Lol that's funny. Had a bad job one time at a Tyson plant(weird food grade) and there were roaches all over this corner. When I lit up they all scurried away and froze. When I stopped they'd creep back. I was using it like a bug repellent Arlington get them away so I could measure. That's about the ...

I must've overlooked asking if you have cleaned the millscale off. The thought behind turning the amps up is that it'll burn through easier. Although when it come down to it the safer bet is grinding it clean.

The problem with your experiment, is that you will still end up with soft steel. The steel still needs to be heated to austenitic temp and quenched followed by a temper. Your better off getting a bar of A-2, if that's the steel you want, and shaping it accordingly followed by a heat treat. I don't k...

Turn the amps up a bit and make sure you're not leaving slag in the toes or any spots where you have to hope it'll fuse. Should be good.

Gotta say a handheld shear would be the way to go for sheet metal.

Love this idea. If I had a freelance, I'd get someone to print one up. However I got rid of mine cause I really had no use for it. And it was less efficient than other tools. Guess I'll just keep using my angle grinder to sharpen..

It's a never ending problem. Welding with thin or small parts that can't take the heat buildup or even welding too much at one time is something that is always gonna have to be in your head. The battle with warpage is always there.

Well, when you're out in the dirt, sometimes you can't "flip" the pad...

Being able to use both hands is invaluable. I would recommend to start practicing.

Tig welding over mig or stick welds will prove to give you a very dirty puddle. I wouldn't suggest it. And if you have to grind them all down and re-weld you'd be saving yourself a lot of time and money to redo it.

I don't think it will matter on order. You really need to focus on heat input and arc time. Theres a lot of flat material there. Weld from the corner 2 inches or so, then the next 90 till your at 4. Then go opposite then middle and so on till your done. I would recommend a backing strip to keep thin...

So from what I gather, 2 curvy seamed to 2 flat and the flat are at the corner? I would tack each curvy to each flat and then do the flat to flat. Weld the outside of the 90 first. When you do the inside it will want to pull in.

My concern would be warping. I'd just tack every few inches from the back side after its been pulled together and then take some 2000g sandpaper or steel wool and "rebrush" the finish.

Yeah I crank up the dig to 7-8 too. If the arc is wandering, it's a ground issue. If the keyhole is jumping from side to side then it's you and your rod angle. When it does this you are most likely overcorrecting and pushing it to the other side. Give it some movement and keep it shoved up there. Yo...

The way I've been doing it is just push it through till it almost keyholes but shoots out the back and try to stay at a steady speed so it follows. Then groove right down the root with a grinder and put my cap on

Alright guys. I've got a decent size test coming up in a few weeks. 6g 6" sch 80 carbon with 6010 root, 2g 3g and 4g flux core open root with a back grind and cap on 1/2" carbon, 6010 3g downhill with back grind and cap on 1/2" carbon, and a 6g 3" sch 40 tig stainless. I've done ...

Those are gonna be just fine. Pull it apart. You can't...... but seriously I wouldn't put my name on those if I was throwing them away and nobody saw them. Ive actually ground off parts of caps to fix a bad restart nobody would ever see. Once you let a "bad" weld out you lose your pride.

You need to make lines with a grinder or sharpie to give yourself a guide. And it looks fairly cold. Put it at 150 and let yourself learn to control the puddle by feel not a number.You can control it with more than a foot pedal and a dial. Wire chills it, sometimes I use my wire as a buffer to do th...

It certainly is a lot. And you feel it the next day.

I don't sharpen until the arc wanders at weld current. I don't have time or inclination to run to the grinder every time it's not perfect, and a blunt/crapped up tungsten will still weld fine if you're practiced in what to expect. This is not a suggestion for a newbie, of course, as you want to tak...

It comes from years of hoarding and taking scraps on jobs. Get fired, take those company issued resources that you "left" in your gang box and take it to the next job.

I'm in the middle of this at the moment. I have a great "boss" that is handling all the contracting and license stuff. He's ~10 years older and has much more experience and knows way more people. Retire marine and ironworker that his family started. That's why he's in charge of the busines...

I prefer lathe cut or from my carbide pipe beveler, but I have done a good bit of it with a grinder. I use a hard disk to knock down the edge then a flapper to grind it. Lay it down and run the grinder the pipe and roll your wrists. Or have your helper spin the pipe if it's on stands. If it's a tig ...

Havnt followed this thread but just caught up on it. Sounds like you got it. A lot of times when you're frustrated like that you have to take a break and come back. But your mind tells you to try again. Ive only failed 1 cert and that was my stainless pipe 6g. Purge fell out and I couldn't redo it. ...

Can't complain about any of that! Sounds like Sig will have a job the rest of his life. Good genuine worker. Wish my guy did that instead of standing around drinking coffee and bullshiting.