Metal Working tips and tricks.

You got to be shitting me, right? I would have said its impossible in that time without distoring the metal from all that heat.
 
Mig is generally faster for a lot of projects & a newbie with a little training can do something with a mig But a mig cannot produce a flat weld with near perfect penetration. On a less perfect requirement of a project, you may even be able to hold an item with 1 hand &get starting tacks with the other without spending the time clamping.
The process of tig welding vs wire feed is generally considered slower on average, but not for everyone. A good operator can manually pulse the foot pedal to quickly melt the wire & surface & back off the heat in between tacks or on modern welders, set it to pulse & run in rhythm with it. Saw a video once where a welder selling suspension parts welded on 8 rod ends in about 2 minutes, wildly pulsing the pedal.
I think any good welder should have access to both machine types. I've used a mig for galvanealed [paint grip] sheet metal where it's hard to get a perfectly clean weld, but for precision work, any time possibly saved by a mig is lost in finishing time & poorer quality.
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Yes you really need to still have a mig welder, but I use the tig welder MUCH more than I do the mig welder. One of the main places I use a mig welder is for plug welds, I can do plug welds much faster with a mig welder, however with a tig welder I will punch a smaller hole and burn it in more, and that leaves a lot less to grind, however the issue I have is that typically when I'm laying on the ground welding plugs in a rocker panel it's way to hard to efficiently operate a tig welder. However I have not tried a torch controller yet for the tig, I've been tempted but have not tried one yet.
 
If nobody guesses exactly by tomorrow night I'll let you guys know my time and send out a shirt.. :)
We are working on door lines this week I will post some of our techniques on this soon.
 



Look at how nice and consistent the HAZ on this repair is. This is key to minimize distortion in the panel, and shows that the weld was performed from one side to the other. Starting and stopping adds to distortion. To do a full pass across like Chad did requires extra time up front in getting the fit-up as perfect as you can, and tacking in place to hold the panel. The results show the benefit of those extra efforts in fit-up. Beautiful job Chad. My guess is 12minutes, 37 seconds. ;)
 
I can fuse two panels of sheet metal together, no filler rod if I get a good tight seam, and perfect weld. Not with a Mig, not with a Tig (dont own one), but with a Henrob Torch. Its lost with heat distortion and any areas where the fitment is not 100%. So Im guessing the Tig would be an improvement in the heat distortion issue, but where does it stand with poor fitment?
 
Outlaw;n79099 said:
I can fuse two panels of sheet metal together, no filler rod if I get a good tight seam, and perfect weld. Not with a Mig, not with a Tig (dont own one), but with a Henrob Torch. Its lost with heat distortion and any areas where the fitment is not 100%. So Im guessing the Tig would be an improvement in the heat distortion issue, but where does it stand with poor fitment?
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A lot of guys that have been in the trade for a long time use a Henrob, I guess there is a another brand now that people like. A lot of guys swear to them in comparison to a tig welder, especially on aluminum. However I can't educate in that department. It has always interested me because I have seen people get some good results with a gas weld. Mig on the other hand has never really impressed me. You can get results but it's just more time consuming.

When using gas with no filler do you get undercut at the seam? I can do that with a tig but with absolutely no filler I get left with a little under cut when finished.

If you get a project where you are doing a gas weld feel free to throw a how-to in this thread. I'm curious.
 
I wish I was confident to do a video with the henrob, but actually there are some on you tube if you just google "Henrob". To answer your question on welding sheetmetal together without filler rod and underseam. I get a flush seam on the bottom and the top seam is actually slightly below flush. The fusion has to get metal from somewhere, so I guess its pulling from both panels and causes the joint to be thinner than the panels that are being welded.
 
One thing I think Tig would have over the henrob is the option to rest the Tig Cup on the metal. With a Henrob torch, both the torch tip and the filler wire (when using filler wire) must be free handed. The ability to rest the cup on a Tig has to be a huge advantage over free hand. Chad, on your examples, how much "free handing" did you do compared to resting the cup on the joint as you welded? My other question is: On an 11" weld, did you make all 11" from start to finish in one pass or did you skip around? Did you hammer weld the welds?
 
Meco Midget is the other gas welding system.

Even with the tig distortion still happens and planishing is needed. Sheet metal always moves around when welded. Key is relaxing it with the hammer/dolly or planish hammer. Shrink disc can help a lot after welding in some cases.
 
Ducking my head.............Eastwood has two Mig Welders. One for $379 (DC) with a preset pre/post shielding gas control, and another ($679) (AC/DC) with adjustable pre/post control. Both offer "quick start" and have a 30 free trial and return and 3 year warranty. I suspect made in China. Am I wrong assuming Millers going to be twice the cost for a apples to apples product (if available) and also made in China?


Its getting harder and harder to find products made in USA. When you do find them, its often parts made in China assembled in the USA. Does labeling something Miller make it better than something labeled Eastwood or Harbor Freight. I loke the looks of the Eastwood Tig 200 ($679).


I presently have a Mig 175 but would like to get into a Tig without a lot of expense. I would consider used, but my experience with used is your buying someone elses reason for dumping it.
 
doing more looking, I find more options on Tig Welders. For example: 2015 AHP AlpahTIG 200X 200 Amp IGBT AC DC Tig/Stick welder with pulse on Amazon for $680. Very good reviews.
 
"Made in China" doesn't automatically make the part or machine bad, it just depends on how involved in quality control a company like Miller, GM, Ford get. And then some companies like Dagger Tools order the pants they need, then do all the modifications themselves to end up with a quality tool.
 
Not sure how much you know about Tig welders but the DC is steel and the AC is aluminum. If you never weld aluminum then you can save money on a DC.

As for cost, the miller will be probably 3-4 times more than the eastwood. I paid 2400 almost 10 years ago for my Lincoln 225 tig. They are closer to 3k now. I can't comment on the Eastwood or other's being any good. I do know that I'm dissapointed with most things "Eastwood" or generic branded. I do know for last ten years the lincoln has turned on everytime and puts out a great weld. No brainer for me but it's also my living.
 
I'll guess at 1hr from the start of welding to the sanded stage on both sides based on how minimal the distortion looks in your welded photo. And 1hr is fast IMO
 
Chad.S;n79104 said:
A lot of guys that have been in the trade for a long time use a Henrob, I guess there is a another brand now that people like. A lot of guys swear to them in comparison to a tig welder, especially on aluminum. However I can't educate in that department. It has always interested me because I have seen people get some good results with a gas weld. Mig on the other hand has never really impressed me. You can get results but it's just more time consuming.

When using gas with no filler do you get undercut at the seam? I can do that with a tig but with absolutely no filler I get left with a little under cut when finished.

If you get a project where you are doing a gas weld feel free to throw a how-to in this thread. I'm curious.
Click to expand...

yup, often get a slight undercut but when things are perfect-flame size/pressure/speed I have also gotten welds that disapear with a swipe with 50 or 80 grit.
 
I haven't seen the Tig/Plasma combos. I personally wouldn't purchase an off brand plasma if that is what they are. They are consumable hogs and who knows how long you'll be able to get some of the import stuff. I used to have a really nice Dayton sold through grainger that went into the scrape pile because they quit making consumables for the gun. Updating the gun cost as much as a new one.

I've had my Hypertherm portable job for about 8 years. I don't use it a lot, just rough cutting floor pans out and such. Did build an outdoor woodstove with it and tractor attachements but I don't like it for finish work. The finished edge has to be cleaned up or it doesn't weld good. Seems like I end up double cutting and just use the cut off wheel.

Really not a fan of combo units for anything. One or the other takes a dump and your stuck with half a machine.
 
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