Killer Weldz Thread

I had not tig welded in 2 years so dont crack on me to hard but im open to suggestions on where I need improvement. I have always refused to tig cages due to not trusting myself but im doing some on my rig just to get used to it again.


Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242
 

Attachments

  • uploadfromtaptalk1413259598646.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1413259598646.jpg
    117.6 KB · Views: 383
novacayne75 said:
I had not tig welded in 2 years so dont crack on me to hard but im open to suggestions on where I need improvement. I have always refused to tig cages due to not trusting myself but im doing some on my rig just to get used to it again.


Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242
Click to expand...


looks like you need some more filler wire and turn the heat down some.
 
Filler could we right, I think it's too hot and it's pushing the filler through the material. If you're welding .095 or .120 wall i would be between 80-100 amps.
Not bad for 2 years off, after I starting again after a couple years I couldn't stop using my tungsten as filler lol.
 
Last edited:
Tungsten is magnetic, attracted to any molten metal.

More filler, less heat, increase travel speed and frequency of the filler dips. Basically, practice. ;-) I hate tigging tube. I need to practice more, but moving fast enough to keep your HAZ small is hard!
 
Yes on the scratch start and I can see a where the lack of filler comes in because all I had on hand was some tiny tiny stuff that I had used on sheetmetal a couple years ago and I was pushing as fast as my fingers could feed. Ill kick it down a notch and pick up the proper filler rod. Will 1/16" be adequate for welding .120 wall ?
Catfishblues I actually do better on tube welding out of position or overhead than I do on the table on a flat surface.
I cant keep a steady hand unless I can prop my body and forearms on something or im constantly diping my tungsten.

Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242
 
Pretty interesting.... It's amazing how different people's techniques work. One time I was messing around @MarsFab and we learned pretty quickly, that there's not just a few ways to do it. There are so many variables that come into play.

My advise would be to keep the tungsten sharp with just enough gas flow, running at least 130 amps. Start at the bottom of the tube and weld "up".

My other advise would be to consider anyone's advice as a whole and use everything that works for you.

Seems to me you need to make things easier on your filler hand.
 
A good rule of thumb is to start at 1 amp per thousandth of thickness. So .125 would be 125 amps.

I use different filler for different looks. If I'm doing only a single pass joint on .120 tube I like to use 1/8 or 3/32 filler. If I am weaving or doing a root pass and cap weave I usually use 1/16.

Pay close attention to the finish and color of your weld. If they're gray and crystallized it means you're too hot. And most important. Make the joint fit as tight as possible. Shitty joints equal shitty welds. If you're filling gaps you're usually putting too much heat In the metal.
 
Hahaha hahaha hahaha! I just picked up the same damn welder! You don't see many of those, certainly not two in the same month! Hope you're comfortable with your power bill. It's getting ready to go up! I think just the fans draw more power than that Eastwood at WOT! you're going to be happy with it, though. Everything is so smooth with it. The high-frequency starts are barely noticeable. You push the pedal, you get an arc. No hissing and buzzing like a lot do. I'm running mine off an 80a breaker hooked up to a 50a plug until I can find a new breaker and wire it right. I keep it set to 200a and it hasn't complained yet, even blasting on 3/4" aluminum. I think you're going to miss the portability of the Eastwood, though. You've got a big shop, and getting to the other side of it with that behemoth is going to be a challenge.
 
catfishblues said:
Hahaha hahaha hahaha! I just picked up the same damn welder! You don't see many of those, certainly not two in the same month! Hope you're comfortable with your power bill. It's getting ready to go up! I think just the fans draw more power than that Eastwood at WOT! you're going to be happy with it, though. Everything is so smooth with it. The high-frequency starts are barely noticeable. You push the pedal, you get an arc. No hissing and buzzing like a lot do. I'm running mine off an 80a breaker hooked up to a 50a plug until I can find a new breaker and wire it right. I keep it set to 200a and it hasn't complained yet, even blasting on 3/4" aluminum. I think you're going to miss the portability of the Eastwood, though. You've got a big shop, and getting to the other side of it with that behemoth is going to be a challenge.
Click to expand...


