Ss Tig Welding

[slampt]

Thanks peakydh,

If I could find someone locally to do it without charging an arm and a leg I would of got them in,
I appreciate the help!
I will keep practising.

Cheers
Joe

 

[peaky]

Yep, keep practicing. Once you've got it sussed you'll be looking for all sorts of stainless brewing equipment to weld up :super:

 

[slampt]

I will, but I dunno if I will get better, I am running out of things to test on and I do suck pretty hard at it!
Also another question some of the holes I drilled do have some gaps (i.e. they are fairly loose fitting). The reason for this is because some of my sockets are actually 1-2mm thicker than the others, which unfortunately I did not take into account. How would I approach this, assuming I can weld

Cheers

 

[peaky]

I will, but I dunno if I will get better, I am running out of things to test on and I do suck pretty hard at it!
Also another question some of the holes I drilled do have some gaps (i.e. they are fairly loose fitting). The reason for this is because some of my sockets are actually 1-2mm thicker than the others, which unfortunately I did not take into account. How would I approach this, assuming I can weld

Cheers

Forget about welding sockets for now. You will go nuts. Just practice welding plate together with a fillet weld.

Try fusing plate together with a fillet weld, once you get that sussed then start fillet welding plate together with filler rod. Then once you have that down, start practicing with sockets.

If you have gaps, that is why you are blowing holes (assuming you're not running too hot). It takes a fair bit of practice to get good enough to TIG weld with gaps. You have to be able to adjust the amount of filler you are adding quickly and precisely and also adjust speed if you have gaps between the materials.

 

[slampt]

Thanks,

Hopefully I will be able to grab some scrap SS of Spoonta and give that a crack, there are some gaps (very small mind you with the sockets I need to weld). So best leave them till last
I will do what you have suggested once I get some more SS

Also what size ceramic shield should I be using with 1.6mm Filler and how far out from the shield should the electrode stick out?

Cheers
Joe

 

[peaky]

Probably a no.5 or 6 if I remember rightly. Don't quote me, I'd have to check that, I normally just grab what I think I need without looking at the No. What size are you using?

I usually have the electrode sticking out about 7mm or so for a fillet. And I have the gas flow at about 15-20 cfh. It also depends on the conditions and the weld. Grind the tip of the electrode to a taper about 3 times the electrode width. (A lot of this is personal preference)

 

[MHB]

This isnt OT, might sound like it but it isnt.
How well can you see what you are welding?
If you dont have one of the modern auto-darkening hats thats suitable for sub 40 Amp TIG there is a good chance that you got sold a shade 10 or 12 (should be written on the dark shade) not being able to see clearly makes life very difficult, for low amp TIG a shade 8 helps heaps.
Even with the auto darkening hat, there should be a control for how dark it is, turn it all the way down.
MHB

 

[peaky]

This isnt OT, might sound like it but it isnt.
How well can you see what you are welding?
If you dont have one of the modern auto-darkening hats thats suitable for sub 40 Amp TIG there is a good chance that you got sold a shade 10 or 12 (should be written on the dark shade) not being able to see clearly makes life very difficult, for low amp TIG a shade 8 helps heaps.
Even with the auto darkening hat, there should be a control for how dark it is, turn it all the way down.
MHB

Certainly not OT. And well worth considering. If you can't see what you're doing you're screwed right from the start. A shade 12 you would be TIG welding almost blind. My auto shield is turned down to 9.

 

[slampt]

Thanks for all the tips, mine was set higher so I will drop it down to about 10/9 and see how I go, another mate of mine came over and gave it a crack and he did a pretty good job considering it was his first attempted. Way better than all my attempts! The only thing we noticed with his welds is that he was causing lumps of SS on the underside of the weld, but on his actual weld it there was no visible joins. How would one prevent these lumps of SS on the underside? Is he using too much filler?

Thanks
Joe

 

[peaky]

Thanks for all the tips, mine was set higher so I will drop it down to about 10/9 and see how I go, another mate of mine came over and gave it a crack and he did a pretty good job considering it was his first attempted. Way better than all my attempts! The only thing we noticed with his welds is that he was causing lumps of SS on the underside of the weld, but on his actual weld it there was no visible joins. How would one prevent these lumps of SS on the underside? Is he using too much filler?

Thanks
Joe

Put a chunk of copper on the back of the join before welding. Works well for me :icon_cheers:

 

[Vanoontour]

Just to confuse the issue, I'm gonna stick my oar in with some advice that was given to me that helped lots. Get the hang of fusing (no filler) for a while, practice looking at the pool of metal and using the TIG torch to push the pool and pull it (you dont need two pieces, just put the torch into the middle of an offcut). This will give you a feel of what the metal is doing and how you can manipulate it. From here, just try laying a bead on sheet, again, not joining any thing together. Lay beads side by side, this saves wasting all your off cuts. When you can then lay a nice consistent bead, try sticking some stuff together. Seems at the moment you have jumped in with both feet.

You will get there in the end but it took me around a month of practicing before I would be trying to weld anything food grade.

Dan

 

[slampt]

Not confusing,

It is all helping. I figure TIG welding is something you either can or can't do! But I will keep practising.
One thing I am noticing is a lot of crap around the weld (discolouration/black etc) I thought with the argon shield this should be reduced. Is that not the case?

I am also going have to get the back purging going as this is much works on the underside of the weld too.

Cheers
Joe

 

[Vanoontour]

Wouldn't waste your argon back flowing until your welds are good. All it really does is helps stop the penetration burn thru oxidise, if you have the right heat you won't get burn thru, just a raised bump which is perfectly sterile.

 

[slampt]

Cheers Vanoontour,
I only did one to see what it was like. Watching some vids of people SS weld they seem clean at the end of it, mine seem to have a lot of black...

Joe

 

[Vanoontour]

What's your argon flow rate? I used to TIG inside with about 10litres/hr

 

[slampt]

The Flow rate was set to around 20 iirc, too much?

Joe

 

[Vanoontour]

Depends where you were welding, if the garage door was open, prob not, if it was closed, maybe. Too little Argon is the killer, to much, meh...

 

[slampt]

Good point had the Garage door open.

Wanna say thanks to Spoonta for offering up some SS scraps, I will definitely be going over there to pick it up tomorrow arvo/evening

Cheers
Joe

 

[amiddler]

Black, is it sooty like carbon on you exhaust or a black stain that can only be removed by scrubbing? Black/Blue/Purple heat marks are left even on very neat welds, nothing you can do about it except polish or pickle them. Black soot is caused when you accidentally dip the electrode in the pool and some of the metal sticks to the electrode. When this happens time to re-sharpen your electrode or have a sharp one ready to change over.

Drew

 

[slampt]

Cheers Drew,

Will hopefully have another play with it tonight after I pick up some scrap!

Joe