TIG is the only process you will find in 43.13-2B Acceptable Methods, Techniques, and Practices - Aircraft Alterations, the FAA Acceptable Practices for Aircraft Repair. This process is used in repair and fabrication of a major portion of light Aircraft parts and assembles. The key is the ability to fuse and weld very thin parts as well. Fuel tanks in a Cessna 172 are .025" aluminum. They Crack. With ANY other process your done. TIG for my line of work to be sure. Great video on the advantages of the TIG process, I have been TIG welding for 35 years and the way you describe the advantages and attributes of the TIG process are spot on. I couldn't have said it better. Thank you sir.
Excellent contribution with the code. For aircraft, tig is the only reasonable approach for welding that really makes sense. Starting strips and run off tabs to have defects off the welded part is virtually impossible. The super thin materials are incredibly difficult to even mig weld, not to mention the possibility of spatter. Then ontop of that you have alloys of materials that may not even be available or certified for use with the mig process. The strengths of tig make it the only real suitable process. I haven’t had much exposure to aircraft repair work, but I have inspected a ton of turbine cut aways, and even seen a ton of older stuff nasa built. So much of it was tig welded and by very skilled people. Being involved in that line of work is super cool. Thanks much for your years of service 😀👍.
Excellent video & discussion. While each of the processes has their own strengths/benefits (great job covering them, btw).... I bought my TIG welder about 10yrs ago & absolutely love it. I actually got into TIG to complement my machining habits; but as useful as it is, & as much as I enjoy it, wish I would've tried it earlier. Thanks!
Thanks Greg. Yet another video that I’ve not seen anywhere else (and making me want to spend more time with TIG). However, you demo does make me wonder about when to use stick vs. MIG spray on thicker material.
Nicely explained. Now, we can increase TIG productivity with TIP-TIG process , in a way that on the beginning of the short weld, adding the filler material is delayed for the rime where metal starts to melt and than we starts adding wire trough wire feeder. Also, to improve penetration in fillet weld, especially on thick aluminum, we can preheat starting point and additionally during TIG or TIP-TIG welding TO use gas mixture of 20-30% of Helium in Argon. Only dissadvantage of increasing productivity in above described ways is increased price of equipment. Anyway, in all cases, Quality to Productivity/Safety ratio must be take in account, as You mentioned in excellent videoclip posted. Best regards from Germany!
I was a teacher(not welding), and I am quite impressed by your teaching skills. One thing I found was that by planning lessons, anticipating questions, it increased my knowledge of the subject. I wonder if the same happens for you while preparing your videos. Great work you do, many thanks!
Thank you. I finally got a TIG welder after decades of DIY welding with Oxy/Acet, stick and MIG. I'm really enjoying the versatility of the TIG process which includes TIG brazing.
100%. It’s nice to not have tons of sparks and smoke everywhere lol. I really think more people should look at tig in the home shop. No, it’s not the perfect tool for every job, but for a ton of what people weld it would likely work.
No *Blops!* with Tig. (blops = Spatter.) Easier to clean up your welds when you’re doing “furniture-grade” welds. Another trick is to use er309 stainless rod when you’re after a “smooth and lovely” weld. You won’t give up strength, even if you’ll spend (a lot) more on your rods.
@@carpediemarts705yes, that’s the 220 outlet here. For thin stuff - 16 gauge square steel tube, and thinner 4130 - I’ve used a regular 110 outlet. Good for up to 85 amps or so.
I have owned a really nice TIG/Stick welder for 15 years now. Stick welds just amazing! Guess I should learn how to use the TIG side of it sooner or later, huh...
Once you master basic tig welding you will be shocked at how useful it is. You will also be surprised at how strong tig welds actually are. Because you can deposit super small high fusion defect free welds, a small tig weld will actually be as strong as a bigger mig and stick weld depending on how the weld is stressed. With stick and mig you are limited to weld size, you simply can’t make small welds and have high fusion on thick material.
