Hello, Well I finaly picked up a thermal arc 185 as my first tif and so far I like it a lot. Since im new I am obviously not the steadiest of hand and I contaminate the tungsten a few times. I was wondering if any of you all have a dedicated tungsten grider like the handheld ones Arc-Time sells? All i have is a bench grider with a wire wheel and griding stone and that gets used for EVERYTHING. Seemes like it might be a good purchase? Also while im here, I got some pure green for aluminum and it doesnt seem to be working very well. Im probably doing something wrong but I found the 2% red and arc times hybrid sky blue both work good.
Only pic I have of my first SS welds on a scrap 1/2 in SS plate from my old work (aircraft parts manufac.)

thanks

 

Looks pretty good. Good gas coverage consistant spacing. Try doing shorter welds to make better use of that 1/2in plate. Also try adding a bit more filler.

 

A dedicated tungsten sharpener will help with arc stability.

 

The hand-held sharpeners are essentially a tiny bench grinder with a small hole so you can only stick a tungsten in. I have a seperate 6" bench grinder that I only use for sharpening my tungstens and nothing else. It's a lot cheaper than the hand-held tungsten sharpeners.

As far as the color of tungsten goes, I use red 3/32" tungstens for everything. I sharpen it to a fine point regardless of the material. It has always worked great.

 

thanks for the comments, the biggest cup i have is a #6 so Im looking to get a gas saver/larger cup kit soon. Plus Im left handed so that has to score me some points right? More like a handicap haha. Wow you sharpen yours to a lot narrower point then i do, I'll try doing that. Thanks

 

Agree with the choice of 2% and also the very sharp point.

Best to just go and buy a cheap bench grinder and a good pin vise not a pos one. I usually use my belt sander and it works the best as far as I am concerned. With the bench grinder you will usually have to grind inline with the wheel. With the belt sander its doesn't matter.
I use either 80 or 100 grit Zirconia (blue ) 6x48 belts and my sander has a 2hp with a larger pulley to speed it up. I buy the cheaper belt sanders and change the motor/pulley and have a better unit then a very expensive delta or the like.
The other problem with the dedicated tungsten grinders is they cant seem to do short pcs

 

I have a tungsten grinder that is like a dremel with a machined assembly at the top and a diamond wheel. Its perfect everytime and well worth the $170 I paid for it.

 

yeah thats the kind i was talking about. But a lot cheaper. Where did you get it from if you dont mind?

 

I bought the Sharpie DX from Arc-Zone and it works well. I'm sure there's cheaper options but I don't mind spending the money on the dedicated grinder. Also, sharpening the smaller pieces is a PIA unless you have a tungsten holder. There's other ways to go about it but its not impossible.

 

two cheap ways of grinding tungsten are:

Option 1: use the side of your non-dedicated grinding stone(use a drill to hold/spin smaller pieces of tungsten.

Option 2: poor mans sharpie.. just buy i diamond grinding or cutting wheel from harbor freight for your Dremel.

HF diamond wheels \/
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=31501
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32397

also read your manual! green tungsten is a no no on your machine, when you're welding aluminum sharpen your tungsten but keep a blunt end.

 

oh sheeet thanks for the heads up. I'll have to give the manual a thorough look over today haha. Thanks for all the ideas guys.

 

Pics of said tungsten holders/pin vices?

 

never seen one? check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGqINB5IQM

 

i like to use a drill on a bench grinder, works great.