welders

[Mescalero]

Are there any welders that are forum members?

[pwl44m]

Welders or People that can weld ?
Perry

[Mescalero]

I guess I don't care as long as they are knowledgable.

[harry]

Weldors.
What have you got going on?

[Blaine]

It was at this point that Mescalero realized that his dream of a Heavy Metal Band might be farther off than he thought.....

[earlmck]

It was at this point that Mescalero realized that his dream of a Heavy Metal Band might be farther off than he thought.....

[Mescalero]

Blaine,
That green stuff you found in a baggie on the side of the road,
you are not supposed to smoke it.

[Blaine]

Blaine,
That green stuff you found in a baggie on the side of the road,
you are not supposed to smoke it.

DUDE! It was oregano, I swear!

[Nath]

I am a welder....

Nath.

[Ben_Rumson]

It's been years since I struck an arc or lighted a torch..I'll help if I can.. .. I used to do various forms of the electric processes...Tig, Mig & Shielded Arc welding and Oxy- Acetelene welding & cutting ... plus Carbon arc cutting, Plasma cutting..
Not to be a stiff neck about it , but back in my day, the person doing the welding was called a Weldor.

[Mescalero]

Sorry about the spelling gaff.
But Nath wrote it the way I did, wonder if there is a cultural difference?
Anyway, I wanted to buy a tig for gun work, filling errant screw holes, pits,etc.
No production stuff, just hobbiest stuff.
Looking for guidence, if I go to the weld shop, they will show me the most expensive one.
At least the car dealers always do.

[Mescalero]

Blaine,
Think the cop will go for that?

[harry]

This is the one I have in my gun room
http://store.cyberweld.com/tharcstwe95s1.html

The gas is very important.

[Mescalero]

Thank you Harry, that is the guidence I was seeking.

[harry]

You will have to decide if you are going to grind your own tungsten rod or just buy new ones. I bought the grinder and wheels, you have to get the right wheels or you will contaminate the tungsten and make for bad welds. Miller welding has very good video's on TIG welding.

The better tungsten for working on guns:
2% Ceriated Tungsten
This non-radioactive alternative to 2% Thoriated Tungsten is best when used primarily in DC welding at low currents. It has excellent arc starting capabilities at low currents and therefore it has become the standard for many orbital tube and pipe welding equipment manufacturers. In addition, it is often used in other low amperage applications where small or delicate parts are being welded. It would not be good for higher amperage applications, because the oxides migrate very quickly to the heat at the tip under these conditions and the oxide content and benefits are then removed.


Don't use Thoriated tungsten if you don't have to:
http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/tungste ... tivity.htm

[Mescalero]

Thank you.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

When I buy any tool the decision as to how much to spend is determined by how often I plan to use it. If it's a tool that is used everyday in my work I'll buy the best I can get. That said, for years if i needed small gun parts welded I sent stuff out to a welder friend. But, a few years back I bought this one from Harbor Freight.
240 Volt Inverter Arc/TIG Welder With Digital Readout

It works. My friend came over and he, too was impressed. He did show me some things to change though. I was using the smallest cup. He had me change to the large cup and brought me some better tungsten rods and showed me how to grind them.

You will want to get an auto-dim hood, too. Working smalls it's almost impossible to flip a hood down and stay on.

[Nath]

When I buy any tool the decision as to how much to spend is determined by how often I plan to use it. If it's a tool that is used everyday in my work I'll buy the best I can get. That said, for years if i needed small gun parts welded I sent stuff out to a welder friend. But, a few years back I bought this one from Harbor Freight.
240 Volt Inverter Arc/TIG Welder With Digital Readout

It works. My friend came over and he, too was impressed. He did show me some things to change though. I was using the smallest cup. He had me change to the large cup and brought me some better tungsten rods and showed me how to grind them.

You will want to get an auto-dim hood, too. Working smalls it's almost impossible to flip a hood down and stay on.

We call the `cup` a shroud and yes use the larger if possible...a number 6 maybe. There are gas glands too. They alow you to stick the tungstan right out of the shroud for tight spots etc.

Nath.

[Grizz]

Mescalaro

note that both of the machines referenced are NOT USEABLE FOR WELDING ALUMINUM.

if you buy one of them, and they sound decent, you give up aluminum and I would guess bronze, copper, and maybe more.

my thermal-arc machine does weld aluminum via mig process and will also do tig, although I never have... and the last I read an accessory high-frequency box makes for much better tig welds.

if you never want to work with those metals, then the DC boxes will be great. pay attention to the duty cycle. it means that in an hours time you can have the output at max for 20 or 30% of the time. not a deal killer but something that needs to be accounted for. one of those boxes is 20 and the other is 30% duty cycle. for small jobs it won't be an issue. if you wanted to do much stick welding it would.

[pwl44m]

I guess I don't care as long as they are knowledgable.

Boy U lost a lot of posters with that last word, sure left Me out. The thicker the metal for Me the better, I don't burn through. I just have a little Lincoln wire welder with Mig capabilities which I have never used. I have a bottle of O2 and have never hooked it up. I get a lot of splatter but I have a grinder. Ur talkin a pretty good expense to fill screw holes. But I understand- having Your own equipment means a lot.
Perry

[Mainehunter]

When I need a refresher on TIG, MIG, Stick I go to this guy:

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

Piratically all of his Youtube vids are very informative. The guy knows welding and gets right down too it!

Mainehunter

[Pitchy]

Don`t know what I can say I`ve only been welding for 30 years or so.
Started with a stick welder which isn`t what your looking for, you didn`t say what kind of steel, how thick ect.. what your wanting one for.
I have a Lincoln wire feed that welds everything from tin to 3/4 inch for me, I use CO2 why bother with slag, and a bottle only runs about 20 bucks and will last ya five years.

