Been playing, steep learning curve an all that but confidence on stainless is getting much better, here's some awful pics:

Bead run on stainless, tricky to photo as its so reflective, need to sort the span control on the foot pedal, couldn't back off enough at the end to fill the crater, and I'm no good at relying on the slopedown, just can't get used to letting the pedal go before I want to stop!!



stainless bead 1

Me 2x2 " into 1 x 2.5" collector welded up. The centre part is welded inside and the outer bits on the outside, that's why the beads stop:



collector 1

This afternoon's hangover cure play:



manifold start 1

and where I am at with ally, getting better but not consistent by any means yet!!!:



ally bead 1

And finally the machine itself!!:


[img][/img]

TIG is soooo good isn't it!

That's looking great for just a few hours practice!

Would love to have my own TIG set. I did a City and Guilds in it a couple of years ago, went back a few months ago to TIG up my rollbar, to say my skills had lapsed in that time was an understatement!

Stuck with the steel and it was ok eventually, though blew plenty of holes on the tricky bends.

As for the ali TIG I tried, so as to weld up the 'prototype' sender hole in my tank..... forget it! Soon realised I was about to turn a £90 tank into a pool of liquid ali!!! So gave up and went with good old easy self tappers and sealant!!!

Good Luck with the practising!
James

That surely is a beast!
The exhaust looks like you've done a good job to me
It sounds like not the easiest technique to learn, but invaluable when mastered.
Colin

Nice going!

I really want a tig but one to do ally with is muchos £££

Hi Nat

First pic looks like a couple of cocktail sausages. I like cocktail sausages.

Second one, You'd find a bit of backing gas helpful on the outside when you weld the inside.
It would come through and look as if it had been welded from the outside. Otherwise, brill.

Third? Well smart.

Number four. That's good. It's not easy welding when you haven't got a joint line to follow. again.

Five. Retake the pic so I can see the lower dials.
Slope outs work work different, depending on machine. Some work on a percentage of the amp setting,
some you set the amps you drop down to.
i.e. amps = 100. slope down set to 6 =40% drop, =60 amps.

My Lincoln at work you set what it will drop to.
i.e. set to 80, it will drop to 80.

Foot pedals are similar. Some drop to 0, some you set a percentage drop.
i.e. Set to 8 on a 1 to 10 scale, it will drop 20%.


All in all, well done


Paul G

Cheers folks!

They do look like sausages don't they! Shame the pic wasn't very good as the bead on the left was really good but for the flipping crater on the end.

Practised for about 20 mins on steel, initially dipping the filler was tricky to co-ordinate. Then I went and did some ally, nigh on impossible was my first impression, then I realised how incredibly clean you have to get it!! Then I went back to steel and discovered that the practise on the ally had made my dc steel work FAR better!!

Paul - Yep, need to get a t-piece and another flowmeter really so i can do back gas, at the mo not doing it at all. I'll read up on the slope system used on the machine. At the mo both are just set to slightly above nothing at all!

Can't work out how the machine "dial" amp setting and footpedal "dial" amp setting and the actual pedal itself all interact. I don't know if the dial on the pedal unit competely overrides the one on the machine itself or not. I've just played about until I could get a nice run and enough span on the pedal control to hold the puddle well.

quote:

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Originally posted by the_fbi
Nice going!

I really want a tig but one to do ally with is muchos £££

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quote:

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Originally posted by NS Dev
Cheers folks!

They do look like sausages don't they! Shame the pic wasn't very good as the bead on the left was really good but for the flipping crater on the end.

Practised for about 20 mins on steel, initially dipping the filler was tricky to co-ordinate. Then I went and did some ally, nigh on impossible was my first impression, then I realised how incredibly clean you have to get it!! Then I went back to steel and discovered that the practise on the ally had made my dc steel work FAR better!!

Paul - Yep, need to get a t-piece and another flowmeter really so i can do back gas, at the mo not doing it at all. I'll read up on the slope system used on the machine. At the mo both are just set to slightly above nothing at all!

Can't work out how the machine "dial" amp setting and footpedal "dial" amp setting and the actual pedal itself all interact. I don't know if the dial on the pedal unit competely overrides the one on the machine itself or not. I've just played about until I could get a nice run and enough span on the pedal control to hold the puddle well.

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ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Now that makes sense believe it or not!

When I first played with the machine I remember being able to run an arc so weak it only tickled the surface of 0.8mm steel. Now with the pedal right back it is still what feels like about 40 amps, then straight off.

What you say would make sense as I have around 50% on the pedal dial and 80 amps on the machine front panel!!

AHA!!!

will play again tomorrow night!

Been welding sills on a bloody N reg nissan micra tonight, so all mig and no tig makes Nat need a flipping shower now!!!

Cheers Paul, you may have just cleared up my main remaining mystery of the machine!

quote:

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Been welding sills on a bloody N reg nissan micra tonight, so all mig and no tig makes Nat need a flipping shower now!!!

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I've done a few of those as well, was there anything left to weld to at the back?

In the words of Paul Daniels, "not a lot" !!!!!

(but enough for MOT purposes, as I said to the chap with the car, it's not a classic restoration job, but then it's hardly ever going to be a classic is it!!)

Can't believe it on such a new car! My 1989 sierra has less rot!