How did you learn to TIG weld?
 

I have to learn basic TIG welding to convert my modlular bolted together anodizing jigs to one piece jigs. I have a good Miller machine. Is this something I can learn with YT or should I take classes or see if I can find someone on CL or local welding supply shop to teach me.

With YT and other sources you can learn TIG on your own.. I knew how to stick weld and MIG prior to learning TIG....

For Aluminum learn how to form the tip of the electrode. Prepare to make a lot of scrap.... Or have a lot of scrap to practice on

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Before you even start doing the dance with the filler, learn how to set up the machine... just strike arcs and make weld puddle... observe the behavior of the arc..

I was fortunate to work with somebody that was quite good and he gave me instruction, he did welding for the nuke industry for a while.

What material are you welding stainless or titanium? I think you will do well with some YT video and some reading to understand what you are looking for while welding. Just keep the tungsten out of the puddle.

I taught myself to tig weld after first teaching myself to weld with torches while building an airplane out of 4130 thin wall steel tubing. It ain't rocket science. Just practice on scraps after googling how to roughly set up the machine. Steel and stainless steel are easy to learn.... Thin aluminium is a bit more challenging. Practice until you get results you are looking for

The thing about TIG is you are an expert by the time you have finished :(

Thanks guys, it looks like YT and a lot of practice. I am welding aluminum jigs bolted together (Al hardware) for anodizing 911 door frames, etc. Huge time waste taking them apart to strip then and then putting them together after every run.

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1000 gallons of sulphuric acid

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Do you have any practice pcs of aluminium sitting around same thickness as the parts you are welding and some filler rod? What model tig do you have? Does it have foot pedal control? What torch is on it? Pics will help

It really helps to take a class. Even an online class as long as it starts at the beginning. That's where YT fails. All over the place.

I have a ton of scrap bar from making the jigs so I'd be learning/practicing on the same Al as what I made the jigs from.

I'll let you know tomorrow on the Miller, I bought it from a friend.

Did it come with a bottle of argon?

Yes, one about half the size of my MIG one.

I just send it off to my son, who has a $16k pulse tig machine. He can do all metals with it, so its just easier for me to have him do it. So I sold my cheap tig welder I had. My son says I mig weld better than most, and it looks like I tig welded everything. I guess doing a lot of fabrication for a lot of years helps a bunch.

Do you know if he was using the welder for aluminium? Just checking because many smaller tig welders are DC output only.

He did use it for Al. He actually used it very little. It's pretty much brand new, but he got it 5 years ago I think.

In grade 9 or 10 in high school on a Miller Syncrowave like this.

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Then when I worked for Cominco, there were 3 of us there that were allowed to weld Titanium.

Then my first job as an engineer out of university, on the first day, one of the managers came to me and said, ‘You said you could TIG weld on your resume, can you take a look at something for me?” I spent the next 2 days welding together the balance of plant manifolds for an early solid oxide fuel cell system. The welder was just like the Syncrowave I first learned on…

I needed a railing for the deck, 50' of 2" 316s/s tube and a bunch of s/s elbows and some s/s laser cuts and a couple of days of welding, easy.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1697419980.jpg
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That is gorgeous design and execution, love it!

Here is the welder, it's a Diversion 165. foot pedal and a lot of supplies came with it.

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Thanks, with some practice pretty easy to weld items like that. That welder does look new, it should do what you need quite well. Do you have a location away from anything flammable with an outlet to plug it into 230V 30/35A? I did a quick look and from what I can tell the high frequency switch is part of the AC/DC main switch circuit, for aluminium the HF runs constantly and only used to start for DC. Do some reading on the dangers of HF just so you are aware. Did you get tig gloves and a helmet? What tungsten electrodes did you get, a green coloured end is the one usually used with AC for aluminium, there are other electrodes also available for AC.

Good to hear, thank you. My shop has 208V single phase but I run the compressor on a 230V transformer, I think the breaker is 50A. I will plug it into that and use the Cerakote paint room for welding. Good lighting, nothing to catch on fire.

Hope to get it set up this weekend.

I learn all my welding by watching Flashdance.

Something to pay attention to when welding is the welders duty cycle, that one can weld at 150A for 2min then needs too cool for 8min, can run longer at lower settings.

I saw my first 911 in Flashdance but I'll never forget the big coffee table book in the front of B. Dalton's with a white Turbo on it in either late 70s or early 80s. That's when I fell in love with these cars. Wasn't until after college "apprenticing" at a local Independent that I got my first one, a beat to hell 76 with flares for $2000, had to sell a few months later, motor was spitting oil, needed a full rebuild. Even with the shop doing the work, it was too much and had to go.



Thanks, I know all about them with my little beloved 135.

I didn't need to learn how to weld until I moved to the farm.

I took some night classes at the local Tech Center in welding and leaded the most important lessons: Material preparation and welder, for lack of a better term, settings on the welder for the job at hand.

That and, since I don't weld that often, practice on similar stock of Broadway before show time.

At first every weld I did looked like it needed Acne-Statin...now just ok.

My son was a complete natural and he loves to weld.

I have had my Miller Econotig for over 20 years.... Works good for intermittent welding but being just an air cooled torch handle it gets too hot to hold onto if trying to weld for more than a couple minutes straight especially when welding aluminum at high settings. I have never had to stop due to duty cycle rather I have to stop because even wearing thin leather gloves, the tig torch handle gets too hot to hang onto. I can't wear a thicker glove as I always use a thumbwheel controller vs the foot pedal. The thumbwheel control was mandatory when I first bought this machine to crawl around in and weld an aircraft 4130 tubular fuselage structure.

