Welding Tips and Tricks

At what point do you step up from a 3/32" to 1/8" tungsten???

It varies; There's no "hard and fast" rule.

I'll weld at 300A with a 3/32" for up to 5 seconds on a water-cooled torch. If I need a two-minute weld at 200A, I'll go 1/8".

For aluminum, I'll use 3/32 pure up to 200A, as long as I can keep my balance far negative and don't need more than 30 seconds "on time". Above that (either amps or time), I'll move up. Also, if the ball goes lopsided, I need a bigger tungsten.

That said, If work gave us nothing but 1/8", I'd be fine with that. You can always put a finer point on a fat tungsten, but you can't put a fat point on a thinner one.

Steve S

I'm with Otto, I use 3/32 on most everything up to 250A. I typically don't have to go higher on any of the hand welds I perform.

It's like the old joke: Patient: "Doctor when I move my arm like this it hurts." Doctor: "Then don't do that!"
It's simple, if the tungsten is misbehaving change size, ball up, go bigger, can't focus the arc, go smaller.
What confuses me is the endless parade of experts telling me one variety of tungsten or another won't work. Everyone seems to agree, on aluminum, pure is to be avoided, thoriated is too good, don't use that, lanthanated is almost as good, but don't use it on aluminum, zoriated is best on sine wave machines, miller has a whole new group to choose from. Airgas is interested only in the E3, something proprietary. I've not seen such a significant difference that I will throw away all my tungsten. Is there a definitive answer? I now have a Dynasty. I've been doing a lot of aluminum this winter. I will be working steel as the weather warms.

I can't complain about all the new tungsten coming onto the market because every time we get a new engineer that says we need to use this one or that, they throw out the last one and I take it all home. That's why when I order it, I always order enough so I don't run out before they decide on a new kind, it keeps me well stocked at home.

I use 3/32 for almost everything I have to weld. But I have 1/8 on hand if I need it and would gladly use it exclusively it were free, like Steve said, you can always grind down and not up.

Len

I can't disagree with anyone's assessment. I too mainly weld 200 amps and lower. For a simple amperage rule, if you are venturing around or above 250 amps, switch to 1/8". Although this general guideline will change according to your settings on your machine. I have found it interesting that a lot of weldors seem to think that you need a very small tungsten for light gauge work. I have a few friends come over once a week and have a open welding session. One session I was welding on a aluminum fuel tank with 3/32" and my friend freaked out, saying my tungsten selection was way to big. I then explained and showed him how to prep the 3/32" to weld something that small and he was amazed.

Bill,
I do not believe there is a clear cut answer and that the debate between which tungsten is the best, will go on until the end of time. For my opinion, it all depends on what you are doing, the settings on the machine, your welding amperage and which type of machine are you running. Personally (as of now) I prefer Zirconiated on my Syncrowave for AC and 1.5%Lanthanated on my invertors for both AC and DC. These tungstens have their limits but have been working well so far.
As a side note and my opinion, I do not care for the E3 that Airgas has been pushing. Our local rep talked me into trying some 1/8" and while it seems to preform well at lower amperage, it falls off on the high amps. Anyone want to buy some 1/8" E3 Again this is my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the management
-Jonathan

Superiorwelding wrote:I can't disagree with anyone's assessment. I too mainly weld 200 amps and lower. For a simple amperage rule, if you are venturing around or above 250 amps, switch to 1/8". Although this general guideline will change according to your settings on your machine. I have found it interesting that a lot of weldors seem to think that you need a very small tungsten for light gauge work. I have a few friends come over once a week and have a open welding session. One session I was welding on a aluminum fuel tank with 3/32" and my friend freaked out, saying my tungsten selection was way to big. I then explained and showed him how to prep the 3/32" to weld something that small and he was amazed.

Bill,
I do not believe there is a clear cut answer and that the debate between which tungsten is the best, will go on until the end of time. For my opinion, it all depends on what you are doing, the settings on the machine, your welding amperage and which type of machine are you running. Personally (as of now) I prefer Zirconiated on my Syncrowave for AC and 1.5%Lanthanated on my invertors for both AC and DC. These tungstens have their limits but have been working well so far.
As a side note and my opinion, I do not care for the E3 that Airgas has been pushing. Our local rep talked me into trying some 1/8" and while it seems to preform well at lower amperage, it falls off on the high amps. Anyone want to buy some 1/8" E3 Again this is my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the management
-Jonathan

Can you still get the brown zirconium in the US these days ? I just looked on the C & K site and they have white . We who are stuck in Europe get a white one and it is total f*****g scheiss. The pure is a better AC alternative. And as for all the other " multi-colored " alternatives..........it seems as if 99% are garbage. Oh for the days when you could get 2% and brown zirconium and knew they would deliver as expected.

kiwi2wheels wrote:

Superiorwelding wrote:I can't disagree with anyone's assessment. I too mainly weld 200 amps and lower. For a simple amperage rule, if you are venturing around or above 250 amps, switch to 1/8". Although this general guideline will change according to your settings on your machine. I have found it interesting that a lot of weldors seem to think that you need a very small tungsten for light gauge work. I have a few friends come over once a week and have a open welding session. One session I was welding on a aluminum fuel tank with 3/32" and my friend freaked out, saying my tungsten selection was way to big. I then explained and showed him how to prep the 3/32" to weld something that small and he was amazed.