I agree completely. Today, I was telling my friend, a sign painter, that she should consider getting a tig machine so she can make her own signs. I taught her flux core and she immediately made 3 signs. Now she needs a sheet metal sign and I'm going to have her come to my shop to help me make her sign, using TIG. Last week I repaired a friends broken cast iron saw part. In 45 minutes I had it all brazed back together and he's happily using his fancy table saw. The week before I made, In essence, four sheet metal tanks. I used pulse with finger switch and dialed in the settings so that I flew over the edges, fusing with only occasional filler. My last job was welding round bars on a horse stall. I tried stick and mig and settled on tig because there was no spatter and no smoke soot and no flux. It was by far the best way to do small round parts, 1/2 " and 3/4". I could paint with no cleanup, no fuss, no muss, no wire brushing.
100%, what you described is what makes tig so great. With a handful of assorted fillers and a single bottle of argon you can literally tig weld almost anything. It works so well on small parts, repairs, and oddball jobs. You can put down the size weld you want, and not be limited to oversized welds or grinding of welds. Provided the material can be prepped and it’s not exposed to wind/outdoors tig works great. It would suck if it wasn’t available to use lol.
I definitely will do that. I can oxy fuel weld flat plates good, but haven’t done many fillet welds with it. I will have to practice a bunch and do some testing. I can tell you that even using the same wire (er70s2) as tig, the oxy fuel weld will be weaker. When acetylene burns it produces co2 shielding gas, and that gas interacts with the molten metal. The end result is typically a significant loss of ductility and ultimate tensile strength. Although the huge heat input will likely have a softening effect on the steel, I think the weld would break on a bend test on 3/8th plate. I will have to try 😀👍
@makingmistakeswithgreg welding inside an angle isn't easy with gas. I assume the same thing with the excessive heat will weaken the metal. My thoughts were that many say that if you can weld it with TIG you can weld it with oxy/acetylen. I have never tried TIG but i can weld both stainless and alu with good results with oxy/acetylen.
Interesting video for sure, great breakdown of the differences between the processes I have wondered what the real world use case for TIG is and you summed it up really well
Tig basically excels at defect free welds that are very small and clean of spatter. It’s very useful for repairing things or making small items. The average person could probably benefit from knowing how to do it, but for many it won’t have much practical application over a simple mig welder 😀.
I know this is not apples to apples but I’m currently using a 120v tig. I feel like that 120v tig is almost as strong as the 220v mig or maybe it’s equivalent. Maybe how you said, Tig gets down to the root. Awesome video! Sorry if I’m sounding irrational.
So on 120v it is entirely possible to weld 3/8th steel with absurdly strong welds with tig. With mig it’s not really possible. Stick welding is even a challenge on 120v because of breaker trips with many machines. If I only had 120v and needed to weld anything with very strong welds 100% tig is the way to go. The main limiting factor on 120v with tig is you can’t do weaves on thicker material, you can’t carry enough heat due to limited amperage. So you just run multiple stringer welds and call it good 😀.
Interesting stuff. However...LOL On 12mm plate 2G fillet with TIG, we run 350A and a 6mm filler rod. 3 passes on a non-grooved joint. Penetration is quite a bit different than with 190A.
Love your videos Greg, but I must bring something up that is becoming more common and needs to be addressed. In the topic of root fusion, handheld laser will have the most compared to arc processes. I know your videos are about arc welding, but I just thought I would suggest at least mentioning this, especially considering that the major players on the welding industry are adopting.
