MIG welders tips: how to become a better welder and how to select the best welding equipment. 2% thoriated tungsten electrodes are mildly radioactive: Word on the street is that 2% thoriated tungsten electrodes are mildly radioactive. They say deer meat is too. No one gets out alive. Good news though…and it’s not just that I saved a bundle on my car insurance by switching to GEICO.. I have learned through testing a bunch of arc starts and by welding on all different metals that 2% lanthanated electrodes are about as good as the 2% thoriated. I even like the lanthanated a little better for some applications. So if you are scared of thoriated tungsten but you are even more scared of crappy electrodes that don’t work as well, use 2% lanthanated…they are colored blue. One word to the wise here. The blue ones are not brittle like 2% thoriated electrodes. And they splinter if you try to break them or snip with dykes. You have to cut or score with a grinder in order to cut to size or cut off a bib blob of metal you don’t want to sand off.
Get filler metal charts to let you choose correct rods for whatever materials you are welding: Alcotecs Aluminum filler metal chart . Go online to alcotec.com for an aluminum filler wire chart. You probably won’t find a filler metal chart that covers welding dissimilar metals so here is your filler metal chart right here: are you ready? Here it is… if it you don’t know what metal you are welding, but it sparks when you grind it, and it is not titanium, try using hastelloy W. or 312 stainless. Hastelloy W TIG welding rod has become extremely expensive. 312 stainless is also a very good rod choice for welding steel of unknown composition. For a critical weld, you should not just rely on 312 without knowing the metal type..you should determine the metal type for any critical weld.
All welding requires the application of heat, which melts the metal being welded. With the TIG process, the heat comes from an electric arc that streams between the electrode in a hand-held torch and the metal being welded. The arc and molten metal are shielded by an inert gas, which protects the electrode and base metal from oxidizing. Filler rod is usually added to the puddle of molten metal as the weld progresses. The essence of making a good weld is heat control, which is governed by how you modulate the arc as it streams from the torch. Let’s look at this in detail.
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Improper drive roll selection and tension setting can lead to poor wire feeding. Consider the size and type of wire being used and match it to the correct drive roll. Since flux-cored wire is softer, due to the flux inside and the tubular design, it requires a knurled drive roll that has teeth to grab the wire and to help push it through. However, knurled drive rolls should not be used with solid wire because the teeth will cause shavings to break off the wire, leading to clogs in the liner that create resistance as the wire feeds. In this case, use V-grove or U-groove drive rolls instead. Set the proper drive roll tension by releasing the drive rolls. Then increase the tension while feeding the wire into your gloved hand until the tension is one half-turn past wire slippage. Always keep the gun as straight as possible to avoid kinking in the cable that could lead to poor wire feeding.