Some TIG Questions

[GaryM]

Hello all! I am new to your message board and have had a great time reading.

I just bought a Syncrowave 180SD and have been welding all my scrap metal up.

Ok a little about me, I am a welder for a company that makes livestock fencing and gates all galvanized 15 gage 1 5/8 and 1 7/8 tube. Nobel Panels and Gates. Every thing is supplied since the welding is so darn dirty kinda nice.

Well I want to make a Hydrolic Dump trailer and am goin to do it at home with the Sycrowave 180. I have played a lot with both the stick and Tig and my welds look 500 times better with the Tig then Stick. Is this normal??

Ok on to the questions. The trailer will be out of mild steel and range form 1/4 to 1/2. There will be Flat, Vertical and over head since it will get to heave to flip. Should be really good Pracice.
What Rod should be used. Some one said i should us ER70S-6 or ER80S-2? What flow rate? The torch is set up for 3/32 tungsten should i use a deferent size?

Thanks and sorry for the long message

Gary McColley

[Blondie_486]

Gary,

TIG welds will always look better than stick welds but that's not to say the stick weld isn't a good weld.

A 3/32 tungsten is way too light to weld 1/4 and 1/2 inch plate. In fact with material that heavy TIG welding wouldn't be the most efficient way to weld it. You'll be forever welding it using TIG!!

I'd go with a 7018, 7024 or a 7028 I/8" electrode on DCEN polarity to weld plate of that thickness. The 7028 in the flat position will produce a very nice looking weld but it won't run out of position. If you're going to be welding vertical uphill the 7018's are the way to go if you want to run them downhill then go with the 7024's. Also on the 1/2 plate you could always bump up to a 5/32 rod so you wouldn't have to make as many passes.

MIG would be your fastest way to weld it but you won't be able to do that with the 180SD as it's a CC machine and you'd need a CV machine to run a wire feeder. If you could borrow a MIG that's fine but using what you have and if it were me I'd stick weld that project.

Good luck with the trailer let us know how it turns out.

Blondie

[revpol]

M.I.G. would be the fastest T.I.G. would be really slow. If you can't mig ,then stick with 7018 electrode pos. Get some 1/8 and 3/32 this rod will run any position, up,down,flat,horiz.and overhead. Revpol

[GaryM]

Wish I could stick weld better!!

Really my stick welding looks like crap! Big nasty stinky piles. I dotn know much about stick the only time i have had to use it is in high school 15 years ago. i got some 6011 and was doing some flat welding but never could get a good flow always want to mound up.

With 7018, 7024 or 7028 how many amps?

with my practicing with 6011 what should it be run at think its 3/32?

Just think if I took my time(going to happen because of the high steel price) with the Tig how nice it would all look.

I will try to post some pics of my stick and Tig welging.

Gary

[Tanner]

generally, you set your amperage equal to the decimal equivalent of the diameter of the electrode. 1/8" = .125 = 125 amps

[revpol]

Sure ,you could weld it all with tig. It's just alot of prep time and a very slow process for what you are doing. Might even be more costly to do considering wire,argon,tungston and grinding wheels. 3/32-7018 will run at about 80-90 amps, 1/8-7018 about 115-125 amps. Personally if I where to use a 60's series rod I would use the 5p plus (6010+) revpol

[Paul Seaman]

This type of work should have deep penetration so I would recomend the previously mentioned e7018 probably 1/8". This is a great electrode if you haven't alot of experience with it.
Weld well

[Blondie_486]

Gary,

If you can flop it around so all your welds are flat use the "jet rod" 7028. It puts a nice bead down. As far as your stick welds go I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone else. Practice, practice, practice. If you're trying to get a nice looking bead with a 6011 you're beating a dead horse there. The beads aren't pretty like with TIG but a 6011 is good for root passes as it burns hot and freezes fast and will dig out impurities such as rust.

For any of the 70 rods for example 1/8 I'd start about 110 amps and then you can adjust up or down from there depending on how your welds come out. What may be right for me may not be right for you. I tend to weld on the hot side myself. The best thing to do is just get some scrap and play with it. You will get the hang of it!

Good luck

Blondie