Is Dedicated Tungsten Grinding Really Needed ?
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Just some ideas about dedicated tungsten grinders for TIG welding.
Whats your thoughts?
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When I dip my tungsten I break off the end then resharpen from the dedicated sharpener.
Heard that too. Its like not reusing that condom.
Don't know if it effects the tungsten by fracturing it but I do the same
What kind of grinder do you use
That’s what I do as well
When I contaminate my electorde I score and break off the messed up area and repoint it. Billk
That's the proper way to do it if it's contaminated. I sharpen both ends, keepin all same colored bands together in each case.
I agree, that's wat i was told to too when i started welding but i think it's wasteful
Technically breaking can leave cracks in it. It should really be cut off instead.
In a perfect world this would be proper procedure and absolutely required for any job requiring NDT/X-Ray testing. Building an exhaust for your weekend track car project its still best practices but if you don't its not the end of the world either.
I keep a pair of quality lineman pliers on me while tig welding they are capable of cutting/breaking the end off a piece tungsten up to 1/8" also I use them to snip the end off of my filler rod basically the HAZ including any filler that may be crystallized from not being completely under shielding gas especially when breaking the ark
Great food for thought! I'm a novice TIG welder. I've been cutting off the end and then grinding. I think I'm wasting a lot of tungsten and time. So I learned 2 things today. Thanks for the vid!!
2:16 to follow through on that thought, could you even embed any of the common metals into a tungsten rod since tungsten is super hard?
bah, ya beat me too it! +1 for science!
True Story:
My wife used to cut the ends of the Ham before she baked it. I noticed the ends were missing so I asked her "Honey peaches why do you chop the ends of of the ham?" She replies " mother always did it that way". I said yeah, but why? She again replied " I'll ask mother when we get to grandmas". I felt satisfied that I would get my answer. However when we got there Honey Peaches asked her mother and she said " your grandma always did it that way". After that you could hear the cacoughany of voices of family members clamoring for grandma.. ."Grandma...Grandma" they all shouted. As we would have it Grandma is a bit hard of hearing. But low and Behold Grandma came waddling into the kitchen where this mystery is about to be solved. My mother-in-law spoke right up.."mama we were all wonderin' why we cut the ends off of the ham before we bake it...why do you do that?" Her look of disbelief at what she just heard soon turned into a hardy bout of laughter, as she pointed over to the oven and exclaimed "because it wont fit in that tiny apartment sized oven that your penny pinching Daddy bought for the house thirty years ago."
Zig Ziglar said this was a true story, I can only assume that it is.
I like your point, never really thought about that. I did buy a "dedicated" tungsten grinder (tungstenmate) but its main advantage for me is the quickness and consistent angle.
Yes!!! Food for thought!! Thanks for the perspective! Great advice!!! 🤘🏽❤️🫵🏽
I just put a mask on my tungsten grinder, then wash my tungsten for 20 seconds. If in in a tight spot I use equate brand sanitizer, a 62% ethyl alcohol mix.
You are correct. You need to clean it up on any abrasive surface, then take it to the dedicated tungsten grinder to finish
I always thought that too! To avoid that I try clean the foreign material off first, on the side of the wheel before I grind it to a point... Or cut the ruined bit off.. then grind to a point.
Great video! I personally use a flap wheel on a 4.5" grinder and my tungsten in my Milwaukee cordless drill on low speed, which allows me to stay on what I'm working on, instead of walking back and forth to the belt sander at work! I label each flap wheel with aluminum, steel, or stainless steel. And always sharpen inline with the tungsten, never to the side!
Based on that same reasoning, I don't care if the tip dips in the puddle a little, I don't have instagram so I don't care how it looks. Lol
Hey Kyle. Putting it simply, I appreciate anyone who doesn't just follow the herd and actually thinks for himself.👍 I'd say questioning everything is in your nature, probably developed that at an early age, and it has gotten you were you are in life. I've tried to teach my kids to be the same way and you probably are doing the same with yours. Hopefully, they'll never lose that inquisitive spirit. Take care brother and have a great week ahead.
For real! I can honestly say I've never thought about that.... I'm still a beginner and in no way an expert.... BUT NOW THE GEARS ARE TURNING! Thank you!
I would like to see your Bibbster finished Kyle, it’s such a cool looking car that you are customizing.
This is just like the current situation of the germaphobes with their hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and face masks! Keep those thought fluids flowing, my man....
Lol
Dam , I am having another Cup - of - Coffee ,that made to much SENCE !!!!!!!
I've been tig welding since 1970. Never had a dedicated wheel for grinding my tungsten.
