Quote:
Originally Posted by JThiessen
Actually, you'll need a tank of Argon gas too...not cheap for the additional tank (I think i paid about 240 for mine).
Krawlin - have you done much torch welding? I'm kinda curious now if you could do the same assembly using some .125 or thinner steel plate and torch weld it together. That would leave a very nice finish, and I'd think it would be just as strong.
good point on your choice of steel. I'm just the opposite here - I have an unlimited supply of Aluminum, but very little steel (tends to make the big birds too heavy!!).
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I take an oxy-acetylene welding course in addition to my GMAW / MIG welding class, and to be honest I'm not all that great at torch welding. I am where I am supposed to be in my welds, maybe a bit ahead of the rest of the class, but I'm just good enough with a torch to get me by with a low A (90% usually) grade. However, I am the farthest ahead of the rest of the class in my MIG class, its much easier for me, and I really enjoy doing it. I don't have a real steady hand which is part of my problem with torch welding, even resting my arm on something doesn't always help. I can turn out some good welds with MIG (Here is a link to just a few of my welds, what is shown in there is flat lap, flat T, and the really good looking T welds are my horizontal T's -
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/l...Krawlin/welds/).
Quote:
Originally Posted by redshift
Not bad krawlin, with .023" wire MIG you could get some smaller beads, with just using a small circular motion. Lots of welders will only do that with stick welding, but it's almost always beneficial regardless the process you're using.
With a newer squarewave TIG it's possible to use a 2% Thoriated tungsten ground to a point with AC, which is what you need for some gorgeous aluminum beads. MIG is a great place to start, but once you've done some stainless with a TIG, nothing else compares.
Looks pretty good, keep it up.
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Thanks!
And actually I am currently using .035'' wire in MIG, didn't think to change it out for thinner wire, but then again I have no idea what wire sizes they have in the welding shop here, probably thinner stuff but I didn't think to look. And I was taught to do the circular motion with MIG to get the nice bead and proper penetration, etc., but like I said before, when I tried it with these motor mounts, I ended up with a big fat glob, so I did a whole bunch of tack welds and very short welds in some places. Like Linc was saying though, probably lowering my settings would have helped, although to really end up with a good small bead I would have had to drop down to smaller wire like you were saying.