I started a TIG class over at local fab shop. It was pretty interesting.
Nobody else showed up so it was a couple hours of one-on-one. The
instructor went over the machine setup (pretty much like MIG) and we took
a torch apart, sharpened the electrodes and practiced just making puddles
in 16 guage steel over and over again. Then we did some work with the feed
wire just pressing it into the puddle with no feed, then some dabbing of
the feed wire to make the "stack of dimes" beads.

I was sent home with a piece of wire to practice feeding with left and
right hands for next session. The smell of the process is pleasant to me-
it's obviously similar to other electrical discharge machinery.

On Tue, 14 Apr 2015 16:07:42 +0000 (UTC)
Cydrome Leader wrote:

I started a TIG class over at local fab shop. It was pretty interesting.
Nobody else showed up so it was a couple hours of one-on-one. The
instructor went over the machine setup (pretty much like MIG) and we took
a torch apart, sharpened the electrodes and practiced just making puddles
in 16 guage steel over and over again. Then we did some work with the feed
wire just pressing it into the puddle with no feed, then some dabbing of
the feed wire to make the "stack of dimes" beads.

I envy you. Have wanted to try TIG for a long time. Blew my chance when
I was still in High School. They just got in the new TIG machine when I
was a teachers assistant and they didn't have the electric wiring setup
good enough to hold it when I looked it over. Now I know I should have
pestered, bugged my teacher a bit so I could try it out...

I was sent home with a piece of wire to practice feeding with left and
right hands for next session. The smell of the process is pleasant to me-
it's obviously similar to other electrical discharge machinery.

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/welding...dtricks/videos

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of his
videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for just
welding in general.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

Leon Fisk wrote:
On Tue, 14 Apr 2015 16:07:42 +0000 (UTC)
Cydrome Leader wrote:

I started a TIG class over at local fab shop. It was pretty
interesting. Nobody else showed up so it was a couple hours of
one-on-one. The instructor went over the machine setup (pretty much
like MIG) and we took a torch apart, sharpened the electrodes and
practiced just making puddles in 16 guage steel over and over again.
Then we did some work with the feed wire just pressing it into the
puddle with no feed, then some dabbing of the feed wire to make the
"stack of dimes" beads.

I envy you. Have wanted to try TIG for a long time. Blew my chance
when I was still in High School. They just got in the new TIG machine
when I was a teachers assistant and they didn't have the electric
wiring setup good enough to hold it when I looked it over. Now I know
I should have pestered, bugged my teacher a bit so I could try it
out...

I was sent home with a piece of wire to practice feeding with left
and right hands for next session. The smell of the process is
pleasant to me- it's obviously similar to other electrical discharge
machinery.

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's
videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/welding...dtricks/videos

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of
his videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for
just welding in general.

I'll second that , watch Jody's videos . He has one series devoted to
telling what all those knobs on the TIG machine are for that's especially
helpful .

--
Snag

Terry Coombs wrote:
Leon Fisk wrote:
On Tue, 14 Apr 2015 16:07:42 +0000 (UTC)
Cydrome Leader wrote:

I started a TIG class over at local fab shop. It was pretty
interesting. Nobody else showed up so it was a couple hours of
one-on-one. The instructor went over the machine setup (pretty much
like MIG) and we took a torch apart, sharpened the electrodes and
practiced just making puddles in 16 guage steel over and over again.
Then we did some work with the feed wire just pressing it into the
puddle with no feed, then some dabbing of the feed wire to make the
"stack of dimes" beads.

I envy you. Have wanted to try TIG for a long time. Blew my chance
when I was still in High School. They just got in the new TIG machine
when I was a teachers assistant and they didn't have the electric
wiring setup good enough to hold it when I looked it over. Now I know
I should have pestered, bugged my teacher a bit so I could try it
out...

I was sent home with a piece of wire to practice feeding with left
and right hands for next session. The smell of the process is
pleasant to me- it's obviously similar to other electrical discharge
machinery.

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's
videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/welding...dtricks/videos

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of
his videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for
just welding in general.

I'll second that , watch Jody's videos . He has one series devoted to
telling what all those knobs on the TIG machine are for that's especially
helpful .

That's the same guy the instructor says he watches when he wants to learn
more. I was also told to watch Jody's stuff.

My current youtube machinist favorites are

https://www.youtube.com/user/KEF791 Keith Fenner
https://www.youtube.com/user/oxtoolco Tom Liptop

Cydrome Leader wrote:
Terry Coombs wrote:
Leon Fisk wrote:
On Tue, 14 Apr 2015 16:07:42 +0000 (UTC)
Cydrome Leader wrote:

I started a TIG class over at local fab shop. It was pretty
interesting. Nobody else showed up so it was a couple hours of
one-on-one. The instructor went over the machine setup (pretty much
like MIG) and we took a torch apart, sharpened the electrodes and
practiced just making puddles in 16 guage steel over and over
again. Then we did some work with the feed wire just pressing it
into the puddle with no feed, then some dabbing of the feed wire
to make the "stack of dimes" beads.

