are you sure you're getting shielding? I've forgotten to turn on the gas a few times. that will ball the end right up and cover the area in tungsten deposits. and piss you right off, to boot!

well, it sounds like your rod is being confined by the hole you drilled and swelling out above it. when the metal gets hot, it expands and needs to go somewhere. that shouldn't prevent you from sticking the two together, though. if you've got no discoloration or dust, it's probably not plated and yo...

also, for a good checklist of problems, check out my reply in the "Need help bad..major problems" thread in the tig forum.

couple of Q's: what amperage are you using? what's the bar made of? (im assuming 1010 steel or the like) what size electrode? how long were you on the bar with the arc? is the plate puddling at all? It will take quite a bit of heat to get that bar to melt, particularly if you've got a nice snug fit ...

well, it seems I wrote you a small book, but i think i covered all the bases. -> is the piece grounded? this is the DUH bullet. if you don't have a good ground (clamp on the spur, or clam on a metal table or vice that the spur is clamped to or clamped in) then you're going to have a hard time starti...

wow, I'm sorry to hear that your prospects didn't pan out. I've never been in that situation, but I know a few folks that have. I wish you luck in finding something to support your family. something you might want to do if you're planning on welding stainless is find something to use as a purge cham...

whose contact information are you looking for?

I'm no expert, either, but I can stick sheet steel and alu. together :) I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in, but I can give you a few pointers to start out. I found a manual for a 300/300, but I don't know if it's the same as yours. it seems they made that model for a while. the newe...

has anyone used one of these ( weldcraft WP-150 ) or any of weldcraft's other modular torches? I work in automotive restoration and custom fabrication and getting into tight spaces and insides of stuff is day-to-day business around here, so having a pencil head w/ the flex coil would be really nice....

yeah, we got it all squared away. it was airgas's bottle that was the problem with the first one, so they sent our first regulator back out. no leaks. I though the picture was pretty funny though. I was trying to get my pops (I work for him) to get a decent regulator, but I couldn't get him to see t...

in response to the uploading pictures question earlier in this thread, if you load a file in the the 'upload attachment' section directly below the message body section, it shows up at the bottom of the message. if you're trying to put a picture in from the web, paste the full address (http://www.bu...

We recently bought a new regulator (a cheapie Radnor 601-AR) which drained a full 40cu argon tank in less than a day. so we returned it for another.

now, whats wrong with this one?

weldwarehouse.com usually has the best prices, but they have a somewhat limited selection and it will take you 2 hours find anything on their site. weldingsupply.com are the same folks, though, and that website is easier to use, so I usually just get the product # from weldingsupply. they're in Illi...