Classy welding.

[red750]

[Deskpilot]

Gee, I've had to inspect thousands of welds in my lifetime but I've never seen anything like that. If it's not photo-shopped, it's superb, whether is hand done or by machine.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

It's quite possibly robotic welding but I've seen work just as good done by hand. It's TIG welding of course, and when doing those kinds of pipe joints manually you use a method called 'walking the cup' where the cup is held in contact with the work and 'walked' from side to side with a deft twist of the wrist. Keeping the cup supported on the work-piece takes all the shakes out of the hand and makes it much easier to keep a steady rate of progress, concentrating mainly on dipping the filler precisely.

 

You can only do it on certain joint types where you have two surfaces to rest the cup on.

 

Here's a Youtube vid that shows the process - and how to do as good a job with a 'TIG finger' if/when you don't have a clear surface to work against -

 

 

 

[planedriver]

Thanks for posting that HIC.

 

I really enjoy welding which iv'e been doing for decades, mainly arc welding, and when working with my son we always give one another a score out of 10 for the near perfect weld. What this guy does is brilliant, and I want to perfect my TIG welding technique just for knowing that I can do that too, even though I'm semi-retired. Not too interested in playing lawn bowls.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Quite famous rock and roll musicians can often be found amoung the groupies at jam sessions by the best.

 

Only those who have really tried to do it really appreciate the work of a master.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Yep, all my life I wished I could weld...

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Yep, all my life I wished I could weld...

Well, if you're really serious about it, there's never been an easier time to learn.

 

With the benefit of welding equipment manufacturers posting every tip and trick on YouTube videos these days, you can learn all the theory and basic knowledge from the comfort of an armchair and be fully informed before making any decision about what equipment to buy.

 

To make a start I'd highly recommend the series of 'welding tips and tricks', one of which I posted above, and also the posts from Miller, who make, arguably, the finest welding machines of all.

 

I'm reckoned to be at least passable in my welding and I learned the basics from books and trade tutors but the really refined methods from those YouTube videos.

 

I'd love to have a Miller TIG machine but I've shown that even with my ultra cheap ($800 delivered) Chinese multifunction it's quite possible to make very acceptable aircraft quality welds on very thin material ... the thinner it is, the more difficult it is, so you don't have to start out with the most expensive gear.

 

 

[planedriver]

For many years i busted my gut lifting a heavy copper-wired welder out of my van until I bought an small inverter welder which I could even carry up a ladder on 2 fingers. A wonderful investment which has soft-start which minimises the welding rod sticking as you strike up an arc. Cost me about $350 bucks and did all I needed to do with it, except for very heavy-gauge construction work. Inverters these days are definately the way to go, even if my chiropracter disagrees.

 

 

[Soleair]

What sort of gauge can you weld down to with an inverter welder, Planedriver? 18? 20? 22?

 

I'm toying with one instead of a MIG, which seem to eat nozzles & snag wire feed constantly.

 

 

[cooperplace]

that is nice! my welding looks like a series of pigeon droppings; it has been improved by junking the old boat anchor arc welder and getting a dirt-cheap invertor that is so much easier to use. I bought a Ti bike frame from XACD in China and the welding is gorgeous.

 

 

[planedriver]

What sort of gauge can you weld down to with an inverter welder, Planedriver? 18? 20? 22?I've actually put a split in a steel soft drink can and welded it back together just for the fun of it with my inverter welder. To do that, for a start you need a very thin welding rod and weld it with a series of quick spots otherwise it'll simply burn through into hole. With thin rods welding thin material, I always start the next spot halfway across the previous weld-puddle spot, otherwise you wind up with a series of spots with flux in between. Generally though, iv'e not had occasion to stick weld anything much thinner than about 18 gauge. Because it's so easy to burn through and wind up with a hole in the work, i'd normally angle the rod at about 45 degrees back into the weld puddle which has previously been formed, giving the work piece a little time to cool. You could call it "stitching" and the cooling period between each one will gradually increase as the work piece starts to increase in temperature otherwise you will get blow-through and a hole.

 

As HIC said previously, youtube has some great video's. weldingtipsandtricks has quite a few different ones which are all good value if learning.

 

As far as your mig-welder is concerned Soleair i'm sure it's capable of turning out some decent welds providing it's set-up properly, which is so important. Youtube has video's on that too. If you are burning the tips and having wire feed snagging problems, apart from making sure the gas pressure, wire-feed and current settings are suitable for what you intend to weld, check the wire-feed tube as it may need replacing which is a simple inexpensive job to do. Try to keep the lines between the welder and work as straight as possible for a smooth steady wire feed. Don't try to weld for too long on thin material, give the material a chance to loose a bit of excess heat which quickly builds up.

 

Good luck, find scrap material of similar thickness and practice, practice, practice.

[Soleair]

Thanks, Planey. All good info.

 

 

[Hargraves]

Fully automated double pulse robotic mig weld i believe the process to be but i,m just guessing eh

 

 

[planedriver]

Going back to 1959 "Shhh!" I was involved in the build of the first robotic-welding equipment for the Ford Motor Co. at Dagenham U.K. under licence from the Robotron Corp of America, for the all NEW Ford Anglia. That was the one with the sloping inwards rear window with the 105E engine. Possibly some of the well matured forum members might remember them. If not, don't worry, it was nothing to get too excited about, but seemed important to me at the time. Apart from all the other things iv'e got involved with since, the techniques of welding have always interested me, but I still have a lot to learn.

 

 

[Hargraves]

We have a little in common then sir in 1968 i built a kart around a 105E engine mounted east west driving through a Burman Vincent bike gearbox via a HarlyDavidson duplex chain and clutch. And later upgraded to a 1500 cc GT Cortina engine in vertually the same mounts. 60 mph in 1st gear with your arse 3" off the ground was quite auxillrating back then. And she required for and aft inverted airfoils to keep her down over a particular asphalt to concrete to asphalt bump in the track as well. I may well be one of the few people to have ever been overtaken buy an 14 lb flywheel at around 80 mph flat changing from 2nd to 3rd. High weight to power ratios have always interested me eh. So flyings only natural afterall. Cheers Hargraves

 

 

[planedriver]

I keep going back for another look at the photo at the beginning of this thread. It's just beautiful in my eyes, and wouldn't go astray if it was in an art gallery.

 

 

[facthunter]

Welding is pretty easy with the modern stuff. You still have to know the metallurgy involved or dreadful things will happen .Often post weld heat treatment is advisable as well as preheating. Certainly IF you want optimum material strength and elimination of stresses. A TIG arc is concentrated heat. Nev

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I once read that there were some special welding rods that were so easy to use that a mug could do good welds with them. Well I felt like a mug when I went to buy some and the guy at the welding shop said there was no such thing.

 

 

[Oscar]

You want to see welding?? Look at the exhaust pipe on this: Soup :: Images of Casey Stoner's Honda RC213V MotoGP Racer

 

That's titanium tube, in segments. It's also on a motorcycle that cost probably in excess of $2m to MAKE - not buy.... that accelerates faster than any F1 car. About 270 hp from a naturally-aspirated 1000 cc. Top speed in excess of 350 kph. Honda made around four per year.