So I have watched a ton of training videos on it and seen the welds first hand, but I have not used it. I am on the fence about buying a setup to use. Ultimately some form of laser or vaporized metal deposition will take over tig, but that’s a long way off. Tig is so simple and effective that achieving the same heat input with a laser requires a lot of power, expense, and safety precautions. I have seen videos of guys using them without following proper ppe guidelines and that’s pretty scary.with a class 4 laser with 2k+ watts.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Laser also has it's pro's and cons, just like any other process. The main things I think with laser are, easy to train an operator when doing like repetitive production type work, and the sheer speed it's phenomenally fast. And the welds look even cleaner than TiG. The other big benefit I see is very low heat input versus penetration, it's far less heat input than TiG. The thing with lasers is the heat is extremely concentrated into like a wobbling 1mm spot, and because the rest of the material doesn't have to conduct electricity, the heat doesn't spread out as much. However I've heard some people say having problems with thin stainless parts cracking etc. Surface prep isn't an issues, I watched one video where a guy welded some 304 stainless pipe, and welded right over the factory printed numbers. And the numbers were still legible, even UNDER the weld! I think what's going on is, once the steel is molten, it becomes almost transparent to the laser which allows the laser to burn right thru and past any surface rust/paint etc. It then wobbles the laser around to move like a melted cone along the direction of weld. Another benefit like with mild steel, argon gas isn't required, a lot of them just use dry nitrogen, but the gas flow rate is a LOT. It sounds like blasting the part with a blow gun, it's a lot of shielding gas at high volume and high pressure. The setup for a big laser is a big upfront cost too, you need 3 phase power for the larger machines, and a water cooler machine for the laser machine too. The benefits once you have the machine set up for the job though it's pretty wild, like you set up the machine for like welding an inside corner joint on two 1/4" plates. You just put the gun at one end, at the right angle, then pull the trigger and the metal fill wire pushes you along at the correct and very consistent travel speed and when you reach the end, you just release the trigger. Dialing in the laser power, wobble shape, laser power in watts, wire type and size, and wire feed speed takes quite a bit of experimenting to "dial it down" and get things just right. But in like a factory you can have the engineers do all that, and write up WPS's and program the machines, and then the operator just has to press the correct menu button for that pre-programmed set of parameters and squeeze a trigger. The best use cases I think are for like thin materials where warping is a concern. A good example would be welding mirror polished stainless or gold colored mirror finishes. Since there's no spatter and very minimal heat input, those types of stuff can be welded and not mess up the very fine mirror polish. There's a guy on youtube from Korea that has a comparison of welding a stainless steel pipe onto a flat plate with both TiG and laser, and the amount of part warping with TiG is quite a bit more than the laser welded part.
So 6010 blows 7018 out of the water on penetration. The downside is 6010 will put hydrogen into the weld/material. If the material is mild steel and nothing that is susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement, it could work. If it was higher strength steel you would want to ether bevel the plate to get a bigger weld throat depth, put down more passes, or weld both sides (all with 7018). Also, I didn’t mention it but rod size does play a role to a certain extent. 1/2in plate would be better welded by 1/8th or 5/32 rods and I bet at higher amperage and a bigger rod it might be slightly better. 1/2inch at 50 degrees is no joke to fuse, even on a smaller coupon lol.
Thank u Greg each an every lesson u teach all of us is an incredible abundance of information we learn that is not mentioned in any other channels out here granted there are a few exceptions such as Bob Muffat,Dusty from Pacific Arc ,Justin from th The Fabricator ,this old guy Tony ,6061 channel an finally a gentleman whom I like thank very much An that’s Jody from welding tricks an tips thanks to u Greg along with all this incredible community I thought that unless I went to a tech school it was gonna be th only way to learn ….u guys really go way out of ur way for all of us an I hope that one day I can pass along th knowledge I have gained thank u🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽God Bless always 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
very informative but i have never tried tig. i do i have a few welders a miller thunderbolt ac also a titanium mig 140 and a vulcan omnipro. i was tempted to buy the tig torch and pedal for the omnipro but then wanted the spool gun for aluminum. Now i am definitely gonna buy the tig setup for it as i see in your video list that you can tig weld aluminum. thanks again for all the info
You can tig weld aluminum if you have a ac/machine, many machines that can tig won’t do a/c, so verify this first. Tig without a/c is still worth it to have. You can do a ton of things with tig that you can’t with other processes. It’s actually very useful for general work, since the slow weld speed isn’t a huge issue.
@steeveejee4647 Todays fun fact, the pedal is not a good idea for TIG. A fingertip "micro switch" push button is the way to go. The harder you press, the more power you get.
With TIG you have a bigger heat affected zone and most welds will fail at or in the heat affected zone. MIG has the lowest HEZ unless you go to EB or laser. When starting with MIG it is an idea to start in front of where you want the start of the werl then go to your start point and progres over the actual start point.
I wonder how Tig compares to Atomic Hydrogen Arc Welding? (Ever since I learned of it, I've been dieing to find some place that still has the system so I could try it!)
Not good as TIG. Hydrogen enter in weld pool and may cause cracking. Technology merging tig and hydrogen atomic welding is plasma weldnig with argon + he .
I was never a fan 6013, except with 1/16th rods on sheet metal lol. It’s the only rod I have ran that you can literally get slag inclusions on a fillet weld easily if you’re not careful. If I am down to 6013 I am in trouble lol.
