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Mig or Tig.Any suggestions as to what is better for the inexperienced.
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Mig,If you dont have much experience, practice heaps before you try to weld something on your gyro!By practice I mean, try welding different thickness material together, different grades, tube to flat gal to black. when you have welded all these different materials together, put them in a vice, get the biggest hammer you can find, smash crap out of the join and see what kind of a welder you are.dont fall into the trap that most people who are learning to weld fall into. If your weld looks like a three year old did it. dont keep puting more weld over the top. The wire that comes out of your mig becomes melted wire, the weld happens when the two parent metals that you are welding becomes one! There is no strength in the filler rod. And dont grind the join to make it look pretty, you need the material where it is!Tig is a black art for those that already know how to weld.If you want to teach yourself to weld, get some practice with a stick welder first, it will help you to understand exactly what it is that you are trying to do!if your weld looks like a three year old did it, the weld will perform the same way.Mark.
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Hi Mitch,
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Mitch,Ditto what Kym said. Get the experience first, and buy the welder second. And as Mark said - Get some stick time first. Mig certainly isn"t cut and dried, and you can make a weld that looks good, but has the strength of chewing gum. You go to lessons to learn in a few hours what it"ll take you a lifetime to learn the hard way, and might still not learn. My philosophy on life is that anyone who is self taught, had a dickhead for a teacher (unless he had no choice in the matter). It"s not necessary. (Ask any of the old blokes that taught themselves to fly a gyro. Would they do it that way again if they could get dual seat lessons?)Just my $0.03 worth (allowing for inflation).CheersFred
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Greg, If you are welding aircraft structures follow the lead of the big kids (professional aviation) go for the TIG. I have TIG, MIG oxy and arc and it never ceases to amaze me the strength that a TIG joint gives. I find that you have more control over the welding process with regards to speed and penetration. Go to your local Technical college and find a welding course which encompases TIG or do what I did in Perth and find someone who can come to you and set the whole lot up correctly. The first thing that you need to get is an autodarkening helmet.
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Buy one of each, they all have a practical use. If your handy with acetylene then TIG will be no problem.Tig is the best for accurate, strong work with a small heat affected zone, but contamination can be a problem if you don"t have a steady hand. Ken
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Mitch,TAFE is a damn good idea, it takes the mystery out of it.MIG is not a good idea - it is far too easy to get weld porosity with a mig welder on hollow sections - it even happens on straight out fillet welds on 20mm plate. I tried a MIG welder once on sprinkler pipe, yep, it was sprinkler pipe alright - stick welding over the top fixed it, from there on I tacked up with a mig and then welded with the stick welder - sure killed my wondering why they used to weld with a stick welder at the pipe factory. It only takes the slightest bit of moisture on the metal [band saw lube] or in the air to affect it, wind does damage as well by taking away the shield gas.Markus Horanus refers to a weld done by a three year old - is that a welder in the game for three years Markus? Even a good welder can have a bad day, ditto a bad welder can have a good day, but what he says is a good idea, practice on different materials and bash the crap out of them, but it is funny how the welds that don"t need to stick seem to, and those that do aren"t so crash hot.Do you know how they used to weld up aircraft frames back in the 1920"s before TIG came along?? oooo, maybe they oxy welded them?TIG welding is not a black art to those who do it and well. The trick is deadly accurate cutting, tight fits at the joint and total exclusion of air from the job. My younger brother used to weld stainless steel pressure lines at the power stations, I borrowed his stainless steel brush to clean up a joint with teflon in it that he was about to weld, he had a spack attack on the spot over the wire brush being contaminated and pulls a fresh one out of his tool box after much muttering about fwits on the job, a jocular reference to me as I was writing the cheques... Like Ken says, if you"re good with an oxy torch a TIG is just as easy, all you have to do is make sure you tape over the open ends of tube that you are welding so the air doesn"t get in, you have to purge
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Thanks Fellas,Very helpfull. I have done some stick welding over the years, probably akin to Marks example of a 3 year old. Couple of years ago when I was at Oshkosh, I would go to the FlyMarket each day and get on the Tig, Mig welders and practice even had a go at welding alum and the results were fair. I do have a use for a welder with dog yards and kennels being installed and had thought to weld up the seat frame/base on the Goodwin tank.........now I"m thinking I"ll take it down to my local guy.I appreciate the advice. Thanks.Mitch.
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the way to check any decent welder specs on paper is its duty cycle. no matter how much power is printed on the side of it, if it will only perform for 10% on max power than thats it.we have a workshop full of uni mig. uni mig are a good brand but only if made in the right country, made in the not so right country and they are cheap and nasty, cant get parts to repair etc etc etc.
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Hello NicI still havn"t got the quote thing working but as you mentioned;Do you know how they used to weld up aircraft frames back in the 1920"s before TIG came along?? oooo, maybe they oxy welded them?When I was just a young boy my boss had a passion for old aeroplanes and restorations. Wherin I learned that the BRONZE BRAZE weld process was very commonly used on those early aeroplanes. Believe it or not it produced a very strong join if the process is carried out well, mess it up and strength drops to about 20 percent.On the torch side of things, a lot of the old oxy sets were oxy HYDROGEN which is futile in a fusion weld due to embrittlement, so the braze was a realy good option but close fitting joins is a must.I would consider the process myself, but only after a bit of recurrency
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GG,I have done some research since my original post and that couple to the comments here and on other forums....I will be buying a gasless Mig for most of the smaller jobs I need to do from time to time.I have come to the conclusion not to purchase anything Chinese. The Italian made Migs are quite good ....apparently. A little 100-130 would be fine for me.My Mate Allan is not a welder and bought himself a Mig (gas optioned) and has developed into a handy DIY welder.Still we all have preferences in life, that"s what makes investigating the possibilities so much more enjoyable and informative. Thanks for the extra info.Cheers,Mitch.
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Don"t waste your money. I have all types of welders and the gasless mig is the most useless. We only use it for tacking up jobs in difficult places and then we will lift the gas mig up on the fork and use it. Gas less welds are poor quality with no strength and not as good as a stick. The quality of wire varies and it ranges from sht, to complete sht. I have a heap of welding tickets, including pressure vessel, so you hopefully will trust my judgement. Save your money and buy the biggest single phase gas mig you can buy. You wont look back. Also Aldi have
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Don"t waste your money. I have all types of welders and the gasless mig is the most useless. We only use it for tacking up jobs in difficult places and then we will lift the gas mig up on the fork and use it. Gas less welds are poor quality with no strength and not as good as a stick. The quality of wire varies and it ranges from sht, to complete sht. I have a heap of welding tickets, including pressure vessel, so you hopefully will trust my judgement. Save your money and buy the biggest single phase gas mig you can buy. You wont look back. Also Aldi have
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Ken,Have to agree, gasless sucks. I had one for half a roll from CIG an it blew up, the welding was crap as well but I suspect that the welder was a big influence on the results.Bones.Never heard of it - show us some pics to convince us.cheers,Nic.
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Bones, I"ll back you up on the NR211 it"s all we run at work in our wire feeders for any field welding.Rob
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