thanks for the heads up. I didn't win either, but we're still in the running for the grand prize. too bad it's not a stronghand table.

another option for this situation would be 'hard' silver solder. it's technically brazing, but you use a liquid or paste flux and need tight fitups similar to soft soldering. an 'easy' solver solder would be the best bet. I've done some jewelry work before and it's a pleasure to work with, but the p...

what are you paying for thoriated, kerm? both list around $62 at arc-zone for 3/32. sylvania branded. the house brand (amplify) are about half that. I'd put radnor down with house brand stuff. I personally think they're crap, but I can't say I had problems with their tungstens when I was working for...

also slightly off-topic, but if you put a soaking wet rag under whatever you're cutting, the slag forms almost perfect hollow spheres about 1/4" in diameter. at least they do cutting 3/8" plate with oxy-acetylene.

online metals is awesome for small cuts, prototype stuff, ect. they're the only place I know that you can get a 2" section of 6" round stock without having to buy a foot. they have a good selection of oddball stuff, too. titanium, ect. their discounts for the slightly-less-than-a-foot piec...

what's the thread pitch? a new torch runs over $100. most dies are well under that.

Ironmonger, your last suggestion is a piece of out-of-the box magic! I'll have to remember that

be patient, dude not everyone checks this board every day. if anyone has used that lincoln power mig 350mp for alu, you'll hear about it. I don't know if anyone on here has that specific machine, though, but there are some folks who do alu MIG.

this job is begging for solder. you're going to end up warping and burning through all over the place. besides, solder is a lot easier to get into small places. alternatively, you could braze or solver-solder it, but soft plumb solder will be plenty strong enough.

yes, they still do that. aluminum gives you nonsense results. the best way to check aluminum temp is still with temp sticks, unfortunately. or, I guess, paint a spot black.

that bubbling and skinning is normal. you're likely going to have to weld, grind, weld, grind, weld a lot. castings are porous and absorb oils and can oxidize further from the surface than forged or billet parts.

thorium IS radioactive. there shouldn't be a question about that. thorium IS NOT radioactive enough to harm you externally, especially in the small percentage present in welding tungstens. The as yet unproven question is whether the fine particulate dust can settle in your lungs and increase the cha...

when you're learning lay-wire until you can really get a steady filler feed, grab the filler rod about a foot back from the end and just shove at the puddle. practice your filler feeding and eventually you won't need to do that, but it makes it easy to learn how much rod you have to push into the pu...

It might've been cast with a porous alloy in oil-sand. porous alloy=cheaper, oil sand= finer surface finish (looks less like cast) and can be cheaper than green-sand(water bonded casting sand). cheaper, less work, and cheaper are pretty well synonymous with harbor freight, so I'd recon it's probably...

low-speed pulse vs pedal pulsing is a preference thing. they're doing roughly the same job. the advantage to machine pulse is it evens out your times and amperage so you have less variables and can repeatably produce a more consistent weld. foot pulsing allows you to compensate more for variations i...

regarding your post title, 75/25 argon/CO2 is the 'right' gas for 95% of all mig welding. CO2 will work, Ar/CO2 will work better. you might take a look at jody's review of the little miller battery powered welder that uses paintball CO2 tanks. apparently the welder compensates for the properties of ...

look through the tig forum, the cast aluminum surface prep has been covered a few times recently. the 1" thick flange is going to require a lot of heat, and most likely multiple passes. you can try a helium or helium mix, but unless you have a 400A machine, you're going to have to bevel pretty ...

nope, not the same stuff. silver solder is mostly silver, other solder is mostly tin or lead. silver solder is expensive, but very handy. you can pick it up from most jewlers supply places. ottofrie.com has decent prices, but they'll only sell to you if you have a sales tax #. I'm sure you can pick ...

without pics, just going by settings and your description, it sounds like you're welding way too damn hot. that 'cold' look in the middle is likely caused by overheating. if you're getting the first inch perfect, thats a clear indicator that you've got plenty of heat at the outset and afterwards you...

just ordered one for 650+$25 shipping. since moving to Texas, I haven't had a welder and I'm now restoring a fleet of old 60's Saab's (the 3 cyl two-strokes) and I needed a welder that will run off the 5000w generator he's got. nothin' like moving from a high-end restoration shop to a barn with a ge...

I weld automotive sheet at 35A, 1/16th tungsten, #4 cup. use as little amperage as possible to get a puddle on both sides. a little pre-heat helps even your penetration out. if you're not getting full penetration to the back side, just weld the back side. use as little rod as possible. I use .035 Er...

Thanks for keeping us informed, rick. when my hat craps out, I'll probably give one of these a try.

wire speed=amperage, the other knob is voltage. if you have an inductive current meter, you can measure the current through the ground cable, otherwise you can't really measure it output amps.

my point is that the term 'ground' is just a voltage reference. I'll have to measure my dad's when I go visit for christmas (precision tig 185), but I think, now that I think about it, that the work clamp should be referenced to mains neutral. which mains neutral should be the same potential as the ...

no, no major issues. just make sure they're clamped nice and tight and they stay that way thoughout the weld. don't just start at one end and keep running until you get to the other side. sheet aluminum moves a LOT when it's heated. also, unless you feed a lot of rod (way more than you think you sho...