Luckily I seldom need to do any "tig" welding of large heavy components. I mainly use my tig for small intricate welds on thin materials (4130 chrome moly tubing, stainless, aluminum brackets etc). If I needed to do big aluminum jobs, I would have to buy a much more expensive water cooled tig machine. Any larger jobs (like building a steel trailer or mower deck) is a job for my mig welder.

Not only do I need to fix the jigs, I would love to be able to re-TIG the corner of door frame hoops that are cracked. Most I get in have a small crack in the driver's door from 50 years of opening and closing.

I learned to TIG at a night course offered at our county’s Community College. One night a week for about 10-12 weeks. He started with arc and MIG welding basics the first evening. I learned a ton about the trade and am a better welder for it.

One thing that’s critical about TIG is eyesight. You HAVE to see exactly what the puddle is doing and where it is before you dab in the filler rod. My son took to TIG without any coursework and I attribute it to his unfair advantage of youthful eyes. “Readers” are available to snap into the helmet and allow you focus on the work at hand; in my mid-fifties they are mandatory.

Aluminim is MUCH more difficult to weld than steel. Practice is about 80% and having a really good welder and the correct torch and sheilding gas is the rest. If I remember correctly, helium is best for Aluminum along with Pure Tungsten for the electrode. (Green tipped)
When I was very young I did TIG welding on the side for a tool and die company. Learned to weld hardened tool steels fairly well, but when it came to Aluminum, specifically thin Aluminum, its a completely different game.

Thanks Ken, my right eye is pretty bad these days but I'm going to the doctor in a month to be fitted with a special contact for it. right now it's 20/170 but they can get it to 20/40. Left eye is awesome so that helps.

Trying to think of some basic safe practices, others hopefully will pitch in. Wear the equivalent of a thick denim shirt or shop coat, cotton or something that does not melt, no skin exposed, top button done up to protect your neck. if you are wearing boots put pants over the boot, when a hot molten ball rolls off the table it can get in there I learnt that the hard way. Tig gloves with no holes. Decent ventilation or fume extraction especially if welding older cast aluminium or copper alloys they can have beryllium in it, pretty much any fumes are not good for you even ones from stainless steel. I always bend one end of the filler wire so I know the hot side.

Aluminium is not harder to weld than steel, just different, helium not required for basic welding of thin material.

How thick is the material of the door frame hoops? Placing some tight formed copper sheet behind can help, use that for stainless never tried with aluminium. Different filler wire alloys will anodize slightly different colours, will take some experimenting.

You should check into TIG brazing with silicon bronze. A really good method of attaching things. Even building bike frames, so you know it ain't breaking. You don't end up melting the parent metal.

There is silver brazing too. Ideal for already chromed parts. Ag brazing comes in lots of flavors to from 900º melting point down to near lead/tin solder but still hotter at 600º.

BTW, the eye thing is really, really important. I lost sight in the upper part of one eye and I see nothing just over the focal point. TG I can see that focal point but it somehow has messed up my depth perception in close quarters. You may spend a lot to time getting the right helmet and fitted with prescription cheaters.

I have a bit of an astigmatism as well and that doesn't play well with looking at a tiny puddle. I have given up on doing really nice TIG. To me it's just a way to stick parts together now. I'm not going to win any welding contests.

I actually like oxy/fuel welding and brazing. It is my 2nd choice after burning sticks. They say any fool can do that, but getting a nice bead with good penetration with a rod is every bit as satisfying. I think any welder ought to be able to light up a stick of 6010 and burn the whole damn rod. Now you're welding, jack.

Zeke, funny you mentioned silicon bronze I just picked up some to fix the blades of a bronze feathering sailboat prop, it does appear to be pretty useful.

Gosh never said Helium was REQUIRED, and by different you mean??? Its all ok, I understand you are the expert.

Sensitive, sorry. No you did not say required. No I am not an expert, not even certified but did earn a living welding for a while many years ago, and still pretty good at it.

I’ve been watching his stuff for years and even have a few of his yearly collections. I too am teaching myself to Mig and Tig weld. He is a great resource and has pretty much every title of welding experience imaginable and here locally I can’t even get into a community college class because they always fill up in a few hours when registration opens up.

Best of luck and cheers

https://youtube.com/@weldingtipsandtricks?si=Fx72vrg6DwdSgDiu


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I did the night class thing for 8 weeks, so got to be OK. I think a lot of it is correct setting up of the machine and learning the real basics - the night class was good for this.

Then practice practice practice. In fact if I'm doing a weld I get a few scrap bits of the same stuff and do a practice weld first.

I think it was about high school when this came out but I have never noticed the book, then again, I don't think I ever watched the entire movie all the way through. All I remember was her putting on a welding mask as a welder during the day and dance the night away. I always thought it was funny when I say that and a certain age group starts cracking up about it but the younger folks look dumbfounded.

That reminds me of a friend who knows a bunch of programming languages but won't put them on her resume. She says "Once people find out you can program, it's all you'll ever do."

not doing anything TIG this weekend, forgot to get a bottle. Will on Monday so I can do something later in the week.

Various types of welding classes were required where I got my BS. So, I learned a bit of TIG at school, many many years ago.