At school, there's a table where we put our finished projects for grading by the instructor.

Last time I passed by the table, I saw this....



Maybe I'm not doing so bad.

Tried TIG brazing a pie cut with SiBr.

Didn't come out well, but seems like a very strong bond.

On the topic of penetration- the problem is, I don't know what it should look like. I know what the school wants my practice beads to look like, but not sure about real world fabrication. For tubes that flow gas or liquid, it makes sense that the inside of the tube should be smooth. In other words- ...

My little folding welding table. Not much more than a glorified TV tray. Very happy with it, so far. Hopefully, soon I'll make room in the garage to keep it set up. Raining today, so I can't weld. https://i.postimg.cc/c1FgYMqh/20220326-183043.jpg First time welding aluminum on the home TIG. Trying d...

Tried pie cuts on Saturday.

Have to practice basics in Thursday class. All steel. Was able to get a fillet weld going. Not good, but way better than my first try. https://i.postimg.cc/s20xBZvw/20220319-181735.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/7hwFwKwc/20220319-192120.jpg Found out my new magnet clamps won't take much heat. https://i.po...

Haven't been posting much lately. Still at it. Need to order more coupons and filler rod ASAP. Had a good session TIG brazing. Hard not to melt any of the parent metal using the usual welding settings. Tried using less amps, but 65 was fast and fun. https://i.postimg.cc/vHRkJf6b/20220313-015541.jpg ...

The first time I tried welding aluminum, I was short on time and nothing good happened. Looked like this: https://i.postimg.cc/YSBc60Lm/20220311-230012.jpg Tonight, I did the puddle-starting exercise (like in the video), then a few fusion welds. Then started messing around with filler rod. Using 404...

Tried TIG brazing last night. Was interesting. I like it because the whole puddle comes from the filler rod. So, it feels like good training for the rod hand. First I tried SilBr filler. This is before cleaning with a brush: https://i.postimg.cc/cLpC5HCS/20220304-234531.jpg Then I tried some AlBr fi...

Depending upon the size cup you were using with the gas lens and the size of the collet body, you won’t see much difference in the weld. A gas lens is unimportant with a cup size below a #6. There simply isn’t enough CFH to create the turbulence associated with a #7 or larger. Many people swear by ...

In my opinion if you want to get better at Tig quick you should go get yourself some 1/8"+ thick alum and run beads on that. PS...you want to be a welding god? Go get yourself some nasty dirty aluminium, if you can weld that my opinion is you can weld anything :P Not sure atm how much material...

This has been a great thread to follow, really cool to hear and see your progress 😉 Thanks, BeeGee. Started welding tonight in the new Intro class (supposed to be O/A). Got right into the TIG booth. Might have to stick to TIG welding steel in this class, but that's okay. Just getting back to it. La...

My last beads. Making some progress.



Starting on tack welds. You can see the burn marks going away as I catch on. Will work into some larger, stronger tacks.

Get a proper gas lens setup for the torch. A #6 cup is a bit smaller than I’d use for SilBr, I’d rather use a 10-12. Gas flow needs to be 2x cup size in CFH. You can go lower with a collet body. A 3/32 tungsten works fine; you don’t need a 1/16. Heat input is controllable regardless of tungsten siz...

Class starts in a few days. Repeating the Intro class with the "other" instructor. Not sure what I'll be able to do. Would like to do some O/A brazing and heat coloring. Have a rosebud #2 tip on the way. Less heat than a propane torch. Will be using the TIG on the other 2 days. Thinking ab...

Way Outtahere- Thanks much for the advice. Your experience is much respected. Very excited to do some Ti welding. The ultimate goal is to fabricate unique Ti 2-stroke expansion chambers (x4) for a 2-stroke Yamaha RZV500 motorcycle. Not sure I'll have enough time to get there, but it's great to have ...

Last night was quite shocking! Never used a welding table, before this class. Minimal instruction and supervision in class has its advantages and disadvantages. Been welding all my coupons on the table. Last night, I stuck the tungsten in the puddle. At first, I didn't know it was stuck. I lifted up...

I'm guessing dime stacks appear naturally from the flowing molten metal. At first, I thought a dime was formed each time the filler rod was dipped. My first beads look too tall. I think I was trying to make a lot of dimes, but was just building up the bead. Will have a better plan for the next class.

Instructor is funny as hell. Last night he was yelling at Level 11. "CLEAN UP NOW!!! YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES TO GET OUT OF HERE, OR I WILL FAIL YOU!!!" That was first call with 20 minutes to go. I'm sure he's put up with a lot of crap with the Community College students. He's got a big hear...

Watched this video and was going to follow his TIG advice for getting started: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TgekhRZ_d2o&t=12s I was going to do the puddle starting exercise, then the torch drill using no filler. Tonight the instructor brought 16 gauge steel and said- "Do it like this."...

Thanks for the support! Well, here we go. Still not progressing with my O/A welding projects. Laying down some decent passes on 16 gauge steel. That's about it. Went to the instructor's office last night to ask about nothing, really. He said- "Are you bored with oxy-acetylene yet?" I said ...

Couple of beads from last night.

Was lazy. Didn't draw any lines to follow. Definitely making progress.

Found out the TIG machine I'll be using at school is a Miller Dynasty 400. Looks way more complicated to set up vs my Lincoln Precision 225 (which I have also never used). When I get started in a couple of weeks, maybe you guys could help me out with the settings. I'm doing okay in the O/A class. La...

Thanks for confirming, Oscar. I did finally find it in the book that came with the TIG. Who'd have thought of looking there? It's as you say. Since I'm just practicing, I'll probably use ErTi-1 on the grade 9. I think ErTi-1 might be the filler to use on 2-stroke pipes because of the expanding/contr...

What filler rod is the best for welding titanium grade 2, grade 5, and grade 9? I read it's best to use a softer grade of filler wire than the parent metal. My initial plan was to use ErTi-2 for grade 2, ErTi-5 for grade 5, and ErTi-9 for grade 9. Also read that ErTi-1 can be used for grades 2, 5, a...