TIG Welding Redux

Hosts  Tool Craft & Rick Sparber

 April 2^nd 2005

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The meeting was held at Tool Craft, once again we give a hearty round of thanks to Bob Sanders and his crew.

Rick Sparber started the meeting with a discussion of welding safety

•  Maintain concentration on what you are doing. 
• Concentration may cause you to miss critical issues
• Poor ventilation or fumes from welding
• Fires from sparks, radiation, etc ("it's hard to concentrate with your hair on fire!")
• Clothing.  Wear appropriate clothing
• Do not wear synthetic materials while welding
• Radiation can cause them to melt onto your skin
• Protect your skin from radiation burns  Long sleeves recommended
• Protect your eyes!   Your webmaster can vouch for this personally.  I tried to do a "quicky" repair under a piece of equipment where I could not fit the helmet and used a pair of safety glasses that had welding tinted lenses.  The light leakage around the sides caused painful radiation burns on both eyes.  Several days passed before it stopped hurting.  You have been warned!
• Wear safety glasses under the welding helmut
• Protect your ears from noises  Grinding goes with welding and is very noisy
• Don't wear tennis shoes.  They burn!
• An auto darkening helmut is recommended for all kinds of welding

Bart Hull discussed welding aluminum with TIG

• Miller offers manuals for all their products on the Miller Welding web site
• A magnifying lens inside the helmut makes seeing the pool easier
• A gas lens on the welding tip extends the distance the electrode can be extended out from the torch to reach into tight spots
• Argon is the cover gas for up to ¼" aluminum plate
• Helium is the cover gas for alumninum plate over ¼" thick
• Cover gas is used to increase heat penetration in aluminum plus avoid oxidation of the metal
• Caution:  When checking for cover gas flow, do not put the torch up to your ear.  The high frequency arc from the torch to your ear can really hurt.  Does Bart know this because of personal experience?
• TIG welders can be either AC or DC operation.  AC is recommended for aluminum welding
• Material prep and cleaning is critical for a good aluminum weld.
  

Dale Schmidt discussed TIG welding other metals

• Electrode ti[ shapes differ for aluminum and other metals.  Aluminum uses a ball shape tip.  Other metals use a pointed tip
• Grind the tip with all grinding marks parallel ti the long axis of the tungsten electrode.  This keeps the arc from swirling
• TIG welding is used on material less than ½" thick.  It takes too much power to TIG weld thicker metals
• TIG welding does not use gaps between but weld pieces.
• Get into a comfortable position before striking the arc.  Rest the electrode tip on the spot where the weld is to be started.  Adjust you body position as needed to get comfortable.  Then raise the tip up and hit the pedal to strike the arc

Bart demonstrated aluminum welding and then several club members got a chance to try their hand under expert tutors
 
 

Rick Sparber gave Safety Discussion, shown holding appropriate shirt.  David Butterfield, Tom Davis, Owen Jeffers, Bart Hull, Louis Wilcox, Dale Schmidt, Ron Vevin, and Bob Sanders watch.

Several welders were brought to the meeting.  Rick Sparber (back to camera), Owen Jeffers, Tom Davis, Gene Neigoff, Dale Schmidt, Ron Vevin, Louis Wilcox, Robert Sanders, Marty Escarcega and Bart Hull.

Another crowd shot.  David Butterfield, Gene Lucas’ back, Tom Davis, Gene Neigoff, Owen Jeffers behind Rick Sparber (with back to camera), Ron Vevin, Louis Wilcox, Robert Sanders.

Bart Hull holding tip shows correct assembly of the torch

Bart Hull shows proper method of grinding tip, maybe we can get him to tell us about the helmut use.

Close up of grinding the tip

Tip installed in the torch head.  Cup has not been installed.

Bart Hull doing what he does well.  David Butterfield looks on while the technique is being discussed

Ron Vevin (back to camera), Bart Hull and David Butterfield

04/17/05