Talking , talking , 44 min talking. In TIG there is NO porosity , oxigen and nitrogen contamination , no flux inclusion . And no HYDROGEN cold cracking. You asking what for ? For clicking ?
Dumbest comment i’ve seen! tig can have porosity and contamination, it’s all dependent on skill. i’ve seen tig with porosity and contamination, especially on SS and aluminum. you can lay down xray welds with other processes too, not just tig. tig welders swear their favorite process is the only process 😂
@Buzzkillco Dumbest is question in topic. Look at two joints , same size. Same good quality. There is no question . Process 141 win. I wish you luck in stick aluminium wellding....
@@Buzzkillco You are right. Stick is cheaper and faster. Everyone knows about it. It is TRUISM. But question was " Are Tig welds REALY STRONGER ( Greg has doubts !!! ) than Mig &Stick " I started TIG , love stick. But let's be serious....
Out of the scope of this video, but with regards the info on your first booklearning whiteboard in this video, I have a situation at work I'd love to hear your opinion on! I work for a drilling company, we normally use 6013 for welding the steel casing going into the ground. The steel is often hammered in if the ground is difficult, and sometimes when the ground is very bad we use a case advancement system where steel is driven into the ground at the same time as being drilled. Recently my workmate has insisted on using 7018 when we're doing this job, but we have no oven or any way of baking the rods, he also insists on using 6013 for the root and 2 passes over the top of 7018, which I also think is asking for trouble. No pre or post heat and the weld is driven into ground without cooling and with the nature of the job there's generally a pool of water that quences the weld immediately. My take on it is that the 6013 is a slightly softer weldment so it can take the hammering a bit easier, but is also a lot more forgiving for the position's we have to weld in as the 6013 are nowhere near as fussy about correct angles to get a similar penetration. The steel is A36 and 1/4 inch wall, so i know that you don't have to be as fussy with 7018 prep requirements as you would on higher strength thicker steels, however I still feel we're wasting our time 😂 add to that we didn't have these issues before we started with the 7018's and we've already lost some steel down the hole (thankfully I wasn't my welding!) that cost the company in the region of 10k all in since we started using the damp 7018's. Anyways I'm always happy to be wrong as well cause I like learning(making mistakes!) and it probably won't change anything at work cause I have no say in the matter really, I just feel bad for my bosses cause they don't understand why they're suddenly losing so much money and are too afraid of my workmate leaving if they say anything to him that counteracts his opinion. It was you saying a good 6013 weld will outperform itself in testing that made me want to ask you all this. So apologies for the essay, but would love to hear the opinion of an esteemed gentleman such as yourself if you ever found the time 💪🏼
Although you did an excellent job of explaining this it really shows what a complicated process welding actually is . Excellent information thank you
No problem 👍. I will be doing a video with a bunch more break tests to see how small of a tig weld will hold up 😀.
TIG is the only process you will find in 43.13-2B Acceptable Methods, Techniques, and Practices - Aircraft Alterations, the FAA Acceptable Practices for Aircraft Repair. This process is used in repair and fabrication of a major portion of light Aircraft parts and assembles.
The key is the ability to fuse and weld very thin parts as well. Fuel tanks in a Cessna 172 are .025" aluminum. They Crack. With ANY other process your done. TIG for my line of work to be sure.
Great video on the advantages of the TIG process, I have been TIG welding for 35 years and the way you describe the advantages and attributes of the TIG process are spot on.
I couldn't have said it better. Thank you sir.
Excellent contribution with the code. For aircraft, tig is the only reasonable approach for welding that really makes sense. Starting strips and run off tabs to have defects off the welded part is virtually impossible. The super thin materials are incredibly difficult to even mig weld, not to mention the possibility of spatter. Then ontop of that you have alloys of materials that may not even be available or certified for use with the mig process. The strengths of tig make it the only real suitable process.
I haven’t had much exposure to aircraft repair work, but I have inspected a ton of turbine cut aways, and even seen a ton of older stuff nasa built. So much of it was tig welded and by very skilled people. Being involved in that line of work is super cool. Thanks much for your years of service 😀👍.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Good luck welding titanium with anything except TiG and extremely clean materials and a lot of shielding gas!
5052, or 3003 for such tanks? (Am looking at a small fuel tank in the future, albeit somewhat thicker stuff….)