Break off contaminated piece and resharpen. I use a small peen hammer. I also sharpen both ends so I don't have to go back and forth sharpening one end; Keeping all same colored bands together in their own casings. I use 2 bench grinders, 1 wheel for mild steel other wheel stainless, 2nd grinder for aluminium, other wheel spare.
Grind the tungsten end vertical with the grinding wheel, NOT horizontal. I dont know how many guys I've seen do this, it screws up the arc.
double sharpened tungsten is great until you dip it and can't remove it from ur collet..
Reading between the lines... great way to encourage people to think for themselves, during these times.
Not everything is a nuclear reactor, so in general, non critical situations you can get away with a lot more. In more casual situations you'er probably right. When it is critical, proper tungsten prep is critical. But you can sharpen your tungsten with a rock if you want, I'm not critical.
I do enjoy your creativity. Thanks, Sparky
TRUTH!
you know... i'm in a home shop, i have one bench grinder for everything. i dont have the space to have 4 different grinders for every type of material. i never faced any problems regarding to contamination or something. my stainless welds are still stainless and all my other stuff never came apart. i think its a huge difference. if you are working in medical/industrial environments, it makes sense to keep stuff as clean as humanly possible, but not for the home shop, its just impractial and in my mind not really needed.
I knew where you were going with this in the first two min. I ask myself questions like that all the time. Good call.
Couldn't agree more. Most people, me included, have far more issues in the fundamentals of tig welding. Proper torch height and angle, consistent dabs, correct heat/travel speed, and a steady hand are all far more important.
Good video. As a welding engineer and welder, I agree with your thoughts and comments Kyle. I have seen tungsten ground on a 4-1/2" grinding wheel, bench grinders, belt sanders and dedicated tungsten grinders, then all were used to make x-ray quality welds. The things that matter most are keeping the tungsten clean and keeping it sharp. When doing automated or mechanized TIG welding, keeping the correct angle and land thickness is sometimes critical to getting repeatable quality in welds. But in manual welding with 3/32" or larger tungsten 60 grit or finer abrasive works well and 36 grit is tolerable. When using 1/16" or smaller tungsten, the abrasive grit size can make it hard to get a good tungsten profile. I agree with you, I don't see much chance of softer metals becoming embedded in the surface of tungsten. Pure tungsten has a hardness in the range of 2570 Brinnell compare to less than 200 Brinnell for most low to medium carbon steels. Keep up the good work.
You make a very valid point here. It's not really all that dedicated anymore is it? The only reason I still use a dedicated grinder is because at least when I'm grinding tungsten it's clean, where as my other wheels may have paint, grease, etc residue on them.
Yeah I still have a dedicated sharpener as well. Just something I was thinking about
HA HA....... LOVE THE MESSAGE IN REALITY!
I've pondered the same thought many times. Keep it real and, "GO DO WORK, SON!"
I a rookie tiger. I agree.. how important is it really. Worst part of dipping is the arc goes everywhere afterwards.
Your series inspired me to learn how to tig weld!! 🙌🏻
Me too... When Kyle was using that Eastwood digital tig 200...I knew I wanted to get a tig welder...🏁
This type of questions is the reason foreman doesn’t ask me questions anymore !
Tungsten is one of the hardest metals way harder than even titanium so to think you'd be able to get it hot enough to embed steel or aluminum while sharpening it is crazy
LOVE the videos man. keep them coming!! i make sure not to miss any and the info is really helpful. Ive used alot of your friday fool videos to buy tools, and tips on my personal builds.
Awesome Video Dude.....
Keep crankin.....💪🇺🇸😎
Personally I bought a cheep dedicated sharpener for convenience. I am just learning to tig weld and dip so much that I got tired of having to get up, go over to the grinder and grind a new tip. The one I got goes on a dremel tool that I can keep at arms reach
Not going to lie. I slap the tungsten in a drill and grap any ol flap disc on the grinder. Works fine for me.
I know nothing about welding.. but that sounds like a great point! Other than cleaning said tool after every use it seems to me you would be correct. Thanks for the knowledge drop!
Great Point!
It's funny you mention this because when I began tig welding I didn't have a "dedicated" grinder for my tungsten. Just my regular ole bench grinder that has grinded all kinds of metals lol. My point is, my welds were fine, my tungsten was fine. Old ideas from old times is what I think that is.
Simple answer cuz, diamond wheel. Impurities dont stick to diamond like it does a regular grind wheel. It cuts the impurities off while throwing them off the wheel hince small sparks. Not only is it the impurities being thrown off its all the tungsten particals taking it down to fresh material.
Its good to know the best practices for when working on those more critical applications. As for regular everyday projects, probably a bit overkill to have dedicated grinders for a small/garage shop and would'nt worry too much about it.
