I tried it tonight. The results are not stellar but I am heading in the correct direction.

 

[DavidR8]

I absolutely should not be giving out advice because I am a relative noob when it comes to getting good TIG welds, but I thought I would mention this...
I was watching YouTube videos on TIG welding recently and trying to figure out how to "stack dimes". One of the them mentioned moving the torch 1/3 of your puddle, stopping, and dab the filler. Rinse and repeat. So I tried it tonight. The results are not stellar but I am heading in the correct direction.

Looking good to me!