About to jump into Tig in Indiana

[RichardH]

Welcome, Steve!

I'm finding there's a lot to learn about TIG, but with a couple hours of practice you'll be turning out decent beads (with plenty more to learn). The thing I like about TIG is that you add filler separate from the arc, unlike stick and MIG, so pausing in a spot to fix the puddle doesn't mean you end up with a fat bead there. But that means you need pretty good 2-handed coordination - although I've been doing fine soldering for decades, feeding filler rod's just not the same.

It is kinda funny though, isn't it... A lot of early projects with welding are projects you wouldn't need if you weren't into welding (cart, welding table, ...) "You see, I need a welder to make the cart... for the welder."

Cheers,
Richard

[Shaggy]

Thanks Richard, that is funny that it seems like the first thing most people weld up is a cart to hold their new welder. It's a bunch of fun to make. I felt like a real fabricator. lol
Kind of wish I was younger I think I could enjoy welding for a living. Probably the pro's will chime in and tell me it's tougher to make a living then you think. They're probably right to.
The part about controlling how you add the filler and the higher precision of tig is what got me looking into it. Some of the stuff I want to do is small and intricate and I'm hoping tig will be the way to go.

[fdcmiami]

happy to put in a good word for you. think we have one extra machine below. bring extra socks. lol



Kind of wish I was younger I think I could enjoy welding for a living. Probably the pro's will chime in and tell me it's tougher to make a living then you think.

[RichardH]

Kind of wish I was younger I think I could enjoy welding for a living.

I've come to accept that I wouldn't have nearly as much fun (nor make nearly the money I'd like) trying to make a living at most of the things I enjoy as hobbies. So, I keep the golden handcuffs on and don't resent the cost of my hobbies.

The part about controlling how you add the filler and the higher precision of tig is what got me looking into it. Some of the stuff I want to do is small and intricate and I'm hoping tig will be the way to go.

Ditto. A lot of my projects are so small that the work would be done before I could even get a MIG dialed in. So, TIG it is!

Cheers,
Richard