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I'm trying to tig weld 1/2" sq .065 tubing together and not having much success so far. Tried tacking w/o filler and just blows a hole in the edge or doesn't create enough heat to connect at all. Had better results when directing the torch a fraction away from the cut edge until a puddle starts and then moving to the edge with a dab of filler. Better.. not great. My question is... am I on the right track or is there a better way? How would you do this exactly? How many tacks and where? How would you tack? How many amps? I'm doing 65amps with a pedal so have tried full and backing off. Also tried pulse. Using a CK9 torch.
Do not go gentle into that goodnight.
A bit more amps, but the real key is to not ramp up slowly like driving Ms Daisy. You need to set your mind to Formula-1 racing mode. Hit that pedal hard and fast. 
And make sure you do not have too long of an arc length, but not too short either. Roughly 1/8" or so. No gaps!
And make sure you do not have too long of an arc length, but not too short either. Roughly 1/8" or so. No gaps!
I agree, more amps quickly is the key to a clean Tig tack, took me a while to wrap my head around that.
As far as placement goes I'd tack on one corner then resquare as required and tack down the opposing corner. If this a job that's to be bang on square check again and tack down the last two corners before fully welding.
If it's just something that needs to be together so to speak I go with two tacks and just start where there is no tack and travel towards the tack.
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As far as placement goes I'd tack on one corner then resquare as required and tack down the opposing corner. If this a job that's to be bang on square check again and tack down the last two corners before fully welding.
If it's just something that needs to be together so to speak I go with two tacks and just start where there is no tack and travel towards the tack.
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jody mentions it in his video's, he calls them blast tacks.
hot and fast.
the other thing that makes welding so much easier is having an excellent fit up.
something i've been paying more attention to lately, even if its just a hand file to file it flat to get that perfect fit. i find it makes things a lot easier later on.
hot and fast.
the other thing that makes welding so much easier is having an excellent fit up.
something i've been paying more attention to lately, even if its just a hand file to file it flat to get that perfect fit. i find it makes things a lot easier later on.
tweak it until it breaks
That's the joys of hand fabrication. Alot of fitting pieces one by one.
It goes with the old saying of spending 10 minutes now to save yourself an hour later.
Tighter fitups are just easier to weld and also don't allow as much distortion to happen during welding I find.
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It goes with the old saying of spending 10 minutes now to save yourself an hour later.
Tighter fitups are just easier to weld and also don't allow as much distortion to happen during welding I find.
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yes, but how long it takes depends on your gear. pro's usually have linisher's. i have a file so it takes bloody ages.
but the time taken is worth it as the welding ends up being so much better.
tweak it until it breaks
instead of tacking on the corners, try it in the centre of the flat. your always going to have that gap caused by the curve of the corner.
just a quick blast tiny wee tack. small tacks are good in case you stuff something up and you can break it off easily.
just a quick blast tiny wee tack. small tacks are good in case you stuff something up and you can break it off easily.
tweak it until it breaks
Hey it's tacked together now ain it? [emoji14]
I think they meant in the flat to flat section though.
For that section if your trying to tack it's a bit trickier because of the natural gap from the radius of the one piece of tube.
You could alleviate that by slightly notching/ coping the vertical tube to allow the edge to come down right. But that's very time consuming to do without some form of CNC tubing processing machine.
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I think they meant in the flat to flat section though.
For that section if your trying to tack it's a bit trickier because of the natural gap from the radius of the one piece of tube.
You could alleviate that by slightly notching/ coping the vertical tube to allow the edge to come down right. But that's very time consuming to do without some form of CNC tubing processing machine.
