New to me old Tig welding setup ...

[wquiles]

My friend and mentor only uses HTP welding machines, and after he convinced me to get a local welding class, he also encouraged me to save my money and buy an HTP welder. I did, of course, and back in 2013 I bought a new HTP Mig 200 welder, which has been 100% flawless so far. So when I told him I wanted to learn and get a Tig setup, since he is no longer welding commercially/professionally, he offered to sell me his HTP Tig setup - the whole thing: HTP Invertig 200 with the water cooler, welder cart (modded to hold two tanks), 25ft ground, 25ft water cooled CK20-R torch, 25-ft CK torch mounted amp control (5-pin), 25-ft foot control (5-pin), inner touch cable cover and outer leather cable snap cover, and all of the rods and tungsten tips he found:

After changing the 220v plug to the one I use in my garage, I did a few simple beads, but decided to start doing some welding to practice for real, so I tried doing some small tacks. I ordered this kit to get me started:

I felt the touch a little heavy for my taste, and I was not yet comfortable with the torch amp control, so I removed it for now and I am using the foot switch until I get more proficient:

These are guts of the water cooled head:

Torch became lighter and easier to maneuver, even did some tacks right handed (I am a lefty):

Did some small tacks:

and a straight weld (both side):

 

[wquiles]

I remembered this 6-sided project "thing" which allowed for tacks and then lots of welding. Since I am getting started I had some small-walled steel - did these at 60Amps, 30CFPH:

Tack:

Lots of welding practice:

I then did it again with 1/8" wall, 125Amp, 30CFPH:

And finally with 1/4" steel, at the full 200Amps, 30CFPH:

Also practiced 1/8" wall side to side:

Group photo of my first welds:

I still need lots more practice, but I am starting to get the hang of things. My next project is a 2x72 grinder, so as I make progress I will post more pictures. I am definitely very happy with my two HTP welders:

 

[Joshua]

That is a great set up! Congratulations!

I ran hand held remotes for many many years when the work was out of place, welded using a mirror, and shipboard. But I am back to using a foot pedal now that I’m doing all my work at a bench in the shop. Foot pedals are great when working at a bench.

 

[popper]

Good looking beads. If I were 20 yrs younger it would be fun. Sold my stick welder years ago. It was handy.

 

[Ian]

I can tell you been to school, you got the fundamentals right. All you need now is to wear your glove and carry a rod around with you to practice the inchworm until you can do it without thinking about it.

Welding with a mirror, oh the memories! Or should I say nightmares. Tough on the mirror and almost always results in spatter burns. Never had the benefit of a hand control but did glue neodymium magnets to the pedal so I could stick it on the truck frame when welding on-vehicle and on my back.

 

[Rockydoc]

I did all of my work ( on the upper arch) with a mirror. A ½ inch one at that.

 

[Rockydoc]

I tried to put a winking smiley face to show toungue in cheek. It didn’t work for some reason.

 

[Joshua]

I had three mantras drilled into me years ago by a few different crusty Welding Foreman.

1. Head down, ass up!
2. It’s all about the angle of the dangle!
3. If you can shave in a mirror you can weld in a mirror!

 

[Tomme boy]

Not bad at all. Turn your heat down a little and watch the amount of time you let the arc on the top of the weld. You are under cutting. Keep the arc more toward the bottom or center.

I am jealous of your setup. I would really like to have a tig again.

 

[wquiles]

Thank you guys for the kind words and advice. The 2x72 grinder will be a 3HP, 3-phase, VFD setup - should be a fun project with Tig.

 

[glassparman]

Nice rig! Wish I could weld that good!

 

[Bret4207]

Wowsers! Sweet! My youngest boy Gordy is in the local welding program and raves about TIG and spool guns and all the fancy stuff they have. Things have sure changed over the years!

 

[Cherokee]

I admire people that can master these skills. I never could get the hang of many tools simply because I could/would not invest the time needed to develop them them. I wish I had taken advantage of the "shop" classes that were available in high school.

 

[Rally]

I'm envious. I'm thinking about upgrading my simple wire feeds now. My youngest son is a Boilermaker journeyman now and gets to use some nice equipment. He gets a giggle out of my welders and welding skills. Nice rig.

 

[Ian]

Hey Rally, show your boy this, I bet he REALLY gets a laugh!

 

[Joshua]

At work I have my choice of Miller Maxstars or Dynasties, and water coolers.

But at home I scratch start TIG using an older Miller Thunderbolt as a power source. No handheld remote, no foot pedal.

If you’ve got a good DC stick welding power source you can do the same thing. Much cheaper than buying a whole new set up. One drawback is you can’t weld aluminum efficiently without high frequency AC. You can still weld aluminum with DC, but it’s ugly and crusty.

All field TIG pipe welding was done with scratch start way back in the day. Much of the X-ray inspected stainless piping in nuclear plants was welded this way, stainless hospital oxygen piping was also done this way.

 

[Cherokee]

Ian - function takes place over looks.

 

[Bret4207]

We have some fairly large for the area steel fabrication plants in our area. Lots of "certified welders" at those places. Neighbors SIL is one of them. Maybe on clean, new steel he's a wiz, but he isn't worth dog spit on anything out of position, covered in paint, grease, manure, rust and dirt. He laughs at the equipment farmers like myself use, but the welding he's done for me and his FIL has had to be done over after he spent hours swearing at it and complaining and then it broke. Farmer welding may not be pretty, but it usually holds up!

Still waiting on Gords vo-tech schools annual auction. His welding instructor is getting rid of several old Lincoln Idealarc AC/DC machines and he's promised to let me know which ones are "good". Gord thinks there's some newer MIG/TIG/Spool gun type rigs going too, but I don't think he grasps that we won't be the only bidders!

 

[Ian]

Things that give primadonna industrial weldors hives...



No, I didn't grind the rust off. It's probably radioactive because the pipe came from a sketchy source. Besides, ain't got time for that, that's why we use $12/lb 5P+ 6010 DC rods. There's places I welded with two rods (Texas Tig method) to fill holes. It's stuck together good though.

 

[Joshua]

There are field welders who weld out of position. And there are shop welders who weld almost everything flat.

These days many of these Production/Fabrication shop welders only use one process all day, every day.

They become good at one thing.

Twenty-three years ago when I started out I primarily only ran MIG guns, on steel, flat in shops.

But over the years I became an out of position field welder, that could switch between three different processes with ease. Could switch hands with ease, and do all of it in a mirror if I had too.

Then I taught students how to do these things.

And now I’m back to mostly welding flat in a shop. Middle aged gravy welding.

The grey 6010 5p+ is great stuff. I also like the red stuff. I used pounds and pounds of it when I was stick welding pipe at the paper mill. It’s also what we used when we had to cut seized stainless bolts on big gate valves, turn it up to 250 amps and wash away the center of the bolt! Works better if you dip them in water first!