Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm a hobbiest (auto resto, garage projects) who has been tooling long enough to see the value in good tools. I go thru spurts with TIG, welding intensely for months then putting it down. So my skills at things like tungsten sharpening can deteriorate. I have a HF 3" grinder and diamond wheels but haven't gotten fantastic results and willing to put some coin into a more dedicated rig that takes some skill out of the equation. Interested to hear from like minded enthusiasts as to what worked for them.

Here's a few for discussion

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-tungs ... 57555.html
https://www.amazon.com/ALUMINUM-Electro ... B07VWQ5553
https://www.tungstenmate.com/product/tungstenmate-gen4/

This is what I bought and use. It’s dead nuts every time.

https://www.arc-zone.com/sharpie-grinder-a-ptgk-sd

Looks very nice. A cut above what I wanted to spend.

I'll snap a pic at work of my setup today.thibk I made it for around $50 and can still make it better if I ever get around to it

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R-mm wrote:Looks very nice. A cut above what I wanted to spend.

To quote a wise man who once said, "I'm a hobbiest [sic](auto resto, garage projects) who has been tooling long enough to see the value in good tools."

Lol I know I'm trying to thread the needle here between spinning um by hand on my $30 HF bench grinder and spending a few hundo. I think there's some decent stuff between in the links I posted but looking for real world experience.

Here's my setup. Got the bench grinder for 20-30 on sale and the wheel was 10-15 (can't remember the specifics.)


The motor on the grinders not the strongest so it can be stalled out but not the worst thing I found when grinding tungsten. Keeps me from pushing too hard etc.



The wheel is double sided and plenty of diamond area. Think I've been using the same wheel for just about 2 years now and it still grinds great.


And as I mentioned I could make a guide for the tungsten and bolt it on...life just keeps getting in the way of that idea so for now I free hand it.

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R-mm wrote:Lol I know I'm trying to thread the needle here between spinning um by hand on my $30 HF bench grinder and spending a few hundo. I think there's some decent stuff between in the links I posted but looking for real world experience.

I’ve got a HF 3” grinder with a diamond wheel, sounds like the same setup you have. I use a cordless drill at a slow speed to spin my tungsten, get pretty consistent results. I’ll usually do about 20 electrodes at a time, so after the first couple, the rest are almost all the same.


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I just purchased the Eastwood tungsten grinder, It was 129.00 but on sale for 89.00. It has worked pretty awesome for me and very noticeable while I am welding now. It had good reviews too so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-tungs ... 57555.html

I considered the ew but didn’t want to pay for the motor twice so I’m giving the base model Tungstenmate a try. Will post my results. Even if its not gods gift I believe repeatability is where it will let me dial in the rest of my technique.

R-mm wrote:I considered the ew but didn’t want to pay for the motor twice so I’m giving the base model Tungstenmate a try. Will post my results. Even if its not gods gift I believe repeatability is where it will let me dial in the rest of my technique.

I got the Tungstenmate Gen4 off ebay 2 weeks ago, I already had the rotary tool. I like it well enough but the cut off feature doesnt work very well. Rather than the short allen screws they drilled for guides, Holes to big and they are too short. I made new pilots out of inch long brass bolts

CJ
i have one of those and when you want to tack, hit the tungsten and light up!!
craig