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good example of why not to tack on those type of joints unless you really have to.
you have the tack on the left side which is good. do that on the right hand side, then you can weld out those sides.
make sure you finish around the corner a bit because thats the starting point for the difficult side.
welding on an edge takes a lot less heat before it melts away. so to weld that joint you need to focus your heat on the other side, on that rounded shoulder.
what compounds it is its quite a wide gap to fill as well. some will run a bead along the shoulder, then run a 2nd bead to bridge across to the edge.
or weave across from the shoulder but making sure you don't over heat the edge.
if for some reason you needed a tack on that side, you would tack on the shoulder and add another tack on top until you bridge across the gap.
tweak it until it breaks
Making some progress, thank you all for your help! Another question regarding being able to see what I'm welding. I have a cheater lens in my helmet but once I start an arc I end up guessing where the weld ends because it's just too dark. I have my shade down to 9... can I step down to 8 or 7 and still be safe at 65amps? Will a pyrex cup help with lighting the way?
Do not go gentle into that goodnight.
set the shade to whatever you find comfortable.
the shade won't damage your eyes as such as the UV and heat is blocked regardless. you will complain of it to bright if its to low.
i just got new glasses and had to go up a couple of shades.
the shade won't damage your eyes as such as the UV and heat is blocked regardless. you will complain of it to bright if its to low.
i just got new glasses and had to go up a couple of shades.
tweak it until it breaks
Pyrex will help a bit, But an Optrel e684 or Crystal 2.0 will work wonders. It adjusts the shade level, on-the-fly, from about 5 to 13, in response to the arc intensity right as your welding. There is an adjustable "bias" so if it doesn't dark enough, you can shift it slightly darker, or if it darkens too much, you can shift it lighter.
I also find the lighting your working in makes a huge difference.
If I'm under my lights with no shadows I'm fine. If I'm forced to block my light and make a shadow it gets a bit darker/trickier.
For a temporary fix you may find a cheapo 10-20 dollar desk/floor lamp to be beneficial.
A good helmet with Clearview tech really helps too. Least it helped me switching from the oldschool green tinge to a almost crystal clear slightly blue tinge
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If I'm under my lights with no shadows I'm fine. If I'm forced to block my light and make a shadow it gets a bit darker/trickier.
For a temporary fix you may find a cheapo 10-20 dollar desk/floor lamp to be beneficial.
A good helmet with Clearview tech really helps too. Least it helped me switching from the oldschool green tinge to a almost crystal clear slightly blue tinge
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Oscar wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 11:58 pm Pyrex will help a bit, But an Optrel e684 or Crystal 2.0 will work wonders. It adjusts the shade level, on-the-fly, from about 5 to 13, in response to the arc intensity right as your welding. There is an adjustable "bias" so if it doesn't dark enough, you can shift it slightly darker, or if it darkens too much, you can shift it lighter.
I had no idea that was a thing now, honestly that would come in handy a lot, hell, just having a high quality helmet in general makes a huge difference, but if you don't know what shade is ideal for your amp settings that could be a life saver. The fact I need to pull my tig gloves off to adjust the shade on my A50 because I'd went from 225 amps to 70 amps or vice versa gets on my nerves more than I would've expected.
A quick tip, when your fitup isn't ideal for situations you just can't help like due to a crappy saw, laying a piece of filler in the gap and giving it a quick blast works a treat, just be careful to either not be holding the rod when you do it, or light up at low amps before laying the rod in and flooring the pedal for a moment because that HF start will jump right up your arm if you're not careful.
Second old trick. Start the arc on the fitting not grounded to shock the hell out of your fitter. Use CAUTION FITTERS GET PISSED WHEN YOU SHOCK THEM TWICE. Beware of the size ratio of fitter to welder!
I have more questions than answers
Josh
Josh
Did not know about the arc start away from the filler.. have not been doing that. Thanks! Also hey Oscar, picked up a Crystal 2.0 per your recommend and have to say wow... what an improvement over what I have now which is an ESAB A50 and a Miller Digital Infinity. It's not a night and day comparison but it is to my eyes... enough improvement to make a difference in my ability to see what the heck I'm doing. Now I have to decide which helmet to ebay away. The Miller is nice but heavy so might be the one to go. Anybody have both of these and can decide for me? The Optrel is light as a feather...
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Do not go gentle into that goodnight.