The reason I pulled the trigger on it was because the guy that own's it, has been wanting me to buy it for while, and I told him I would more than likely buy it sooner or later. So he let just let it sit. So I'm pretty sure the inverter in the Eastwood machine, kicked the bucket.

The shop is getting to the point where it's not worth all the effort of squeezing every little bit of potential the Eastwood can put forth.

They used to run it on a 125 breaker. No doubt the power bill will go up, but I'm ready for that. For the price I am getting the machine for, it would take years for the electric bill to outrun buying a Dynasty 350. I think it's pretty much Mack Daddy for what I'm going to use it for. I've never welded with it but, I know what it can offer. It will definitely be the most thorough machine I have ever used, and dare I say more tunable than the Dynasty 350's I have used.

This welder open's up a lot of doors. When I get it to the shop my goal is to put it to good use by offering some sort of production tig welding service, for company's that can send me cut & bent pieces of most any type metal, to be welded up in quantities, and hauled back to them complete.

As for the custom fab end, and hauling it around the shop? I think I'll build a nice pallet size cart out of tubing, with gas bottle, sectional filler rod rack, and everything else. I have a 1 x 30 belt sander that I can mount on it too, and sharpen tungsten! lol, Then I can grab the pallet jack and move it all around with ease. The shop space is the only thing allowing that to happen. Josh is going to have to build a suitable extension cord so it can be used anywhere in the shop.
 
Dynamite Design said:
The reason I pulled the trigger on it was because the guy that own's it, has been wanting me to buy it for while, and I told him I would more than likely buy it sooner or later. So he let just let it sit. So I'm pretty sure the inverter in the Eastwood machine, kicked the bucket.

The shop is getting to the point where it's not worth all the effort of squeezing every little bit of potential the Eastwood can put forth.

They used to run it on a 125 breaker. No doubt the power bill will go up, but I'm ready for that. For the price I am getting the machine for, it would take years for the electric bill to outrun buying a Dynasty 350. I think it's pretty much Mack Daddy for what I'm going to use it for. I've never welded with it but, I know what it can offer. It will definitely be the most thorough machine I have ever used, and dare I say more tunable than the Dynasty 350's I have used.

This welder open's up a lot of doors. When I get it to the shop my goal is to put it to good use by offering some sort of production tig welding service, for company's that can send me cut & bent pieces of most any type metal, to be welded up in quantities, and hauled back to them complete.

As for the custom fab end, and hauling it around the shop? I think I'll build a nice pallet size cart out of tubing, with gas bottle, sectional filler rod rack, and everything else. I have a 1 x 30 belt sander that I can mount on it too, and sharpen tungsten! lol, Then I can grab the pallet jack and move it all around with ease. The shop space is the only thing allowing that to happen. Josh is going to have to build a suitable extension cord so it can be used anywhere in the shop.
Click to expand...
My advice is to make it a rolling cart instead of a pallet. The pallet jack will always be on the other side of the shop with something precariously balanced on it.
 
That's going to be a $400 extension cord! ;-) I built a cart for mine out of angle and plate and used some massive casters off a Miller mobility kit. It rolls well, but be aware, it's top heavy. I need to make a handle that attaches to the bumper bar below the connections. I know what you mean about not being able to pass up the deal. The story behind mine is almost identical. As far as tunability, though, it will never equal a Dynasty in that department. The inverters have more inherent tunability based on the fact that they're not locked into 60hz AC output. All of that, though, can be worked around. I love my syncro, but I still dream of a nice, compact dynasty someday occupying the shop. And I need to get you the recipe for my $20 tungsten grinder.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
 
jeepinmatt said:
My advice is to make it a rolling cart instead of a pallet. The pallet jack will always be on the other side of the shop with something precariously balanced on it.
Click to expand...

yeah, I guess I was just thinking I could build the whole thing out of metal and pick it up whenever, because it's heavy. No doubt big caster's would work just as good or better. Designing it to do both seems like a good idea now. :beer:

catfishblues said:
That's going to be a $400 extension cord! ;-) I built a cart for mine out of angle and plate and used some massive casters off a Miller mobility kit. It rolls well, but be aware, it's top heavy. I need to make a handle that attaches to the bumper bar below the connections. I know what you mean about not being able to pass up the deal. The story behind mine is almost identical. As far as tunability, though, it will never equal a Dynasty in that department. The inverters have more inherent tunability based on the fact that they're not locked into 60hz AC output. All of that, though, can be worked around. I love my syncro, but I still dream of a nice, compact dynasty someday occupying the shop. And I need to get you the recipe for my $20 tungsten grinder.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I don't know, I'll leave the extension cord to Josh, lol.

