Tig welding!!

Yakima 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
1fast636

1fast636

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 3, 2012
Messages
1,461
Reaction score
378
Location
Carlisle
Not exactly brewing related yet but hopefully soon. The boss at work is finally teaching me tig, I had a small touch of it in a welding class about 6 or 7 years ago but nothing after that. I'm excited can't wait to get good and beable to sanitary weld some of my brew gear. Think I might run something by my boss since we have a crap ton of tubing for scrap if he would mind if I made a project out of learning and put together my single tier brew stand once I feel alil more comfortable. I'll keep updating this thread with progress pics of my welds, so with out further adieu pics of me chicken scratch for first time on a tig torch in a long time lol

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423802905.523835.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423802922.612605.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423802961.198494.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423803006.688089.jpg

What I want to get to
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423803028.733031.jpg
 
Your chicken scratches look better then what some of the millwrights at work try and pass off as finish work.
 
I was never a professional welder but I took a welding course after HS and before going to college and got pretty damn good with a TIG torch. I welded quite a bit in college and even managed to learn to weld Aluminum on my own. I haven't touched a welder in probably 4 years and had to weld something the other day since our usual go-to guy was out. It was rough to start at first but it comes back quickly. Just like riding a bike as they say.... Just keep at it.

It looks like your heat control is pretty good in the first picture. I'm not sure what the order of your passes was. My limited experience was that it just takes time sitting at the welding table running beads. That and PROPER PREP of the pieces to be welded. Cleanliness and godliness or something to that effect.

When you get to sanitary welding there are a bunch of places online to get some tips including a few youtube channels. You will probably want to look at making a purge box to provide backup shielding gas on the other side of your weld to keep it from turning black and crusty. There's a product called Solar Flux Type B that is supposed to be magical when doing the kinds of welds where you need the back side to be pretty. I've never used it but if I ever need a nice weld I will certainly try it.
 
Looks pretty good. I wish I knew tig, but I've only learned mig and stick. Someday.....


-ben
 
It's been a few years for me. Need to break the rig out and see if it still works! It's a neat balancing act between getting enough voltage for penetration, doing the bumble bee dance across the work, and feeding just enough rod in. Kinda like patting your head, rubbing you belly, while hopping on one foot. Good luck! :D
 
Laying bead on top of flat plate looks good but won't give you an indication of how well your penitration is. You need to practice butt welds, 90's and overlaps to really know how sanitary, (non pourus) your welds are. See them from the backside, see if the overlap bends or breaks.
I found tig to be the easiest weld to do because if your heat was off a little you just added your filler slower or faster, which gives you a chance to get your settings correct. Stick or mig you are laying down filler before you know if you have the machine set right.
I also found it real easy to lay down a bead with Mig and pass over it with tig to fill in all the air pockets. Doesn't look a pretty but it will x ray clean and seal air and water tight.
 
Looks good. According to the pic you posted your dream is walking the cup. ;) Walking it can be fun and helps makes things steady. When you get to stainless be aware of hexvalent chromium. Nasty stuff.

Your flat plate looks like you need to speed up. You can run 10% high on the heat and run with it. Puts less overall heat into the base metal. My most recent purchase is a maxstar 150sth. Badass little machine. I need to get some more sidework through the door so I can save up for a dynasty. Mhmmm talk about a wet dream.

Keep working at it and have fun! Music with a good beat helps with the rythym. Also check out Jody over at weldingtipstricks.com. He has some great videos.
 
Those dynasty machines are awesome. I passed on a good deal on one about six months ago. Still kicking myself

-ben
 
sandyeggoxj said:
. When you get to stainless be aware of hexvalent chromium. Nasty stuff.
Click to expand...

Any idea how much of this is created in the stainless tig welding process? The only information I could find was that the OSHA limit is set very low, but doesn't indicate at how much risk a tig welder in a typical environment is subject to.
 
@grathan,
I don't have real numbers. I know the tig process produces the least amount. Stick is the worst. Plasma introduces a fair amount as well.

@1fast636,
What machine are you using? Do you have a foot pedal or finger control? Looks like the end of your arc needs some work. Cram the filler in there to fill the crater. And then make sure to keep the post flow going on the area post arc for a few seconds until it cools. If you have a pedal ease off on the heat until you end the arc. That will help as well.
 
