- Joined
- Nov 18, 2008
- Messages
- 2,058
- Reaction score
- 25
Looking good Ed.
Thanks Mick.
I know I have a long way to go, but thought I might as well try to build something useful along the way.
Ed
Looking good Ed.
Great work! Very impressive considering you didn't grind or sand afterwards! What kinda amperage were you at while doing this? I'm probably gonna TIG with my Maxstar for the first time today (been using the stick function).....I need to get comfortable with it, but one small project I'm looking at doing is welding tabs to the inside of my corny lids for dry hopping.
Thanks Steve.
How have you managed NOT to try the TIG function on that new welder out??? I'm just kidding... this was my second attempt at welding Stainless and I just tried aluminum about a week ago.
Ed
Very nice Ed, I'd let you practice welding couplers on my system if you were nearby
Are you planning on welding the inside of the coupler as well? Seems like getting inside a keg to weld the backside would be a challenge.
Very nice Ed, I'd let you practice welding couplers on my system if you were nearby
Ha....I know...I feel kinda guilty about it. But I like to take my time with stuff like this. I was waiting on my flowmeter, so I said what the hell...let's burn some 6011. I had some 1/8" mild steel and just practiced running a bead. Even on 115v it seems to do pretty well. I installed a range outlet in my garage, but Miller doesn't make one of those for their MVP plug system. So I'm stuck with 115v until I get an adapter made up. But with my very limited experience, the welder seems to burn the rods very smoothly.
So today I'm gonna fool around with TIG....probably gonna do some stainless scrap like you did with the coffee mug.
What you say, the only persons near you are on TV the ERA Airlines bush pilots. Training a polar bear to weld is a bad idea.
Ed, Airgas took over about all the small welding shops in my area.
They told me they only lease 330 bottles no owner owned what a crock.
A 250 bottle I was quoted now runs $307 out the door, Argon 250 fills $194
and $122 for a 250 with C25 gas.
This is way out of line since I purchased and refilled my bottles plus had refilled i'll refill with another company for damn sure I have papers on most my owner owned bottles.
Not to hijack Ed's thread....but this seems to have become the unofficial welding forum. So here goes....MY FIRST TIME EVER TIGGING! Ed, you're right....the thin stuff was kinda frustrating...but I was only on 115v so I had to turn it up a ways before I blew through. I was just playing around....messing with fusion welding and also filler rod. Amazing how much you learn from just hooking everything up and giving it a whirl. I did get "buzzed" a few times when I stuck the tungsten and was still holding the rod. I really like the Tillman ONYX gloves, but they're too big. I need a size smaller.
It was hard to get comfortable...because of the stiffness of the cable, I felt it was pulling the torch one way or another. I had to kind of play with where I had the finger remote....seems to work well...but I feel like a pedal would be smoother. Too bad they don't make a trigger with a long pull.
I know I need to make some kind of holder for the torch...it got annoying not having a place to put it.
Say, do you guys turn off the unit when you remove the tungsten for grinding? I wasn't sure if it was safe to do it "hot".
BrewBeemer,Ed,
did you see the Miller 30A Spoolmatic gun on ebay for $511?
They list $1,200. http://cgi.ebay.com/Miller-SPOOLMAT...itu=UCC&otn=5&ps=63&clkid=7723950515053642301
Yeah....I almost scored a 300 XMT CC/CV with wire feeder and 2 guns for $1100. Woulda been easy to make it TIG as well. I still kick myself for that one, but I'm happy with what i got. It WOULD be nice to MIG though.
I need to buy more "small stuff"....my welder came with various tungstens, collets, cups, etc. But I need to find what I'll be using the most. I think the 1/16 worked pretty well....3/32" seemed too big. Once I get my "common" size, I can line them up. FWIW, I use my bench grinder...on the "SS only" wheel.
Also, this is hard to explain, but it was hard to see what I was doing. I had to mess with the helmet. On low amps, I could barely see the arc or filler rod....on high amps, it got too bright. My helmet goes from 9-13, and either the sensitivity was too high and I couldn't see jack....or too low and I'd get flashed.
When I was welding that 3/8" nut, I couldn't get a puddle to save my life....guess it was too thick in comparison to the sheet. I think with 220v, I'd have enough juice to get that quick focused puddle on a thick piece of metal...with 115v it was just heating the part but not melting it...hence the red hot nut in the pics.
I had little problem running a puddle on the flat sheet...it's actually pretty neat to see the liquid metal flowing!
Yeah, I adjusted it. I guess I was varying the stuff I was welding too much....if I were welding the same type of material, maybe it wouldn't be an issue.
Also....I was using ER308L filler rod....originally bought for oxyacetylene. It's the same stuff you use for TIG, right? Seemed to work okay, but then again, I'm a NOOB.
Here's a question.....why can't you hook a spool gun up to a TIG machine? My Maxstar runs gas through the torch cable....if you have gas and you have a power supply....why not? Spool guns don't run wire through the cable, so why don't they make this an accessory?
ScubaSteve said:Here's a question.....why can't you hook a spool gun up to a TIG machine? My Maxstar runs gas through the torch cable....if you have gas and you have a power supply....why not? Spool guns don't run wire through the cable, so why don't they make this an accessory?
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