@@brnmcc01 MIG can be used, people just don't do it that way any more.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊
Excellent video & discussion. While each of the processes has their own strengths/benefits (great job covering them, btw).... I bought my TIG welder about 10yrs ago & absolutely love it. I actually got into TIG to complement my machining habits; but as useful as it is, & as much as I enjoy it, wish I would've tried it earlier.
Thanks!
Great information on TIG vs. stick. TIG welding is therapeutic for me.
100%. It’s calming, quiet, takes a ton of focus, and makes such clean welds. 😀👍
This has to be the most informative welding video I’ve seen. I’m starting out and trying to learn as much as possible, this video is really good!
Thanks Greg. Yet another video that I’ve not seen anywhere else (and making me want to spend more time with TIG). However, you demo does make me wonder about when to use stick vs. MIG spray on thicker material.
Spray will dominate. It penetrates so deep, and its so fast. Much higher deposition and deeper penetration.
Nicely explained. Now, we can increase TIG productivity with TIP-TIG process , in a way that on the beginning of the short weld, adding the filler material is delayed for the rime where metal starts to melt and than we starts adding wire trough wire feeder. Also, to improve penetration in fillet weld, especially on thick aluminum, we can preheat starting point and additionally during TIG or TIP-TIG welding TO use gas mixture of 20-30% of Helium in Argon. Only dissadvantage of increasing productivity in above described ways is increased price of equipment. Anyway, in all cases, Quality to Productivity/Safety ratio must be take in account, as You mentioned in excellent videoclip posted.
Best regards from Germany!
Great information and a great video! Thank you!
Fantastic explanation of the intricacies of welding; great job 👏
I was a teacher(not welding), and I am quite impressed by your teaching skills. One thing I found was that by planning lessons, anticipating questions, it increased my knowledge of the subject. I wonder if the same happens for you while preparing your videos. Great work you do, many thanks!
Totally blew what I thought out of the water. Great explanation and video. Thanks.
No problem 😀👍.
Thank you. I finally got a TIG welder after decades of DIY welding with Oxy/Acet, stick and MIG. I'm really enjoying the versatility of the TIG process which includes TIG brazing.
Excellent lesson
Glad you liked it. I will be doing a bunch more break tests and bend tests to really show the benefits and drawbacks of tig 😀👍
Another thing to add is that i can TIG weld 5 feet away from my dining room table; i have to go 10 feet away and be outside for stick.
100%. It’s nice to not have tons of sparks and smoke everywhere lol. I really think more people should look at tig in the home shop. No, it’s not the perfect tool for every job, but for a ton of what people weld it would likely work.
I want to unplug the stove and tig on the kitchen counter. Only place I could at home.
No *Blops!* with Tig. (blops = Spatter.)
Easier to clean up your welds when you’re doing “furniture-grade” welds.
Another trick is to use er309 stainless rod when you’re after a “smooth and lovely” weld. You won’t give up strength, even if you’ll spend (a lot) more on your rods.
@@carpediemarts705yes, that’s the 220 outlet here.
For thin stuff - 16 gauge square steel tube, and thinner 4130 - I’ve used a regular 110 outlet. Good for up to 85 amps or so.
@@dennisyoung4631 presuming a dual voltage machine
I have owned a really nice TIG/Stick welder for 15 years now. Stick welds just amazing! Guess I should learn how to use the TIG side of it sooner or later, huh...
Once you master basic tig welding you will be shocked at how useful it is. You will also be surprised at how strong tig welds actually are. Because you can deposit super small high fusion defect free welds, a small tig weld will actually be as strong as a bigger mig and stick weld depending on how the weld is stressed. With stick and mig you are limited to weld size, you simply can’t make small welds and have high fusion on thick material.
Very well done- learning a lot -
Thanks Greg. This answers alot of questions.
No problem 😀👍
I agree completely. Today, I was telling my friend, a sign painter, that she should consider getting a tig machine so she can make her own signs. I taught her flux core and she immediately made 3 signs. Now she needs a sheet metal sign and I'm going to have her come to my shop to help me make her sign, using TIG.
