Purple stripe E3 tungsten

[aametalmaster]

I tried a stick of 3/32 E3 out today. Sharpened it like normal to a point and welded a piece of tool steel with hard rod. A piece of SS and did some aluminum work. All with the same tungsten and same pointed shape. Perfect results on all parts. The aluminum really impressed me because it has been 28 years or so since i last TIG welded it. It was dirty and shop over spray painted and i just wire brushed it and it welded great. Just my 2 cents on the E3. I am going to sue it since i just need to buy one for everything...Bob

[H80N]

Bob...........Think you would find the same performance with "BLUE"...... 2% Lanthanated

[Oldgrandad]

I'm with Bob E-3 rocks I tried the blue I felt it lost it's point quicker than E-3 ( without touching it). I don't think it held a ball as well on aluminum either.

[Oldgrandad]

I'm with Bob I like the E-3 best. A while back I tried the Orange, Brown, Gold, Blue, and Purple. I thought the Purple beat the bunch for overall usability.

[H80N]

I'm with Bob E-3 rocks I tried the blue I felt it lost it's point quicker than E-3 ( without touching it). I don't think it held a ball as well on aluminum either.

I don't see a difference between the BLUE and PURPLE..... at least on my Dynasty350 & Dynasty200DX .... inverters....

[Oldgrandad]

I ran the test with one other guy here at our shop. Where we saw a difference was after several hours of welding SS pipe the tip on the blue would degrade more than the purple and when welding heavier aluminum 225 to 275 amps the ball was more stable with the purple. we both were using 275 Precision TIG's. But to each their own. The Blue wasn't bad and I think it was cheaper but I still prefer the Purple.

[H80N]

Like you said.............. to each his own............

[WillieB]

I suspect we wouldn't have available so many varieties if sales people couldn't convince us there is a bit of advantage of one over the other. I got tungsten from used welder purchases, NOS clean outs after someone's death, LWS purchases, and stopping in welding supplies when traveling. Only a couple I haven't tried. I like lanthanated, have mostly thoriated, tried ceriated, E3, and a couple others I can't name right now. The differences are minor, mostly how quickly they grow "Grabboid" fingers. The transition to an inverter welder made pure tungsten useless.

Willie

[Olivero]

Gotta love them E3, ever since I tried em, that's all I have been getting.

[H80N]

Might find this interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzEuV83UGMY