do you have to grind it to a tip before you start welding with it?

my freinds and i were talking and one of them mentioned something about not having to grind pure tungsten down to a tip before arcing it.

and the red and orange stripe 1% 0r 2% i dont know which is which has to be ground often

is this bullshit or true?

 

depends on what welder you use. new squarewave and inverter machines recomend it.

 

i usually leave unground and then hold the torch on over a peice of scrap alum. to get a nice ball point.

 

Definately dont need to grind it in anyway. Just ball it on a scrap piece of aluminum like rob... said.

 

Going DC-P makes the balling much easier........

 

Yeah we were told, in school, to ball using dc-p and copper.

 

I usually point the tip a little bit at like a 45* angle but don't worry about it too much. I normally use brown tungsten for AC though.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dart2.2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">depends on what welder you use. new squarewave and inverter machines recomend it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

inverters need red pointed for AC welding.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfoxengr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

inverters need red pointed for AC welding.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Or grey or orange

 

i usually sharpen then then use dc+ to make a small ball on the tip. helps keep the alluminum welding smaller.