Last week I repaired a friends broken cast iron saw part. In 45 minutes I had it all brazed back together and he's happily using his fancy table saw. The week before I made, In essence, four sheet metal tanks. I used pulse with finger switch and dialed in the settings so that I flew over the edges, fusing with only occasional filler. My last job was welding round bars on a horse stall. I tried stick and mig and settled on tig because there was no spatter and no smoke soot and no flux. It was by far the best way to do small round parts, 1/2 " and 3/4". I could paint with no cleanup, no fuss, no muss, no wire brushing.
100%, what you described is what makes tig so great. With a handful of assorted fillers and a single bottle of argon you can literally tig weld almost anything. It works so well on small parts, repairs, and oddball jobs. You can put down the size weld you want, and not be limited to oversized welds or grinding of welds. Provided the material can be prepped and it’s not exposed to wind/outdoors tig works great. It would suck if it wasn’t available to use lol.
Another fantastic video Greg, you're absolutely essential viewing for anyone looking to inform themselves further in the welding world.
I'd like to see TIG vs. Gas welding with oxygen / acetylen.
I definitely will do that. I can oxy fuel weld flat plates good, but haven’t done many fillet welds with it. I will have to practice a bunch and do some testing. I can tell you that even using the same wire (er70s2) as tig, the oxy fuel weld will be weaker. When acetylene burns it produces co2 shielding gas, and that gas interacts with the molten metal. The end result is typically a significant loss of ductility and ultimate tensile strength. Although the huge heat input will likely have a softening effect on the steel, I think the weld would break on a bend test on 3/8th plate. I will have to try 😀👍
@makingmistakeswithgreg welding inside an angle isn't easy with gas. I assume the same thing with the excessive heat will weaken the metal. My thoughts were that many say that if you can weld it with TIG you can weld it with oxy/acetylen. I have never tried TIG but i can weld both stainless and alu with good results with oxy/acetylen.
Interesting video for sure, great breakdown of the differences between the processes I have wondered what the real world use case for TIG is and you summed it up really well
Tig basically excels at defect free welds that are very small and clean of spatter. It’s very useful for repairing things or making small items. The average person could probably benefit from knowing how to do it, but for many it won’t have much practical application over a simple mig welder 😀.
I know this is not apples to apples but I’m currently using a 120v tig. I feel like that 120v tig is almost as strong as the 220v mig or maybe it’s equivalent. Maybe how you said, Tig gets down to the root. Awesome video! Sorry if I’m sounding irrational.
So on 120v it is entirely possible to weld 3/8th steel with absurdly strong welds with tig. With mig it’s not really possible. Stick welding is even a challenge on 120v because of breaker trips with many machines. If I only had 120v and needed to weld anything with very strong welds 100% tig is the way to go. The main limiting factor on 120v with tig is you can’t do weaves on thicker material, you can’t carry enough heat due to limited amperage. So you just run multiple stringer welds and call it good 😀.
Very nice tutorial. Well explained. I appreciate your efforts. Thanks for sharing
No problem 😀👍
What about a 6010\11 root before going to 7018. Wold you still have the same issues.
Nice work mate. ❤🎉🎉🎉
Glad you liked the video. I will be doing a video on mostly break/bend tests comparing tig to other processes and that will be real interesting 😀.
Very interesting!
I really enjoyed testing the topic. Would you consider testing the strength of braze TIG compared to a regular TIG ER70.
Thanks Greg…paulie in Orlando
Great video
Glad you liked it 😀👍. I will follow it up with a bunch of testing in a video to demonstrate more of the strengths.
Interesting stuff. However...LOL On 12mm plate 2G fillet with TIG, we run 350A and a 6mm filler rod. 3 passes on a non-grooved joint. Penetration is quite a bit different than with 190A.
Love your videos Greg, but I must bring something up that is becoming more common and needs to be addressed. In the topic of root fusion, handheld laser will have the most compared to arc processes. I know your videos are about arc welding, but I just thought I would suggest at least mentioning this, especially considering that the major players on the welding industry are adopting.
Greg, do you have any experience with laser?