👍👍👍👍👍I just use the 20$+ cheapo tiny bench grinder from harbor fright... works for a tig dummy like me lol
Valid points...
That's a good point.👍
Typically what is meant by dedicated tool for welding is for example your belt sander would have dedicated belts for each material that is worked with(mild steel,stainless,aluminum, etc.) Wether the material is being prepped or metal finished. Now with all that being said I have yet to see anyone carry more than one of those high dollar tungsten grinders for different weld materials. When I have seen cross contamination happen it's been in how the material was worked during fit up not when it's been welded. Not an expert, just sharing.
Well, there ya have it. Something to think about over coffee!!
Exactly what I'm doing right now.
If you're trying to clean off the aluminium oxides from your tungsten, is it okay to use an aluminum oxide flap wheel? Asking for a friend
When I "dip" my tungsten..."screw-up" lol, If it does hold an ugly blob or knot, I tend to lay it on the table, slide back to the knot, and with a light tap break off the bad. Then resharpen. Not saying its correct. Just sharing my experience.
Best practice is to cut off the dirty end of the tungsten if you want to maintain a dedicated/pure grinding system.
Does this mean you need a dedicated grinder for every type of tungsten.
I thought when you dipped your tungsten you were supposed to cut off the end that was contaminated where you dipped it. I don’t know how deep the contamination settles in your tungsten when it gets dipped but I just felt it was the most thorough to chop it off & restart Fresh to ensure cleanliness. At the end of the day all of this shit is probably just in our heads & makes no difference, but i guess the point I’m trying to make is do whatever makes you feel better
Great video
Cut off the the tungsten past the contamination part then use the dedicated grinding wheel.
It's like making your bed, there is no need to but the rest of you house will look good and you will get into the habit of perfecting other stuff that does matter.
But all I know how to do is mig weld.
Totally agree
Also consider why do we use tungsten as the electrode in the first place? It can handle HUGE amount of heat right. Will the contamination on your belt sander, stone wheel, diamond disk etc. melt into the tungsten when you grind it on there? No.
I welded professionally for years (majority stainless and aluminium TIG) and ground my tungstens on whatever was closest when need came up. Zero rejected welds and as many complaints of contamination of welds.
Food for thought indeed.
Great idea and food for thought.
Though you could transfer materials from the tungsten tip to the grinder, I wouldn't worry about anything from the grinder getting embedded into the tungsten tip... *because it's hard as tungsten*
*also it's not very porous*
The funny thing is 90% of grinding or resurfacing materials have a metal or oxide base material , I guess we need a tungsten grinder made of tungsten 😂
Diamond
Very good food for thought. My first instinct would be to say that is depends on your application. If you are welding food processing equipment ie. hygiene grade equipment then you will most likely need to maintain a pedantic standard. If you are working with mild steel where penetration/structural integrative is a little more forgiving them perhaps you could get away with being not so pedantic. I guess another aspect to having a dedicated grinding belt etc. is the longevity factor. If you use it for just that one thing it will most likely last longer than if you ground lots of different things with the same grinder etc.
I used to cut the end off first when I got a big blob of metal on there and then sharpen it up on my dedicated wheel. But I don't bother any more, it's much easier to sand the blob off. I figure if it was contaminated you'd probably know because you'd get sparks and junk coming off it when you went back to lay some more Instagram stacks.
I agree with what your pointing out but isn't there a school of thought that you would cut off the glob and the tungsten its attached to, AND THEN re-grind to a point?
Been asking the same questions bud and thinking about welding with heats near the temp of the sun there are lots of reactions going on in fractions of seconds but not sure on the scale we are talking about here there is enough of a reaction to cause an issue or otherwise make something better. Awesome conversation to have though...
Great job 👍👍🇨🇱
My grinding wheel sucks so I always use the same one. No matter how much I try always get grooves
Yo MrKVoss, this wasn't a good video, it was a GREAT VIDEO. Thank you for sharing. Please please please bring out welding series for starters. I live in ZA, and well were I live, there's not much people that want to share there knowledge about welding. So I sit with 2 welders and don't know what regulators or gas etc...goes with what. Anycase, yet again, thanks for your videos, I never miss one. Peace Sir Kvoss
Made sense to me
its cross contamination the stone or grinder wheel and I always cut the tungsten again and resharpen
lol... my grind stone is "dedicated to hard work" I try to minimize the contamination as far as possible. but for the reasons you mentioned it isn't as dedicated as it was the first time I used it to grind tungsten...lol
DONT BREAK IT. I will cause cracks down the tungsten lengthwise. I have herd the best way is to use a diamond embeded cut wheel for tile. Cut it off below contaminated area and sharpen. No contamination No cracks
Love it, sharing in a Facebook group I'm in
I take a new cut off wheel on my mini grinder and cut straight off back from the blob and use my dedicated grinder to grind only the tungsten.
thank you for sharing I leaning alot from you..
