RedRooster Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 It is, but cheap as i don' t have to buy anything. Been laid off again, 3rd time in 5yrs so have free time. RR Link to post Share on other sites
Hamish Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 2 hours ago, RedRooster said: It is, but cheap as i don' t have to buy anything. Been laid off again, 3rd time in 5yrs so have free time. RR Sorry to hear about the lay off. I had that in August had to go back to old profession, not a first choice but a years contract. but it’s COVID related so hopefully helping out a little. I wish you every luck at finding something. Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 I took a tiny step forward today. I put the TIG welder on the bench and connected all the bits and pieces. The gas comes out - tick Mains plug wired -tick Insert collet - hmmm !! it wouldn't fit For some odd reason known only to me (or perhaps not) I ordered two guns. a TIG26 and a TIG9. The TIG9 is quite small and good for up to 125amps. The 26 goes up to 200A. They have different sized collets. Not a problem but worth knowing. Interesting learning curve. Even the mains plug put up a fight. It is a standard mains plug but the wires are quite big. Got it all sorted in the end but it struggled. What will happen tomorrow. Roger Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 Hi Folks, a short up date - I've been practising to TIG weld. All the videos show the expert creating the most beautiful weld beads - the Americans call it a row of dimes. I've used up an 9Kg canister of Argon and turned quite a bit of 3mm Ali into scrap. However on Monday I realised that for the job I have in hand I do not want a raised bead - just a flat finish. I am repairing an abused TR4A Dash support - the radio hole was butchered. I've tidied up the hoe and made a very close fitting insert in 3mm Ali. So yesterday after not enough practice decided to give it a go. What I found with the butt joint during practice was the both plates would melt but not join so easily. I was hoping that stabbing it with the filler rod would help this along - but it doesn't. I then found that moving the arc around would get them joining. Because of the thick material (3m) and that I want a flat bead I decided not to use the filler rod. Wonders will never cease - it worked. I was quite impressed. An expert would have a migraine. I now need to continue practising to get the dimes leaning over. Roger Link to post Share on other sites
Nick Jones Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Congratulations on achieving fusion! My best results with TIG have always been where no filler rod is needed. This is my lack of coordination...... Aluminium though...... a struggle to join anything to anything. Link to post Share on other sites
JohnD Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 (edited) Roger, being no expert but having been taught other things by one who I watched do it, you are ahead of the game! "Filler rod" is just that. Careful and, yes, skilful use of the torch and close fitting parts can make it unnecessary as the edges melt together. I wonder if there is a cheaper way? Those "Durafix" aluminium welding rods are advertised on Fb, and I've ordered some. I also found this video by a sceptical user, who was, with some reservations, impressed by them. Securing part of a dash panel would be an ideal use. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k21JDVdGalY&ab_channel=Delboy'sGarage Jon Edited January 7 by JohnD Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 3 hours ago, JohnD said: I wonder if there is a cheaper way? Those "Durafix" aluminium welding rods are advertised on Fb, and I've ordered some. I also found this video by a sceptical user, who was, with some reservations, impressed by them. Securing part of a dash panel would be an ideal use. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k21JDVdGalY&ab_channel=Delboy'sGarage Jon Hi John, If I went down the cheap route I wouldn't now have a TIG machine. There is another Hi-Tech method of fancy welding - Stir Welding. Plenty of YouTube to see how its done - mainly aerospace. Roger Link to post Share on other sites
JohnD Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 (edited) Ah! Friction welding, by another name? I suppose that any process that gets intense heat, or just energy, into the material could fuse two pieces togrther. Ultrasonics came to mind - I knew that it is used to seal plastic bags. I found this about a Dutch research project to develop it as a continuous welding process: I'd love to have a TiG, but really can't justify it, although yesterday I was using MiG to make a back plate that mounts fixed studs. I used countersunk head bolts, but getting the bolt head and the plate to fuse, rather than just glue it down with a blob of weld - the plate will be welded to a rail , so the back should be flush. I had to use the MiG with the power up and the feed down, rather like TiG, which would have done a better job. The video I posted showed that the Durafix welding rods would have been little better - grinding off the 'blob' made the join much weaker. Edited January 7 by JohnD Link to post Share on other sites