I'm a fan a Dynasty, no way around that. Everything it offers is efficient and mobile. With it being digital and only having buttons to work with, I disagree on the tuning aspect. You can hit a button on a Dynasty to get a tune, but this thing seems to be further tunable because it has tunable settings.
 
Seems like a pretty good Killer Weldz topic. I wish I had some concrete experience of my own with both side by side. Can't wait to get that thing in the shop
 
he he , its got more buttons, wigdets, and possibly bad side affects than a 747 with an eboli patient......

The most noticeable difference between the two is the ability to put a desired heat input on cruise control. A sycrowave seems to build a deep penetrating type of arc that can lead to the need to really feather the arc or work the controls to establish a puddle then keep it under control. To narrow a band on them can make it hard to establish a puddle then run with it. To wide and you can't fine tune it as a joint changes or heat input raises the base material temp. A Dynasty changes all this, mostly due to its inverter. Even set at 60 hertz and a very nutral balance the arc is much softer and somehow stable. Its just something you can see and "feel" while welding.

Actually I have been lucky to use a 300 Dynasty for several yrs now. I just now could afford to own my very on. You can literally tune it in about any way you can imagine. You can tune AC to freeze and focus the puddle like welding steel. Pulse options are infinite. Slope, background current, duration, frequency of hertz its all variable. I really think for someone not familiar with what many of the functions are and what they effect a beginner could get it way out of tune and get horrible results. As for me I haven't really been able to experiment with my machine, the 300 however gets duty daily but the joints, base materials, and time tables rarely fluctuate. I weld more aluminum hands down. It has about 5 custom "tunes" that I saved and switch to and from on a regular basis for aluminum, stainless, and carbon steels. Its tends to get most everything done very well. That is until somebody screws with my machine. With my personal machine I want to perfect my stainless technique, I haven't had the time but for some paying work, play time has been very limited for about 6-8 months now.

Set up and running a Dynasty could help turn an average welder into a hero, but if he had to set it up it might be a different story. Its full of potential good and bad. Believe me I've had people come behind a custom tune trying to do something it wasn't set for on the same type of alloy but different joint or thickness and make a horrible mess. You can literally tune it so specific it want weld any other joint but the one intended very well.
 
fussy, thin, exotic, very specific tolerance work a dynasty shines. Down, dirty, get it hot, deep penetrating, all around can't kill it machine with some available widgets a sycrowave works hard. Power consumption and weight is hugely and directly inversely related to what you spend on each.
 
I have never heard a more in-depth description of what it's like to Weld with a dynasty. I like being able to work with parameters, but it can get very frustrating. I spent a lot of time trying to dial in a Lincoln 350mp with a cobramatic. So many different programs to work with, and a terrible flow to the parameters. It was funcand I learned a lot on it, including pulse mode welding, but when the company purchased a MM 350mp, it was night and day! I could do much of the same thing, only more easily and consistently than with the linc. So I'm not scared of tuning, but in my experience, Miller makes it relatively easy. I'm not anywhere close to getting the dynasty of my dreams, but I want to play with one some time.
 
Loose cannon
Would you take a picture for me of the 14 bolt that you just welded? I would like to see a picture with a tape measure showing the measurement from the top bolt hole for the diff cover to the bottom of the plate that you welded on.
Thanks
Brad
 
No problem I am going to do a build thread on these axles soon
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20141010_120548539.jpg
    IMG_20141010_120548539.jpg
    120.9 KB · Views: 318
  • IMG_20141017_080041704.jpg
    IMG_20141017_080041704.jpg
    67 KB · Views: 330
Back
Top