Ive did an myth bust and when ive drop my tungsten in different metal sharpen it my welds are fine but using an band sander after sanding rusty metals made the arc behave weird.
Not saying it works 100% but I like to wonder bout that to. But I do have an bench grinder for tig sharping only use one end to shape it other side to finish it
Pesonly I have always just cut the tip of and re ground it when I get a q tip if it’s not to bad then I will just grind it on the wheel
what? tip, thanks ? i think... lol Just kidding I think you're 100% right love the way you think I'm going to start watching your channel more.
Grind off the junk on the belt sander (or just snap it off), then resharpen with a professional dremel style tool like TechSouth or Eastwood.
Great, Now I need 6 dedicated grinder wheels, and the welds will still be shitty. 😂🙌
You have got it wrong, you do need a dedicated grinder/sander for tungsten only... you should snap off the contaminant tip and then regrind.
It probably doesn’t mater for the hobbiest welder, a professional would be in big trouble and could contaminate a risk sensitive weld on say a pressure vessel or piping etc and have a failure point of not picked up by x-ray.
You didn't comprehend. We aren't all building pressure vessels, not all welds are super critical, not all rules are universal. Get a grip.
I have been using what ever flap disc is mounted on my m18 grinder.. usually one just for tungsten. However I have found it leaves a convex point. Grinding on the side of a cut off wheel leaves a truer flat angle and the few times I have done it, I noticed better arcs. Also the used flap disc makes the first arc start up kinda crackly for a half second or whatever perhaps impurities are burning off?
I use my Tungsten grinder for Aluminum only, use bench grinder wheel for steel and stainless but what you say makes sense, kinda makes you go Hmmmm, is this really necessary ?
You’re second last food for thought of cleaning it off with grinder then going to dedicated would be the proper way but you still would have contaminants. Now the grinding stone and belt sander also will leave contaminants. So you should come up with a tungsten fringing wheel made out of tungsten then make it the dedicated grinding
Isn't that the reason they want you to break off the end first.
Its all about how your tungsten reacts when you weld. Ive used dedicated grinders and also used whatever is closest to me if Im in a position to where its going to be pain to get up. Moral of the story, either wayive not noticed a difference. But then again Im not a IG welder. 😁
Hahaha you're dead right with the tungsten grinders we have three languages at work . We lemish mild steel , stainless steel, & aluminium and on top of that we sharpen all our tungstens. different types of tungstens as well . I have done some structural welds in the past and got them x-rayed and they've passed ??
i've never believed that theory either.....if tungsten is harder than aluminum/mild/stainless then how would a softer metal "embed" itself into the harder tungsten...? can a micro fiber get stuck in a microscopic groove left from sharpening...sure, but once that tungsten goes hotter than the surface of the sun doesn't it vaporize that little fiber anyway? it's hooey, imho. but my welds aren't insta-worthy anyway.
I'd say you break off the blob part, then grind it
A how I do welding series then?
Hey now; this is the internet...do you really think this is the appropriate forum for common sense?
LMAO Kyle 😂😂😂😂,,, I Don't Even Weld Anything n I Get Where You're Coming From,,, GO DO WORK SON n Have a Blessed Week Brother.
Love this weeks not tip :)
there was a time when you had to round off your electrode at first
Question everything!! Even if "experts" on RUclips/Instagram tell you 🤣🤣
The flaw in this common sense logic … you can cut off the tip, then sharpen it, not sharpen it to remove the blob.
So you're the person that got all the common sense, I was wondering who had it all. Can we please have a bit back for our politicians?
Alwayse gonna be nay saying people that have nothing better to do than say DUDE u need a dedicated grinder knowing they probably do everything with the same grinder but they gonna say something to make their selves look smart lmao.
Myth Busted
Welp, my TIG welding sucks ass so I'm about the lowest authority possible on the matter, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a better welder who uses 1 grinder for everything will have better welds 10 times out of 10 than a lesser welder who has a dedicated grinder. First of all, I think you're dealing with rather low odds between a piece getting embedded in the grinder and then embedded against in the tungsten and not flying off in a random direction as shit tends to do when you grind it. Secondly, you're not welding in a clean room. At a microscopic level there's dust and God knows what else in the air that is all over that tungsten. The same sort of issues with impurities would exist there, too. I simply can't imagine that purity matters to that level. But hey, I'm no authority, I'm just an idiot on the internet who uses MIG.