hoochhenry

i know argon ,but some one told me that Argon/CO2blends are very good as produce less surface oxide, good bead shape and wetting, broad penetration, and consistent quality.any truth in this be nice to know before i tackle my first manifold build

FabChild

Yep! That's the stuff

hoochhenry

any more input on this subject

intense4thgen

backpurge and use a large gas lense problem solved, also im not 100% but i dont think you can do aluminum with a c02 mix someone correct me if im wrong please

k24em2

GMAW or GTAW?

jdm inc

iTrader: (11)

we use helium and argon for aluminum at work.

9bells

Most relevant response.
You can't use reactive gases like CO2 and O2 with GTAW as it will destroy the electrode.
Monatomic or noble gases only. In GMAW, the wire is the electrode, so they can put de-oxidizers in the composition to offset the gases used to save money,etc.

FabChild

I could have answered his question but this is knowledge that can be found ALL OVER the web. The op can search here, millerwelds.com, the fabricator.com and about ten thousand other places to find his answer. I can understand something specific but sometimes people need to do their own research before they "build manifolds"

FredC

Use pure argon, the less factors you have the less likely something is to fail. Some people use a helium/argon mix for penetration reasons but these are things that would come at an extremely advanced state for specific purposes.

The best and cheapest things you can try to start would be an array of cups, invest in a gas lens for your torch, and find the tungsten that works best for you. Some people like Lanthana (grey) some like thoriated (red) some even like the brown the best.

More then likely all of your questions will come to pass when you get some time under the gun and find a system that works best for you.

Being new to welding you'll come across things that claim to assist you in becoming a better welder, but 99% of it is false. The only real advice that rings true 100% of the time lies in the amount of prep work you do, properly grinding tungsten the correct way, cleaning the material etc all will factor in to how well your weld outcome will be.

For example, when people see me sharpen tungsten they have this horrified look on their face as if the tungsten is going to fly off the stone and insert its self into my neck haha....

hoochhenry

thanks for the input