So I have watched a ton of training videos on it and seen the welds first hand, but I have not used it. I am on the fence about buying a setup to use. Ultimately some form of laser or vaporized metal deposition will take over tig, but that’s a long way off. Tig is so simple and effective that achieving the same heat input with a laser requires a lot of power, expense, and safety precautions. I have seen videos of guys using them without following proper ppe guidelines and that’s pretty scary.with a class 4 laser with 2k+ watts.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Laser also has it's pro's and cons, just like any other process. The main things I think with laser are, easy to train an operator when doing like repetitive production type work, and the sheer speed it's phenomenally fast. And the welds look even cleaner than TiG. The other big benefit I see is very low heat input versus penetration, it's far less heat input than TiG. The thing with lasers is the heat is extremely concentrated into like a wobbling 1mm spot, and because the rest of the material doesn't have to conduct electricity, the heat doesn't spread out as much. However I've heard some people say having problems with thin stainless parts cracking etc. Surface prep isn't an issues, I watched one video where a guy welded some 304 stainless pipe, and welded right over the factory printed numbers. And the numbers were still legible, even UNDER the weld! I think what's going on is, once the steel is molten, it becomes almost transparent to the laser which allows the laser to burn right thru and past any surface rust/paint etc. It then wobbles the laser around to move like a melted cone along the direction of weld. Another benefit like with mild steel, argon gas isn't required, a lot of them just use dry nitrogen, but the gas flow rate is a LOT. It sounds like blasting the part with a blow gun, it's a lot of shielding gas at high volume and high pressure. The setup for a big laser is a big upfront cost too, you need 3 phase power for the larger machines, and a water cooler machine for the laser machine too. The benefits once you have the machine set up for the job though it's pretty wild, like you set up the machine for like welding an inside corner joint on two 1/4" plates. You just put the gun at one end, at the right angle, then pull the trigger and the metal fill wire pushes you along at the correct and very consistent travel speed and when you reach the end, you just release the trigger. Dialing in the laser power, wobble shape, laser power in watts, wire type and size, and wire feed speed takes quite a bit of experimenting to "dial it down" and get things just right. But in like a factory you can have the engineers do all that, and write up WPS's and program the machines, and then the operator just has to press the correct menu button for that pre-programmed set of parameters and squeeze a trigger.
The best use cases I think are for like thin materials where warping is a concern. A good example would be welding mirror polished stainless or gold colored mirror finishes. Since there's no spatter and very minimal heat input, those types of stuff can be welded and not mess up the very fine mirror polish. There's a guy on youtube from Korea that has a comparison of welding a stainless steel pipe onto a flat plate with both TiG and laser, and the amount of part warping with TiG is quite a bit more than the laser welded part.
I never work with steel of that thickness but if i did what do you think about a coming in hot with a 6010 root pass then capping it with 7018
So 6010 blows 7018 out of the water on penetration. The downside is 6010 will put hydrogen into the weld/material. If the material is mild steel and nothing that is susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement, it could work. If it was higher strength steel you would want to ether bevel the plate to get a bigger weld throat depth, put down more passes, or weld both sides (all with 7018). Also, I didn’t mention it but rod size does play a role to a certain extent. 1/2in plate would be better welded by 1/8th or 5/32 rods and I bet at higher amperage and a bigger rod it might be slightly better. 1/2inch at 50 degrees is no joke to fuse, even on a smaller coupon lol.
Well that DESERVED a subscribe & an up-thumb.
But no mention of using helium in the mix to increase heat in tig
Thank u Greg each an every lesson u teach all of us is an incredible abundance of information we learn that is not mentioned in any other channels out here granted there are a few exceptions such as Bob Muffat,Dusty from Pacific Arc ,Justin from th The Fabricator ,this old guy Tony ,6061 channel an finally a gentleman whom I like thank very much An that’s Jody from welding tricks an tips thanks to u Greg along with all this incredible community I thought that unless I went to a tech school it was gonna be th only way to learn ….u guys really go way out of ur way for all of us an I hope that one day I can pass along th knowledge I have gained thank u🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽God Bless always 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
My superpower is I’m able to apply all the downsides of mig and stick to tig 👌🏻👌🏻
very informative but i have never tried tig. i do i have a few welders a miller thunderbolt ac also a titanium mig 140 and a vulcan omnipro. i was tempted to buy the tig torch and pedal for the omnipro but then wanted the spool gun for aluminum. Now i am definitely gonna buy the tig setup for it as i see in your video list that you can tig weld aluminum. thanks again for all the info
You can tig weld aluminum if you have a ac/machine, many machines that can tig won’t do a/c, so verify this first. Tig without a/c is still worth it to have. You can do a ton of things with tig that you can’t with other processes. It’s actually very useful for general work, since the slow weld speed isn’t a huge issue.
