Teaching Myself To Tig Weld

[Mike T]

Check out your local community college. Many have great welding programs and may offer a TIG only class. ( I took a TIG class at my college when I bought my first machine). It may cost you a little bit to get into the class, but using their metal, rod and argon is awesome!! Lots of seat time an you will be welding a stack of dimes like nobody's business!!

The two best machine I have ever bought are my TIG welder and my Bridgeport mill . They are both challenging, but fun to learn. I am by no means an expert on either, but they both help me make some cool stuff!!


Good Luck and have fun!!

Dave about two months ago I checked the course calender at our local community college for a tig only and it was not offered at the campuses closest to me. The only courses that included tig was 36 weeks long. I will look again to see if anything has changed. You are right about the cost of materials I'm already on my 3rd tank of argon, 4th tungsten and miscellaneous stuff at a cost of a couple of hundred dollars.

 

[Mike T]

Hope I'm not overposting here but I was working with some stainless plate and thought it turned out decent.

 

[Jerryl]

You are a natural.

 

[Mike T]

You are a natural.

Thank you for the complement Jerryl. I'm at a little bit of a disadvantage because my eyesight isn't what it use to be and my hands aren't very steady so I have to prop on anything That I can find.

 

[Jerryl]

Thank you for the complement Jerryl. I'm at a little bit of a disadvantage because my eyesight isn't what it use to be and my hands aren't very steady so I have to prop on anything That I can find.

I hear you on the eye sight and steadyness! Lol. You soon realize how much hand strength you need to lay a nice bead!

 

[Daniel Jost]

Something that might help keep your gas use down and help against air contamination would be a gas lense setup.

Dan

 

[Mike T]

Something that might help keep your gas use down and help against air contamination would be a gas lense setup.

Dan

You are right I really need to get that setup, I had to turn the argon flow up quite a bit to finally decent color on stainless. Does the larger gas lense really use about the same or less argon ?

 

[Dsmxsteve]

You are right I really need to get that setup, I had to turn the argon flow up quite a bit to finally decent color on stainless. Does the larger gas lense really use about the same or less argon ?

Not sure if it uses les but I don't use anything but jumbo lenses with 10 or 12 cup.


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[Mike T]

I hope to actually make something nice for my car soon but in the meantime my wife wanted me to make a key for her antique ships clock. It needed to have a square hollow inside of the shaft so I hammered a round stainless tube square and built the entire thing up with silicon bronze, turned it in the lathe, hand filed it and reheated to get the aged look. I know I could have bought something close to the correct key but I think she really appreciated the effort.

View attachment 225464

 

[Mike E]

That's really cool.

Who would want to go to the store and buy it when you can spend more time and more money making it yourself.

 

[Mike T]

That's really cool.

Who would want to go to the store and buy it when you can spend more time and more money making it yourself.

Isn't that the truth! The setup time and cost for anything one off is crazy. The old way of handmade items will be gone before long, but I do enjoy making stuff.

 

[ijames]

Check www.tigdepot.com for supplies, and if you have Usenet access check out the group sci.engr.joining.welding. You can also access it through Google Groups. Do a search for Ernie Leimkuhler on s.e.j.w, he's been teaching welding for 30+ years and answering questions on Usenet almost that long . Your welds look great so far!

 

[Mike T]

Repaired a crack in my prop.

 

[Mike T]

Repaired a small crack in my ATR headers.

 

[20psiofevil]

Enjoying the pictures. I do a lot of stick welding and can get my beads real neat like a stack of dimes. I'd like to get a tig for the house to do aluminum.

 

[John Larkin]

I signed up for 5 four-hour classes at Sutton Garten downtown and just got home from my first class. It's a good deal, not free but way less than community tech school and all the consumables and gas you want plus they supply good scraps to practice on and the instructor spends time with you. Top notch Miller equipment, good torch and tungstens included. Can't wait for next Wednesday!

You're doing great!

 

[Mike T]

Enjoying the pictures. I do a lot of stick welding and can get my beads real neat like a stack of dimes. I'd like to get a tig for the house to do aluminum.

Thank's, I'm glad you like the photos. I also wanted a tig for the house and after a lot of reading I narrowed it down to a couple of machines that would best fit my needs. I watched craiglist for a few months until a clean one came up.

 

[Mike T]

I signed up for 5 four-hour classes at Sutton Garten downtown and just got home from my first class. It's a good deal, not free but way less than community tech school and all the consumables and gas you want plus they supply good scraps to practice on and the instructor spends time with you. Top notch Miller equipment, good torch and tungstens included. Can't wait for next Wednesday!

You're doing great!

Once you start making some nice passes you will be hooked and will not want to weld any other way. I have mig welded in the body shop for years but never owned a tig. What I like about the tig is that it's clean and quiet (no sparks or spatter) I can work in the garage and not make much of a mess or disturb the wife & kids. I would say the tig is my favorite tool purchase to date.