Very first TIG welds ever

[hman]

Made my very first TIG welds today! I've just bought a TIG/Stick/Plasma welder (Prime Weld CT520DP, $500 on Amazon.) I've done a little bit of MIG, almost no stick. Decided to make a welding cart for both it and my Miller MIG unit. After looking at some welding carts at HF and elsewhere, I decided I could do a little better. My design, shown below, is based on the HF 4 drawer tech cart (#64096).


The basic idea was to remove two of the casters from the cart and add on a "trailer" of welded angle, square tubing and sheet metal, with 10" wheels, for the argon and CO2 tanks. Another mod to the basic cart is to replace the original flip top with a sturdier, permanently mounted sheet of something (plywood?), and open up the front face to make an open shelf under the welders. The original top is easy to remove, just drill out some rivets. But cutting off the front face leaves a weak piece of sheet metal to support the upper two drawers. Decided to add a stiffener to the lower front opening, using a length of 1/2"x1/2" angle. [By the way ... the onangey looking "donuts" represent where I'll be hanging various coiled-up cables.]

How to weld the 1/8" thick angle to the ~.040" thick sheet metal without blow-outs? I decided to use plug welds [I think that's the right term] at the ends, then stitch the sheet metal and angle together along the edge by concentrating the arc on the angle and letting the puddle expand to the sheet. The photo below shows the very first TIG welds I've ever done, on a mockup of the actual work pieces.


Plug weld #1 was no good, as I was trying to make a wide weld puddle before the heavier metal below was hot enough. Welds #2 and #3 were much better - concentrated the arc on the heavier angle below for a couple seconds, then moved sideways just enough to involve the sheet metal. The remaining welds were for practice on my edge joining technique.

The next photos show the completed job before cleanup sanding, painting, etc.


I know I have an awful lot to learn! [Can you spell UNDERSTATEMENT?] I'll be looking for welding classes at a local community college after the first of the year. But I'm pretty well satisfied with my first effort.

 

[killswitch505]

Looks good from my house!!!! Tig is easy. you’ll definitely get the swing of it quickly. watch a bunch of YouTube videos, YouTube wasn’t a thing when started I wish it was I wouldn’t have picked up so many bad habits. Pick up some stainless steel filler rod it’s way more forgiving that mild steel it blends well with mild steel. It works well on thin sheet metal.

 

[killswitch505]

Clean clean and clean anything you plan on welding only use stainless wire wheels and and keep those clean at well

 

[7milesup]

Once you get the hang of it, TIG welding is a real joy to use in my opinion. I mostly do aluminum and have finially crossed the threshold where my welds actually look good and work good.

 

[aliva]

My next purchase is a TIG, just don't which one would be a better bang for the buck. Too many to choose.

 

[hman]

I bought the one I did, PrimeWeld CT520DP, because it was a multi-function unit, including plasma cutting. The P suffix says it has a pilot arc function on plasma, and is about $100 more than the CT520D. Unfortunately, Amazon says this unit is unavailable right now:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AB2U0XS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Similar units are available under other brand names. You'll see some if you scroll down on the cited page.
The unit I bought had reasonable reviews, a 3 year warranty, and the reviews said the seller was supportive. He certainly responded quickly to my emails. Obviously, it's not a heavy duty unit (200A max, 60% duty cycle), and does not have AC TIG (aluminum) capability. But I don't plan to do a lot of heavy metal and so far, I'm pretty happy with it.
PS - if you want to do TIG, you have to buy the tungsten and argon, plus a suitable argon regulator or flow meter. And of course, a good welding helmet, etc. The unit does come with an air regulator for plasma, two sets of plasma consumables, and a couple of tungsten collets for the TIG. See the pictures on the Amazon page.

 

[7milesup]

I have a Lincoln TIG 200. Really like it and for the money it is a very capable machine. My order of preference would be Miller, Lincoln and then ESAB. For the money, the ESAB welders are a good value I believe. I came very close to buying one but did not want to have to ship it somewhere to get it fixed should something happen. Both the Lincoln and Miller have excellent dealer network and support.
I would get at least 200 amp capability and AC capability. The ability to weld aluminum is really nice to have and use mine a lot. Of course, if you are doing runs of aluminum welding, a MIG unit with a spool gun would be better. You can weld aluminum without a spool gun too if you keep your line fairly straight.

 

[Hoover]

Tig welding is like sex.
I am not very good at it, but i sure like doing it!!

 

[7milesup]

Tig welding is like sex.
I am not very good at it, but i sure like doing it!!

Bwahahaha!

 

[hman]

UPDATE -

Well, I finally got the welding cart done! It's been "hanging fire" for about a year and a half. Partly due to lots of other projects in the queue, and partly because I didn't have that much confidence in my welding ability. But a couple of other welding projects have come up lately, and having to dig out the equipment from various storage locations, set it up, then put it all away was finally getting bothersome enough that I decided I had to go for it.

The first image is a CAD screen shot that shows the framework I added to the Harbor Freight 4 drawer tech cart (#64069). The large wheels replace the casters originally on that end of the HF cart. The second screen shot shows the cart fully assembled.



The photos below show the finished and furnished cart, plus a close-up of the vise I added to the tabletop. Note the grounding point connected to the base of the vise by a length of flattened copper pipe. The drawers of the cart store accessories for all the the "techniques," and there are six hangers on the end and rear of the cart for various loops of cable and hose.

For now, I'm using small tanks of Argon and CO2 ... I don't weld that often. But the safety chain assembly can be raised as needed to accommodate full size tanks.





I'm still making pretty crummy welds a lot of the time - especially when trying to TIG an inside corner. All too frequently those welds ended up looking like somebody tried to glue the parts together with random wads of chewing gum! Building the cart, I switched over to MIG for a lot of those welds, then back to TIG for flat edges. And thank goodness for the angle grinder! That plus a nice coat of paint served to conceal a multitude of sins.