I envy you. Have wanted to try TIG for a long time. Blew my chance
when I was still in High School. They just got in the new TIG
machine when I was a teachers assistant and they didn't have the
electric wiring setup good enough to hold it when I looked it over.
Now I know I should have pestered, bugged my teacher a bit so I
could try it out...

I was sent home with a piece of wire to practice feeding with left
and right hands for next session. The smell of the process is
pleasant to me- it's obviously similar to other electrical
discharge machinery.

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's
videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/welding...dtricks/videos

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of
his videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for
just welding in general.

I'll second that , watch Jody's videos . He has one series devoted to
telling what all those knobs on the TIG machine are for that's
especially helpful .

That's the same guy the instructor says he watches when he wants to
learn more. I was also told to watch Jody's stuff.

My current youtube machinist favorites are

https://www.youtube.com/user/KEF791 Keith Fenner
https://www.youtube.com/user/oxtoolco Tom Liptop

I watched Fenner's Broke It Off , I'd have just shattered the ez-out with
a punch and picked the pieces out , installed a timesert or helicoil and
been done with it .

--
Snag

Terry Coombs wrote:
Cydrome Leader wrote:
Terry Coombs wrote:
Leon Fisk wrote:
On Tue, 14 Apr 2015 16:07:42 +0000 (UTC)
Cydrome Leader wrote:

I started a TIG class over at local fab shop. It was pretty
interesting. Nobody else showed up so it was a couple hours of
one-on-one. The instructor went over the machine setup (pretty much
like MIG) and we took a torch apart, sharpened the electrodes and
practiced just making puddles in 16 guage steel over and over
again. Then we did some work with the feed wire just pressing it
into the puddle with no feed, then some dabbing of the feed wire
to make the "stack of dimes" beads.

I envy you. Have wanted to try TIG for a long time. Blew my chance
when I was still in High School. They just got in the new TIG
machine when I was a teachers assistant and they didn't have the
electric wiring setup good enough to hold it when I looked it over.
Now I know I should have pestered, bugged my teacher a bit so I
could try it out...

I was sent home with a piece of wire to practice feeding with left
and right hands for next session. The smell of the process is
pleasant to me- it's obviously similar to other electrical
discharge machinery.

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's
videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/welding...dtricks/videos

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of
his videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for
just welding in general.

I'll second that , watch Jody's videos . He has one series devoted to
telling what all those knobs on the TIG machine are for that's
especially helpful .

That's the same guy the instructor says he watches when he wants to
learn more. I was also told to watch Jody's stuff.

My current youtube machinist favorites are

https://www.youtube.com/user/KEF791 Keith Fenner
https://www.youtube.com/user/oxtoolco Tom Liptop

I watched Fenner's Broke It Off , I'd have just shattered the ez-out with
a punch and picked the pieces out , installed a timesert or helicoil and
been done with it .

I've wondered what the unedited times are to fixture get everything and
get setup to go in these videos. It may not have been too much different
in the end. Other folks do seem to opt for the helicoil in similar type
videos.

I tried to braze build something years ago with an oxyacetylene torch. The
results were pretty awful. Should give it another try again if the flux
covered rod is even still good anymore.

On Tue, 14 Apr 2015 20:28:28 +0000 (UTC)
Cydrome Leader wrote:

snip
That's the same guy the instructor says he watches when he wants to learn
more. I was also told to watch Jody's stuff.

You should check out Jody's latest video posted earlier today (if you
haven't already):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhJy7SbtH6s

He shows how you can easily cut, polish and etch a weld cross section to
see how well it penetrated and such. He used oven cleaner for the etch
but I remember in another of his videos he used naval jelly.

Something I plan on doing someday if/when I ever get back to running
my welders...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 4:01:51 PM UTC-4, Terry Coombs wrote:
Leon Fisk wrote:

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's
videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/welding...dtricks/videos

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of
his videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for
just welding in general.

I'll second that , watch Jody's videos . He has one series devoted to
telling what all those knobs on the TIG machine are for that's especially
helpful .

--
Snag

I wholeheartedly agree. Jody is a seemingly bottomless pit of knowledge and a really good teacher, too. It's uncommon to find both in a single individual.

The only big problem with his videos is that Jon Banquer is a big fan. Be careful of the company you keep.

Just sayin'

On Friday, April 17, 2015 at 9:45:17 AM UTC-7, rangerssuck wrote:
On Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 4:01:51 PM UTC-4, Terry Coombs wrote:
Leon Fisk wrote:

If you can handle/watch youtube stuff be sure to look at Jody's
videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/welding...dtricks/videos

I don't have a TIG machine (yet anyway) but I enjoy watching all of
his videos. I always pickup some new little nugget of knowledge for
just welding in general.

I'll second that , watch Jody's videos . He has one series devoted to
telling what all those knobs on the TIG machine are for that's especially
helpful .

--
Snag

I wholeheartedly agree. Jody is a seemingly bottomless pit of knowledge and a really good teacher, too. It's uncommon to find both in a single individual.

The only big problem with his videos is that Jon Banquer is a big fan. Be careful of the company you keep.

Just sayin'


I know it's hard but try and remember that not everyone is an idiot like you and Coombs are.