It's a miller two in one arc/mig ac/dc unit I'll snap a pic tomorrow. Using a foot petal and yea I have been watching a few you tube videos to get some more techniques down, let's just say my boss is pretty old and he will sorta show you what to do once then all you will hear is your on deserted island how you going to fix/ solve the problem. Luckily I have the little bit of schooling that has my head knowing alittle of what to do, I think I have the gun to high im so use to mig that having the gun so close with tig sorta messes with my head
 
I'm taking a class now, focusing on MIG though (as that's what I have at home). Not sure I could manage TIG at the moment, too many variables all at once for (for me anyway). But I've been welding those coupons for the past few weeks myself. Burned the snot out of my hand on the first day. Big difference between my 110 Lincoln at home, and the 220 3phase Stick/TIG/MIG machine in the class. Had to get some heavier gloves!
 
dfess1 said:
I'm taking a class now, focusing on MIG though (as that's what I have at home). Not sure I could manage TIG at the moment, too many variables all at once for (for me anyway). But I've been welding those coupons for the past few weeks myself. Burned the snot out of my hand on the first day. Big difference between my 110 Lincoln at home, and the 220 3phase Stick/TIG/MIG machine in the class. Had to get some heavier gloves!
Click to expand...

Just wait until you catch your pants on fire.



-ben
 
hou_me said:
Just wait until you catch your pants on fire.



-ben
Click to expand...

oh, i've already burned through the inside elbow of the welding jacket. That's fun, seeing these marks all up and down my bicep and forearm. Took me a while to figure out what they were.
 
Not bad. All I know is stick welding from my construction days. Worked with some cool iron workers who taught me a thing or two. Matter of fact, wife is going in on a 240v arc welder fort birthday this year.

Pretty sure Billy is a iron worker, or welder at the least. Sure he could give some tips when needed
 
Been welding everyday just haven't had my phone in the shop to take pics I'll snag some tomorrow if I have some work out at the end of the day repaired a hydro shaft for a tractor today and layed down a nice little weave action
 
More work from this week haven't updated due to no phone in the shop was getting it to dirty

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426280907.132306.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426280923.089924.jpg

First time having to weld up hill not bad for first time what do you think

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426280962.309958.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426280980.885324.jpg

Then the welds for the top plate

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426281025.324325.jpg
 
Great looking welds. Looks like a roll of nickels. Artistry in steel. I can stick things together with a buzz box, but your skills make mine look like junk. Rick
 
Thanks I need to work on my hand skills and keeping it steady for straight lines lol I start fine then in the middle my hand goes crazy lol
 
Welding in a straight line is much harder than it looks!! Some of those look like the fitup is poor and that doesn't help anything. Still, the progress is great. Keep the pictures coming!
 
Yea the 1/4 plate on top to the 2x2 gap was a ***** to weld around the seam and trying to keep the heat consistant with out burning to hot on the plate lol luckily both these tables are for a place that is only put chop saws on them so they really were not worried about the cosmetic look rather then the stability of the over killed 2x2x1/4 wall tubing and 1/4" top plates, the place likes us to build stuff then decide they don't want it I told the boss if they decide to toss these ill take them and use the one for a brew stand and the other as a welding table lol
 
On that last project the crappy fitment was due to the company wanting to do it cheap and not want to do 45's on the ends for a nice joint it sucks for them because they could have the welds above all around but decide to be cheap and have the ugly welds that are sunk in
 
I've got a lot to learn about tig welding. To me those welds just look like a bunch of fill rod globbed onto the joint. Wondering about penetration, can the welds look like that without any fill rod used?
 
They can but you need to go back over with fill rod then, those are being burned in at 200 and my penetration is pretty solid I'll snap a pic of the bottom plates to show my penetration and heat with those welds
 
Eh not sure if I would call it walking the cup fully yet more or less just weaving lol I need to get a #10 and #12 cup then I should see some big improvements on my walking the cup
 

Similar threads

bovine_OB
Sanke fermenter build
Replies
11
Views
1K
bovine_OB
bovine_OB
M
Looking for Welding Services
Replies
1
Views
343
cyberbackpacker
cyberbackpacker
T
Tooth and Nail Build and Rant
Replies
12
Views
2K
superiorsat
S
Wreck99
3 vessel propane complete system (Charlotte) - $2500
Replies
4
Views
1K
Wreck99
Wreck99
B
DIY 5KW Induction Heater
Replies
2
Views
5K
Spivey24
S

Latest posts

Back
Top