Bill,
I do not believe there is a clear cut answer and that the debate between which tungsten is the best, will go on until the end of time. For my opinion, it all depends on what you are doing, the settings on the machine, your welding amperage and which type of machine are you running. Personally (as of now) I prefer Zirconiated on my Syncrowave for AC and 1.5%Lanthanated on my invertors for both AC and DC. These tungstens have their limits but have been working well so far.
As a side note and my opinion, I do not care for the E3 that Airgas has been pushing. Our local rep talked me into trying some 1/8" and while it seems to preform well at lower amperage, it falls off on the high amps. Anyone want to buy some 1/8" E3 Again this is my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the management
-Jonathan

Can you still get the brown zirconium in the US these days ? I just looked on the C & K site and they have white . We who are stuck in Europe get a white one and it is total f*****g scheiss. The pure is a better AC alternative. And as for all the other " multi-colored " alternatives..........it seems as if 99% are garbage. Oh for the days when you could get 2% and brown zirconium and knew they would deliver as expected.

You can still get the Zirc in brown.
https://www.diamondground.com/zirconiated-brown/
-Jonathan

Many thanks for your reply and the link Jonathan.

I never hear anyone talk about Ceriated tungsten ? Is there a downside? It's what came with my dynasty 200 runner and it rocks on aluminum! Don't split like thoriated when the amps get to high. Use it on steel or whatever. I tend to run on the hotter side, do a lot of 1/4 aluminum

Wiredwelder wrote:I never hear anyone talk about Ceriated tungsten ? Is there a downside? It's what came with my dynasty 200 runner and it rocks on aluminum! Don't split like thoriated when the amps get to high. Use it on steel or whatever. I tend to run on the hotter side, do a lot of 1/4 aluminum

I think I have copied this video before, but repetition is the best teacher.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpanERw ... r_embedded
-Jonathan

Very informative! Didn't realize the lanthanated out preformed the others....I stand corrected! Thanks!

I've always used pure on aluminum nothing else seems to work right. I've got a Lincoln squarewave at work and I can't weld aluminum with a sharpened tungsten. It always balls up is there anyway to weld ac with a sharpened tungsten? Do I need a different type of tungsten because I do have thoriated, ceriated, zirconium and pure.

If you can change the balance on your machine,, you can keep the tungsten sharp. You can use either the ceriated or the thoriated but not zirconiated or pure, they will both still ball up. Unless you're using an inverter welder you will still get a small ball on the end.

Len

scottwelder1371 wrote:I've always used pure on aluminum nothing else seems to work right. I've got a Lincoln squarewave at work and I can't weld aluminum with a sharpened tungsten. It always balls up is there anyway to weld ac with a sharpened tungsten? Do I need a different type of tungsten because I do have thoriated, ceriated, zirconium and pure.

Short answer; It appears that your Lincoln is a rectifier and not a inverter. A rectifier will basically only weld on AC using pure or Zirconiated. This is why anything else just balls up.
-Jonathan

@Jonathan,
I've welded quite a bit of Aluminum with Thoriated and Lanthanated as well as Ceriated and I don't even own a inverter welder, or a squarewave for that matter. I weld with a vintage 1978 model Dialarc 250 HF Miller and seldom if ever will I use pure and I have never used Zirconated, but would like to try some if I get a chance. If my tungsten start to split on the end like the ones in Jody's video, I just go to the next size bigger tungsten.

That being said, they all ball up to a certain extent, some more than others, but all less than pure does.

Len

Len,
I should re-word that....pure and zirconiated might work best on rectifiers and were designed for them, and yes the other tungstens will in fact work. I have ran ceriated in my syncrowave and this e3. I guess this is my
opinion more than anything. Sorry for the confusion.
Edit; you know it amazes me how much confusion and opinions there are on tungsten. I probably add to the confusion
I personally feel there are way to many tungstens on the market. I ordered this Layzr tungsten to try and hopefully it will work as promised.
-Jonathan

Ceriated is my favorite personally, mainly because @Braehill hates it and gave me 30-40 sticks of it Seriously though, I'll weld with ceriated or thoriated all day, and pure on occasion if I'm having a terrible time with everything else (its nice just setting the knob at 50%, 60hz and welding 'old school' some days.

As far as e3 goes, that shit is junk. I would rather put my dick in a grinder than weld with it. As someone stated above, its nothing really out of the ordinary at low amps, but it balls and looks like Fido's Butt at higher amps. Definitely not a fan. I would like to try TriMix or whatever it is that DGP came out with a year or two ago, if for nothing else just to compare it to e3!

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As it's new I doubt I'll be able to buy any for years to come - but what's this new LAYZR stuff like ? looks promising as it's mostly lanthanum - Wyatt tried it in a limited test recently & seemed to think it was OK - is it worth trying or just another marketing gimmick - like we need more tungsten choices !

noddybrian wrote:As it's new I doubt I'll be able to buy any for years to come - but what's this new LAYZR stuff like ? looks promising as it's mostly lanthanum - Wyatt tried it in a limited test recently & seemed to think it was OK - is it worth trying or just another marketing gimmick - like we need more tungsten choices !

Noddybrian
I will give you my take when I get it in and try it.
-Jonathan

GreinTime wrote: I would like to try TriMix or whatever it is that DGP came out with a year or two ago, if for nothing else just to compare it to e3!

You can get a free sample of TriMix at the DGP website: http://www.diamondground.com/request-a-sample/

I have a 1/16th along with another sample of their 1.5% Lanthanated.

Just looked at the page and apparently you have to call and talk to them to get a sample now though. When I got mine it was a web form and then they asked me some questions about my applications and tungsten grinding procedures.

Bill

Nice! Thanks @tradetek!

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