[Zach_T]

Here's another question about tig welding I have as I'm trying to learn for a career in a few years but here's my question of the day... What is heli Arc tig? And how does it differ from regular (well what I think is regular sorry if I'm wrong) tig welding with argon?

[RichardH]

Heliarc is the old school name for TIG, and it comes from the original use of helium shielding gas, which also has the effect of making the arc even hotter. Adding helium to argon is still a technique for boosting heat, but helium is more expensive.

[Zach_T]

Heliarc is the old school name for TIG, and it comes from the original use of helium shielding gas, which also has the effect of making the arc even hotter. Adding helium to argon is still a technique for boosting heat, but helium is more expensive.

So basically the same thing just different shielding gas?

[coldman]

Here's a link to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_tungsten_arc_welding
Makes for interesting reading on the development history of Heliarc aka TIG aka GTAW