metal glue Welder buying spam

[Raizer]

AC seems to work, that's my first attempts at alloy lol so hopefully can only get better from here

[dmulally]

I'm about to get 3 phase put into my presently off grid shed. Is it worth making the jump to a three phase welder? I have a 200amp Cebora MIG welder now that I very very rarely run more than half strength via a 10kva generator. But I do have a bulldozer on the to do list which will take some grunt to weld up some decent cracks. 

[tortron]

You can get them fairly cheap used exworkshop, 

[johnny.race]

1 hour ago, dmulally said:

I'm about to get 3 phase put into my presently off grid shed. Is it worth making the jump to a three phase welder? I have a 200amp Cebora MIG welder now that I very very rarely run more than half strength via a 10kva generator. But I do have a bulldozer on the to do list which will take some grunt to weld up some decent cracks. 

Bulldozers like 3ph stick welders. Used 3ph stick welders are cheap and powerful. The worlds ya oyster in terms of cheap (for what it is) used industrial spec gear when you stump up for 3ph in your shed.

[dmulally]

3 hours ago, johnny.race said:

Bulldozers like 3ph stick welders. Used 3ph stick welders are cheap and powerful. The worlds ya oyster in terms of cheap (for what it is) used industrial spec gear when you stump up for 3ph in your shed.

Funny you mentioned that. The 3 phase arc welders are a few hundred bucks if that. Good thinking. 

Looking forward to getting a big boy compressor too. 

[NickJ]

On 09/01/2022 at 13:04, Raizer said:

This pic gave me FOMO, have been on the fence about buying a TIG for some time, just hit the go button on one of these:

https://www.onlinetools.co.nz/products/weldpro-tig200-acdc-pulse-welder

Best value I could find with proportional foot pedal.....

Big spend tomorrow on all the other bits and pieces, you're a bad man Raizer

[Nominal]

OS is a good enabler. 

[Transom]

33 minutes ago, NickJ said:

This pic gave me FOMO, have been on the fence about buying a TIG for some time, just hit the go button on one of these:

https://www.onlinetools.co.nz/products/weldpro-tig200-acdc-pulse-welder

Best value I could find with proportional foot pedal.....

Big spend tomorrow on all the other bits and pieces, you're a bad man Raizer

Yup been looking at that too - keen to hear your thoughts once you have had a bash with it 

[NickJ]

23 minutes ago, Transom said:

Yup been looking at that too - keen to hear your thoughts once you have had a bash with it 

I have both Stainless and Ali tasks for it, will be a solid workout if it arrives

[NickJ]

Overnight shipping surprised the hell out of me!
Total midget compared to the ancient Cebora mig and i'm impressed that the torch and controls don't feel as cheap as I was expecting.
Fingers crossed to get chores out of the way and have a play.

[AE25]

Bonus of 3ph is the 415v which means less amps and smaller power cable for same weld output. The two 3ph transformer welders i have actually only use 2 phases and no earth. A similar 300A single phase machine would need something like 80amp power feed. our place has 60a fuses.

[Raizer]

Need to figure out the downslope amp settings, seem to be getting half decent results (compared to the mess I was expecting to make at least), but really struggling to finish welds without blowing out at the end edge 

 

Also, likely related tbh, but it's a struggle to remember that I just have to let go of the switch to finish, been using lift start for years where you "snap" the arc to finish

[NickJ]

I'm pretty noob at tig, my experience extends to telling one of the guys at work what i'm trying to do, they set up the machine for me to then fumble about for an hour learning how to re-sharpen the tungsten...

So, hours of youtube later and slightly improved coordination i've started messing around with setting up the machine to fusion weld 0.6mm stainless (for a future project) few holes later and i'm narrowing in on the recipe. The edge came up pretty good while I got way off line on the butt causing a hole which I failed miserably at recovering! My interpretation of the colours is I could do with better Argon coverage? Will have a play with different cups and flows next either way.

I had a go at AC aluminium but grabbed the wrong filler rod, maybe next week.

Initial impression of the machine feels no different from the one at work, very happy!

[Transom]

 @NickJ did you get the foot pedal included or did you buy the $ 200 foot pedal seperate ? 
argon reg is included ? 

[Raizer]

On 20/01/2022 at 18:39, NickJ said:

My interpretation of the colours is I could do with better Argon coverage?

I'm far from an expert, but I'd be thinking too much heat, possibly too slow torch speed?

 

 

 

[NickJ]

1 hour ago, Raizer said:

I'm far from an expert, but I'd be thinking too much heat, possibly too slow torch speed?

 

 

 

So my problem appears to be talent.

I'm definitely guilty of too much heat, it happens quite fast and I'm still arranging the coordination to keep up.

I'm actually finding it quite exhausting, so far i've made every rookie mistake including removing the tungsten only to sharpen up the filler rod, needless to say the brain had a wtf moment when that hit the wheel!

I've watched a few of that fellas videos in passing, so much to learn and then translate to muscle memory.

On the progress side, laid my first ali beads, have to say i'm not sure what I was so nervous about! Started at the top, the bottom was me playing around with 4t and using the torch mounted current dial. Not going to win any art awards just yet, but enough to be encouraging to continue learning.

Hoping to find some more scrap this afternoon to stick together.

[mjrstar]

If you are struggling with too much heat on thin aluminum and your machine has a pulse function it's worth having a tinker with. 

The other thing is when playing with small bits of scrap they heat soak very fast and behave differently to a larger part. (far more likely to sag out) 

Once the work piece is too hot its time to do something else for a bit. 

[NickJ]

5 minutes ago, mjrstar said:

If you are struggling with too much heat on thin aluminum and your machine has a pulse function it's worth having a tinker with. 

The other thing is when playing with small bits of scrap they heat soak very fast and behave differently to a larger part. (far more likely to sag out) 

Once the work piece is too hot its time to do something else for a bit. 

I plan on getting a pedal in a few months, until then its fumbling the dexterity to operate the dial and keep the electrode steady..... the Heatsoak is impressive, started out at 120A (10mm Al) after a few of the above beads I looked over and noticed I had turned it all the way down to 20A

I have played with the pulse on steel, really cool, but the number of settings gets carried away, any rough starting points for Al?

[mjrstar]

I'm no expert but this is where I'd start off, set the pulse at 60-70 percent and 1 second, add filler every second pulse.  Keep an eye on the pool if it's cooling off too much increase the percentage. 

I don't have a pedal, once you get comfortable with an adjustable hand piece it's probably more convenient (can weld in more positions without relying on a pedal) try a few different hand positions maybe try pointing your index finger, and try not to grip the torch too firmly. 

[NickJ]

7 hours ago, mjrstar said:

I'm no expert but this is where I'd start off, set the pulse at 60-70 percent and 1 second, add filler every second pulse.  Keep an eye on the pool if it's cooling off too much increase the percentage. 

I don't have a pedal, once you get comfortable with an adjustable hand piece it's probably more convenient (can weld in more positions without relying on a pedal) try a few different hand positions maybe try pointing your index finger, and try not to grip the torch too firmly. 

Cheers man!

Gave pulse a go, gives a nice metronome to run with once all the settings were figured out.

The dial is a bit hard for me, still trying to figure out the best way to hold the torch that gives control and easy adjustment, so far I get one or the other  and with no clicks the feedback is limited to the sound/shape of the arc that I am yet to tune into.
Will persevere, Argon is cheap and grinding discs are on special.