Tungston Brand Quality and Sharpending Methods

Has anyone done a comparison on tungston quality? I can get very cheap tungston from weldingcity.com in 2% Blue (what I am liking so far). However I am wondering if it's good quality. Do the name brands have a better or more pure tungston. Any opinions on this. I am having some arc wandering issues and I am thinking it may be my sharpening method. So I am about to try another way. If this does not work I am going to try a different brand of tungston. Any recomendations?

My method to sharpen is using a 4" angle grinder and a 180 grit diamond grinding wheel (came from harbor freight and is a replacment blade for their circular saw sharpener). Anyway, I chuck the tungston in my cordless drill and spin it and slowly apply it to the side of the disk. I apply it so the disk is grinding lenghtwise so the grinding marks or grooves are supposed to go lenghtwise on the tungston. I am now wondering if the drill spinning is causing the grind marks to be all crazy as the tungsten is spinning one way and the wheel is spinning the other. I also have the wheel spinning so the grind is towards the tip. I see most the videos on grinding show grinding towards the tip. So I am going to try that and instead of using the drill, just hand spinning to try and keep the grooves lengthwise to the tungston.

I also ordered an 800 grit diamond wheel off Amazon to see if a much finer finish will work out better.

I had a 3/32" tungston in last night with a number 8 cup. Tip sharpened to a nice point, but when I struck the arc, it was almost like a blow torch from the cup and melted out a spot almost as big as a dime in just a couple of seconds. I have the argon set at 10 liters per minute with about 1/4" stick out.

Any suggestions or ideas I have not thought of.

Thanks
Glenn

Glenn make sure you don't have mixed gas. The cup is too large in my opinion. You need a 5 or 6. 8 is way too large. If you are welding aluminum make sure you are set for around 30% AC balance. 120-150 hz AC frequency.

You also could have mixed gas or contaminated gas.

WOW, just saw the title. Sharpending LOL

The tank could be contaminated I guess, I got it from my local supplier, its deff labeled as Argon and what welds I have done are clean (steel and aluminum, tinkered with Stainless). I wonder if I might have contaminated my tungston. Got the hz at about 100 to 120, balance I have tried as little as 10% up to 40% After watching others videos of aluminum welding, it really made me pay attention to the arc and mine is deff not as tight as it should be as well as it seems to wander easily. Gonna try the new sharpening method tonight and report back.

Thanks
Glenn

It's likely you are holding too far off the metal. You should be about a penny's thickness off the metal if you can...no more than a quarter. Those videos exaggerate the distance. The further off you are, the more the arc will be unstable and spread out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Depdog

Has anyone done a comparison on tungston quality? I can get very cheap tungston from weldingcity.com in 2% Blue (what I am liking so far). However I am wondering if it's good quality. Do the name brands have a better or more pure tungston. Any opinions on this.

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Funny, I just asked a similar question another forum. Initial feedback was that the cheaper consumables didn't seem to affect results. WeldingCity.com does have really good prices on tungsten. FWIW, WeldingSupply.com has Weldcraft electrodes for not too much more if you want to test a name brand, and they offer a pack of assorted sizes, but their minimum shipping fee is like $10.

Sharing research (no personal results yet), this seems to be a good solution for using a diamond wheel without the cost of a dedicated sharpener: http://www.weld.com/index.php/how-to...g-welding.html
Here's the product link: http://www.mcmaster.com/#8725a81
What he doesn't mention is that the wheel is a 1-1/4" arbor and bench grinders are 1/2". That reducer is amazingly hard to source - I eventually found one here, but had to buy 4 to meet their minimum order: http://www.supergrit.com/products/products_hardware

FWIW,
Richard

Yep, I put it in two forums hoping for a broader base of experience and answers.

The wheel he ordered is 180 grit if I remember right. I just ordered an 800 grit diamond 4" to fit my angle grinder. Gonna put on a router speed control I have to lower the rpm's and then spin the tungston by hand instead of high speed in a drill.

Thanks
Glenn

I've been using the HF 180grit diamond wheel since I saw the YouTube vid on it. I bought their $10 grinder and mounted it in a box I labeled "Tungsten Only" :D

I think it works Really well, no need to purchase a $100+ wheel IMHO...

when welding steel, if you Don't keep a tight arc, the rod balls up and your weld is the width of the rod

2% lanthanated from welding city is very good. 3/32 will give you the most mileage.

Ok, update.

Visually looking I can't really tell much of a difference in the one I spun on the drill VRS the one I hand turned. I did change the grind so that the wheel was spinning towards the tungston rather than away. A lot more messy that way.

The hand turned one was deff better than the fast spun one from the drill. So I will stick to my theory that the drill spinning so fast is causing the scratches to be sideways or wonky and affecting the arc.

Hand turned I was able to keep a much nicer arc and actually run some beads I was semi happy with.

When the 800 grit diamond wheel gets here I expect better.

Just got in a CK FlexLoc torch, so I'll give it a whirle tonight. Also just had a table cut from 1/2" plate. Laser cut with the metal $200.00
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Originally Posted by Depdog

Also just had a table cut from 1/2" plate. Laser cut with the metal $200.00

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Is the table 2' x 4' ?... looks nice. What state are you in ?

Yes it's 2'x4' with 22 1"x6" slots 1/2" thick. Shop I used has a laser that can handle 1" thick steel. I pick it up on Thursday (have to work tomorrow). I am really excited about it.

I am in GA.

Thanks
Glenn

Anyone seen the new purple band that's supposed to replace the red band?

That's what I had to buy today to weld some aluminum with.

I have seen and heard of them, but never use them. The 1.5 Lant (Gold Band) is very close to it, just does not have the added rare earths. Never welded with either.

Glenn

just wondering what some of U think about the dipping paste used for sharpening?....Chem Sharp is one name brand i believe.

Pros/Cons about paste?

Chem sharp isn't a paste. It's a dry material like a salt ( some sort of diazonium compound). It turns slightly molten around the tungsten when heated. It works great, if not perfect with a little practice.