Radioactive Man Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 4 hours ago, RogerH said: Hi John, If I went down the cheap route I wouldn't now have a TIG machine. There is another Hi-Tech method of fancy welding - Stir Welding. Plenty of YouTube to see how its done - mainly aerospace. Roger Friction Stir Welding is now becoming very popular in electric vehicles for welding the battery boxes and floor trays. The floors tend to be extruded aluminium planks welded together. Its a pretty expensive concept as even with aluminium the process forces are high so the tools and fixtures have to be pretty sophisticated to withstand the forces and ensure the part geometry is correct. I have been involved in one or two of the battery tray manufacturing projects. Its pretty interesting stuff. With rotary and linear friction welding thats also good for joining dissimilar metals such as aluminium to copper. The range of dissimilar materials that can be joined is massive. Link to post Share on other sites
2.5piman Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 Hello Roger, "What I found with the butt joint during practice was the both plates would melt but not join so easily. " You need a close fitting joint to get an autogenous weld (I think that's what it's called?) and also dont start moving until a puddle is developed on both sides and then merges. I have also found that if they don't merge a bit of filler to begin with allows me to carry on with no filler as long as both sides touch each other. Cleanliness, of course, is important. Alec Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 9 Author Share Posted January 9 Hi Alec, I agree with your approach. As you say if the pools do not merge then give it a stir with the filler. It is very satisfying to get a fused weld without a humungous weld bead that I always get with MIG welding. It would be nice (with practice) to get the beautiful row of dimes (as they say in the States). Interestingly that row of dimes is not the norm. The weld bead is strictly controlled and quite shallow. Roger Link to post Share on other sites
JohnD Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 Roger, my approach to the above problem did achieve success. There was a huge electric 'flame' between the handpiece and the work, as MiG used the filler as the electrode, it was melting in the shroud! I would not like to do a long weld that way, but as this was a series of spot welds, I was able to stop and shake out the blobs from the shroud as I went. Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Hi Folks, I have had some good success with my TIG welding machine. I am making some TR surrey rear frame cups that conceal the roof attachment bolts. I need to attach a 30mm x 1mm plate onto the end of a 30mm diameter tube. See the attached pics. The other day I made a rotary table for my mill. I used this to hold the tube. Pic 2 & 2a show the job and welding gun set up. Pic 3 shows the weld bead Pic 3A shows the minimal weld penetration (I wanted this to stay clean). Basically- set the rotary table so the tube is concentric. Set the gap t the electrode - apprx 2mm. Set the Machine settings - apprx 55amps Press the foot pedal. Hand turn the rotary table 360 degrees. I was amazed. I only ever do chicken shit weld beads. Roger Link to post Share on other sites
Escadrille Ecosse Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Very nice. looks made at the makers. That is the way to do circular welds. Welding big stuff by that technique is done with multiple weld heads usually at 180 degrees to each other to avoid distortion. Things like large diameter pipelines up to nuclear submarine hulls I knew a chap who had worked in the drawing office at Vickers Barrow on the nuclear subs before going to work for their mini-sub division as was. For the big subs the welding was done by hand in those days but the welders worked in pairs and would practice on full size rings so that they laid down the welds at exactly the same speed as each other. Given that the hulls were up to 30 odd mm thick this took many passes. The hull sections were apparently made slightly thicker at the bottom to provide a corrosion allowance for the bilge and he told me a story how on one of the subs a ring was welded in upside down. It would have caused a huge delay and cost to cut out and rectify so it was built into the submarine just like that. Comforting. Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Hi Colin, I do not think that my little rotary table would be any good on the Nuke Subs. But if they can get the sub in my garden then I'm prepared to give it a go. Roger 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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