Gas lenses do vary in quality and effectiveness. There’s no disputing that. But, gas lenses are not “sized” by a #, they’re sized by tungsten diameter. If your comment about gas coverage and stick out is related to the cup size, rule of thumb is equal distance out as diameter of cup. A #9 cup I’ve n...

And I’d only use “beeswax” for aluminum. For carbon, a high sulphur content oil is much better. I buy the pints of it at the big box store, plumbing aisle, where the black pipe is sold and you can locate the threading accessories. It’s cheap, works really, really well, and wipes off like a dream. Fo...

The best cutting fluid depends upon the metal. What’s great for stainless isn’t really great for carbon steel, but works ok for aluminum. Aluminum can be cut with something completely worthless for carbon steel, and won’t do a thing for stainless… So, perhaps a better suggestion is something good to...

;) Quenching steels with water can cause an increase in brittleness. It can also cause rapid contraction of the metals and embed stress into the joints, which can lead to cracking of the welds. I wouldn’t do it. For aluminum, it’s less of an issue due to ductility of the metal. But it’s still not a ...

If you only weld one side of a tube and distortion occurs (expected) then you can use flame heat to straighten it.

While heating, move the tube beyond straight then let it spring back. This will take some trial and error. But with a bit of effort you can get it very, very close.

Tweake those rods are 10mm diameter for scale.

From those pics, you're doing fine. Yes, welding round tube takes a ton of time especially when the diameter is small because you can only weld a dab or 3 then you have to re-position. Real production pros chase around the circumference or use a positioner to roll the material while they hold still ...

My question for aluminum welding is, how much heat do you need if you just want to close up a hole in a machined aluminum part? That depends entirely upon the thickness of the material, the size/diameter of the hole, etc. Is it a blind hole of 6MM into a 30MM part? Is it a 2mm hole drilled through ...

It is not uncommon for tacks to crack. Aluminum tacks are fragile and they usually are on the surface and not deeply penetrating. 5356 as a filler is known to crack when it cools if it’s under stress. It’s called “hot short cracking”. I’m guessing you are using differing fillers due to sizes you hav...

I’d think your aids are Bluetooth enabled, not WiFi. But who knows, maybe WiFi also? If that were the case your aids would constantly be polling for a connection and eat their battery life up. Welding with AC the frequency is so low compared to WiFi and Bluetooth, I’d be surprised if there was overl...

tweake wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2024 9:06 pm highly unlikely that wifi signals are interfering with the welder.

+1

That PrimeWeld can’t be beat for the money. I’ve got a buddy I taught to TIG weld 4 years ago for his small business. He bought it, uses it daily, 50 months without missing a heartbeat. I recently bought their water cooler for one of my TIG boxes. Works great, bit loud fan, but sure can’t complain a...

but i also use high pulse rates at times as it helps keep the weld small, more focused, less penetration (less blow through). it also requires more amps which is really handy on machines that do not do low amps well, especially with foot pedal. The pulse rate being faster or slower really isn’t the...

Jody sells Furick clear cups (#12 would be my choice for stainless) and the extra light might really help you get when using a clear cup. CFH up to 30 with a #12. Be sure to clean inside the tubing before welding it. And if the tube will be “closed” from the weld, you want a vent hole somewhere whil...

Two thoughts: 1. If the solid rod is the "handle" and you have notched the end to intersect the tubing, then the thickness of that solid bar is very thin at the intersection and should be easier to weld to the tubing. You "might" be using too much amperage if its blowing out on y...

i would also make some cheaters up. ie bend up some corners and have all the locations marked on them for where it fits in the bending tools, so you know how much length to leave on the pipe, starting position etc. it also helps as a sanity checker when bending, something to compare to. The softwar...

The easiest way is to calculate lengths based upon the centerline of the tubing. Then add/subtract for the tubing diameter. There are reasonably priced software packages available for calculating bending tubes of many shapes. It will provide you exact lengths based upon material, bend radius, and sp...

A preheat seldom hurts on aluminum or mild steel. I’d avoid it with stainless or other exotic alloys.

A hole saw works pretty well. I use an annular cutter in my Mag drill with a jig. Also when it really matters, I use my mill and my jig and a roughing mill (but that’s a luxury most don’t have). Starret makes some decent hole saws and use LOTS of cutting fluid to prevent dulling and cooking the stai...

You don’t need 300 amps. You DO NEED to preheat that material because 180 amps can weld it, but it will take all you’ve got to get it to puddle. Crank the Hz as high as it will go, set your Balance to 72-75, and heat the material with propane, MAPP, or Oxy/Ac. Then give it a good whack with the full...

Tweake - see if you can watch this: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1091139382314841 Don’t know if you have access to Facebook videos, but Chris has some absolutely novel insights on aluminum welding. He does often revert to Helium mixtures, but his evidence for higher frequency has some legit de...

Tweake - see if you can watch this: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1091139382314841 Don’t know if you have access to Facebook videos, but Chris has some absolutely novel insights on aluminum welding. He does often revert to Helium mixtures, but his evidence for higher frequency has some legit dec...

also crank up the Freq to as high as your machine will go. as low as you can go. higher the freq the less heat (due to more off time). i've just come in from welding some stainless and i use high freq pulse to increase my amp settings as my cheap machine doesn't do low amps very well. also on clean...

Clamp the dog piss out of it using squares. I prefer to tack midway on the outside for all 4 corners. Then I tack the inside corners, middle of the tubing. Take your time. One outside seam fully welded. Opposite outside, fully welded. Then I move to inside of the two unwelded seams. Do the opposite ...

In addition to changing the AC balance, also crank up the Freq to as high as your machine will go. Prior to a preheat, use a clean stainless brush and brush the edges of the stock and the surface where the lap joint will lay. The stainless helps cut through the oxide layer so the TIG arc gets into t...