[JerryB]

Mescalero, don't worry to much about being grammatically correct, my big dictionary gives welder as the first spelling then weldor which my computer does not accept.

[Marvin S]

I do welding and machine work for the military. The Miller dynasty models are the best and worth the money. If you want something a little cheaper go with the Miller snycrowave. Buy the new blue rare earth tungstens and forget about the rest.

[new pig hunter]

30-some years ago I enjoyed 2 semesters in a welding school, and spent a summer welding aluminum for my daily bread. To learn something like TIG, well, it might be more cost effective to just let a pro do your welding for you. By the time you buy a decent rig and all the gear, and then actually figure out how to actually do it reasonably well, you've got a ton of money invested. I'm thinking like a bean counter, and cost-benefit ratios, and payback times, and salvage values, all those economic sorts of things.

I'm sounding "wet blanket" but to do a decent job of making a decent weld takes awhile to figure out. Last summer I made up some simple steel targets. I used a basic arc welder and I'm telling ya, it wasn't pretty. Back in the day, after 3 months daily practice in school, I could finally run a decent bead and was confident of high quality. My recent little target project: disaster. Yeh, it will serve the purpose because I'll only be using .22LR on it, nothing will break. But I wouldn't use the target to hang a heavy load from the rafters, those welds are a low quality mess of minimal strength, obviously due to my total lack of practice for many years. It is quite easy to strike an arc, but controlling the whole process after that is a whole new skill set, one requiring hours of practice before tackling a prized rifle.

On the positive side, welding is a great skill to have. If you have your own gear you can weld anytime of the day or night, convenience is always good for home projects.

Cheers,

Carl

[Mescalero]

I have stick and wire feed.
A rifle with an errant screw hole in it is hardly a prized rifle.
To fill the pits in S&W 1917 grip potion( Brazilian Navy surplus ) would make the [ weldor ] very happy as the cost would be up there, he could log some time doing it.

[Grizz]

Does anyone gas weld gun metals? Seems for the purpose, unless there is some no-no that I don't know, acytelene is your friend, eh?

[Mescalero]

Grizz,
I have never seen it done, that does not mean that it is'nt.

[Mescalero]

Mainhunter,
Thanks

[Nath]

Don`t know what I can say I`ve only been welding for 30 years or so.
Started with a stick welder which isn`t what your looking for, you didn`t say what kind of steel, how thick ect.. what your wanting one for.
I have a Lincoln wire feed that welds everything from tin to 3/4 inch for me, I use CO2 why bother with slag, and a bottle only runs about 20 bucks and will last ya five years.

About 30 for me too....good sets Lincoln!

However, I do prefer stick 1/8" and up but thats just me

N.

[Mescalero]

See,
I thought the English guys would have local equipment.

[vancelw]

See,
I thought the English guys would have local equipment.

Why? When the can have the best....

American made.............

[rbertalotto]

I've been dealing with "Gun Welding" for a few years.

Depending on what you want to do, and how important the outcome is, you can use any method.

Lots of folks are welding on firearms with small jewelers O/A torches, and some are using simple stick welding.

But the best welder, to really control the weld, and more importantly the heat, you want TIG.

The relatively new Miller Diversion AC/DC TIG welders are very easy to use, don't cost too much and are Miller USA Blue! They will run AC and DC so they can weld aluminum.

I have the Diversion 160. I sold a Miller Syncrowave big butt machine and went with the much smaller, less power consumption, inverter based Diversion. Perfect for gunsmithing! Once you get good with it, you can weld Tin Foil! Talk about heat control.

TIG also lets you use just about any filler material so it is easy to match the metal of the firearm.

I have MIG for building HotRods and Trailers...........TIG for very fine work like guns and knives......

Hope this helps!

[Griff]

Having a pro do it can be cost effective... I had a local guy do some welding for me making brackets for my truck's rear fenders... super job, not cost prohibitive and he did what I could have with my 40 year old stick welder... but so much better looking.

I asked him if he could fill a hole in 4140 gun steel... his only question was... "how big's the hole?"

Before:

After sanding:

Close-up:


Cost? $0.00. Turns out the guy is also gun crank! Loved that I was makin' something from what some would consider a piece of junk!

Still have to finish sanding and polishing, then when it gets CCH'd, I don't think any of that will be visible... well, at least from a distance!!!

[rbertalotto]

Nice! And a TIG can even fill in the pits at the top of the action.

[GonnePhishin]

Pitchy said:

I have a Lincoln wire feed that welds everything from tin to 3/4 inch for me

Lincoln Electric IMO makes the best welding machines and consumables on the planet- I used to work for 'em 20 years ago. Miller and Hobart would probably be 2nd and 3rd.

[moodyholler]

So at the old Tool and Die shop I worked for we had a mocro TIG. Fellow Tigg'ed under 8x magnification. Talk about some pretty welds. Used .030 filler rods too. See your heartbeat in the end of them. He can weld a .020" wide bead. Very little clean up. Machine is a Miller. Later, moodyholler

[new pig hunter]

I'm in agreement: TIG is the best because it is so controllable. The setup I used had a foot-controller for "heat." You start low to establish the arc, then bring it up to where you want it. If things get too hot you just ease off a bit. And clean too, the gas shield makes the process clean. Oh, and a more localized heat-affected zone. Not like acetylene gas welding where everything gets plenty hot. A TIG heat zone is very small which means a much smaller area affected regarding metallurgical effects such as tempering.

I gotta laugh, I was thinking back to the summer I was welding aluminum. Right hand held the torch, left hand held the weld rod, right foot controlled the heat, left foot controlled workpiece rotation motor speed. I felt like a rock n roll drummer, simultaneously doing 4 different things to make it all work together to create one good weld. That took some practice ......

Cheers,

Carl