anglia4 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 So I'm getting a bit frustrated that my anglia lives at my parents place so I can't work on it all the time. I want to bring it to my flat, but my MIG welder is 3 phase and my flat isn't. I'm nearing the end of my panel work, and then will be moving into fabrication, for which I will want to use a TIG welder. So I'm keen to buy a single phase welder so I can work on it at my flat, but don't want to buy another MIG because in a few months I'll want it to be a TIG and it seems silly buying another one when I already have one. Question: Is it hard work doing panel work with TIG? My concern would be filling holes in thin steel, and keeping the heat down to stop warpage. At the moment I can do lots of little stop starts with the mig to keep temp in check. How do you get on with that using TIG? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepers Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 well, i do plenty of panel work with my tig. i have two tig welders, one is super flash AC/DC with pulse and lots of controls but its useless at really low currents. my other one is a cheap DC only and it has really good current control at super low current/heat. i use it every time i have to weld something delicate like stainless steel trim pieces. 99% of the time i use the big welder on panel and panel repair because i cant be arsed changing everything over. i can usually get the job done with the big machine even if its a bit thin and rusty. it ain't easy though and if i had them both set up id use the small one every time. what am i going on about? i don't really know TBH, but the moral of the story is get a welder that is stable at its lowest currents, which you can really only tell by using it. ill find a pic of my small one so you know what im talking about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepers Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 buy this, its the same as my small one. http://www.trademe.co.nz/business-farming-industry/industrial/manufacturing-metalwork/welders/auction-601319453.htm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 How does it go getting into thicker stuff, like roll cage tube? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepers Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 fine. it will weld pretty heavy stuff. its been ages since i used it to weld anything thick but im sure it will do 4mm no problem. also, if you swap the leads and get the right tungsten you can weld alloy with it. i welded all the intercooler pipes on my blue car this way. it aint pretty but its a solid weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sr1600 Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 well, i do plenty of panel work with my tig. i have two tig welders, one is super flash AC/DC with pulse and lots of controls but its useless at really low currents. my other one is a cheap DC only and it has really good current control at super low current/heat. i use it every time i have to weld something delicate like stainless steel trim pieces. 99% of the time i use the big welder on panel and panel repair because i cant be arsed changing everything over. i can usually get the job done with the big machine even if its a bit thin and rusty. it ain't easy though and if i had them both set up id use the small one every time. what am i going on about? i don't really know TBH, but the moral of the story is get a welder that is stable at its lowest currents, which you can really only tell by using it. ill find a pic of my small one so you know what im talking about. do you get much distorsion from the tig? any tips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepers Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 yes. it can distort like a bastard if you don't keep your wits about you. ummm, i suppose some of the main things are having the patch the same thickness as the parent material and try to get the patch fitting really well, not tight but touching most of the edges. tack it in place all round in an opposing fashion and continue tacking until there is no gaps left, same as mig in that respect. most of the rules are the same. if you have a gap lay the filler rod into the gap and just pulse it trying to get the rod to fuse with both sides of the joint. once the two are thermally connected then it makes life a bit easier. oh, and get the current/heat set right. having the current set to low can do more damage than having it to high sometimes. you spend ages trying to get the job hot enough to weld and all the while the heat is spreading further and further out which in most panel work you don't want. if you can get the job hot, shove in some rod and get out quickly then thats better for the distortion control. having a selection of different rod sizes is pretty helpful too. a large rod can be used to pull heat out of the weld pool quickly if your job is about to melt, and a small rod can be used in delicate situations where you dont have much heat. i guess it comes with practice like everything else. i could go on all day but its hard to know what's useful and what's not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 ^ That was useful. And all about how I expected it would be. Might have to give it a nudge. I can always revert back to my single phase gasless POS if I get into a bind, and then I guess I can re-flow the uglies with the TIG to make them a bit nicer if need be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 How does TIG fare for out of position welding? I've never seen anyone do up/downhill or underside stuff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepers Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 its all doable. i welded the whole rear chassis of the V8 upside laying on the concrete under the car. its aint fun but its doable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachlander Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Ive only done a bit of uphand/upside down tigging but as said its not too bad. I was going to ask this question about panel work as well, good to know as we have one of those ones sheepers recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelies Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 ah, good read! do people ever do things like cooling the job down (wetting etc?) or does that cause trouble? kinda guessing patience wins over all.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Testament Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 its usually bad unless controlled as you can just make brittle poo by cooling steel too fast. does depend on the particular steel though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ta63-1uzze Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I also have used the tig a bit to do panel steel, my best recommendation is to prep everything best as possible, make the new patch fit best as you can , this will help when it all tries to pull , big gaps tend to pull harder then no gaps . cut the rust shit steel away about an inch or so from any rust, so you have good strong THICK metal to bond too . and clean the shit out of before any welding, make that shit shine , tig doesn't like contamination at all . don't just start welding it willy nilly , practice your run with the torch until you know you can get a nice bead down . with good view and easy hand control, sucks when you have to move and end up dipping your tungsten and as always with welding body stuff move around a lot so you don't concentrate to much heat into one spot. that's about the thick of it as to my understanding. oh and beer always makes welding nicer, it gets hot as fuck and a cold beer is nice and rewarding : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eke_zetec_RWD Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 not more than one beer lol, tack it every 10mm or so and then lightly tap it with a dolly behind the tacks, it will perfectly line the panels to each other. if you dont take it lots then as you weld the join the panels can bow in opposite directions - then thats a fuck up. also alot of the inverter migs are lift arc dc tigs also so it might be worth looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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