@steeveejee4647
Todays fun fact, the pedal is not a good idea for TIG. A fingertip "micro switch" push button is the way to go. The harder you press, the more power you get.
With TIG you have a bigger heat affected zone and most welds will fail at or in the heat affected zone. MIG has the lowest HEZ unless you go to EB or laser. When starting with MIG it is an idea to start in front of where you want the start of the werl then go to your start point and progres over the actual start point.
I wonder how Tig compares to Atomic Hydrogen Arc Welding? (Ever since I learned of it, I've been dieing to find some place that still has the system so I could try it!)
Not good as TIG. Hydrogen enter in weld pool and may cause cracking.
Technology merging tig and hydrogen atomic welding is plasma weldnig with argon + he .
I often hear : ductility of Tig is higher ?
cmon dude...use a real etch-a-scetch ! ;)
Somebody send him one lol
I laughed pretty hard at that. That would really suck to use that to draw 😅😅
First!
6013 is a useless rod to me, the guys building roll cages is race cars seem to like tig, slow process,
They're probably welding Chrome-Moly which is hard to do and avoid cracks in the tubing.
I was never a fan 6013, except with 1/16th rods on sheet metal lol. It’s the only rod I have ran that you can literally get slag inclusions on a fillet weld easily if you’re not careful. If I am down to 6013 I am in trouble lol.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I haven't even tried 6013 yet, I really like 7018 though, especially after watching all your tips on how to restart it :)
Talking , talking , 44 min talking.
In TIG there is NO porosity , oxigen and nitrogen contamination , no flux inclusion . And no HYDROGEN cold cracking.
You asking what for ? For clicking ?
Dumbest comment i’ve seen!
tig can have porosity and contamination, it’s all dependent on skill.
i’ve seen tig with porosity and contamination, especially on SS and aluminum.
you can lay down xray welds with other processes too, not just tig.
tig welders swear their favorite process is the only process 😂
@Buzzkillco
Dumbest is question in topic. Look at two joints , same size. Same good quality. There is no question . Process 141 win.
I wish you luck in stick aluminium wellding....
@@adamlazarowicz9136 thanks i wish you luck in faster production with tig.
Welding videos from Pakistan I hear are pretty good, check'em out 😉👍
@@Buzzkillco
You are right. Stick is cheaper and faster. Everyone knows about it. It is TRUISM.
But question was " Are Tig welds REALY STRONGER ( Greg has doubts !!! ) than Mig &Stick "
I started TIG , love stick.
But let's be serious....
Out of the scope of this video, but with regards the info on your first booklearning whiteboard in this video, I have a situation at work I'd love to hear your opinion on!
I work for a drilling company, we normally use 6013 for welding the steel casing going into the ground. The steel is often hammered in if the ground is difficult, and sometimes when the ground is very bad we use a case advancement system where steel is driven into the ground at the same time as being drilled. Recently my workmate has insisted on using 7018 when we're doing this job, but we have no oven or any way of baking the rods, he also insists on using 6013 for the root and 2 passes over the top of 7018, which I also think is asking for trouble.
No pre or post heat and the weld is driven into ground without cooling and with the nature of the job there's generally a pool of water that quences the weld immediately.
My take on it is that the 6013 is a slightly softer weldment so it can take the hammering a bit easier, but is also a lot more forgiving for the position's we have to weld in as the 6013 are nowhere near as fussy about correct angles to get a similar penetration.
The steel is A36 and 1/4 inch wall, so i know that you don't have to be as fussy with 7018 prep requirements as you would on higher strength thicker steels, however I still feel we're wasting our time 😂 add to that we didn't have these issues before we started with the 7018's and we've already lost some steel down the hole (thankfully I wasn't my welding!) that cost the company in the region of 10k all in since we started using the damp 7018's.
Anyways I'm always happy to be wrong as well cause I like learning(making mistakes!) and it probably won't change anything at work cause I have no say in the matter really, I just feel bad for my bosses cause they don't understand why they're suddenly losing so much money and are too afraid of my workmate leaving if they say anything to him that counteracts his opinion.
It was you saying a good 6013 weld will outperform itself in testing that made me want to ask you all this.
So apologies for the essay, but would love to hear the opinion of an esteemed gentleman such as yourself if you ever found the time 💪🏼