{"id":270,"date":"2009-03-25T10:45:44","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T18:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carmenelectrode.com\/?p=270"},"modified":"2009-03-25T11:00:30","modified_gmt":"2009-03-25T19:00:30","slug":"finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.arc-zone.com\/carmenelectrode\/2009\/03\/25\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Finally Learning to TIG Weld Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

I hate to admit it but I don’t know how to weld. Sure, I know a lot about welding, the various processes, the equipment you need– \u00a0especially the high performance TIG welding accessories at Arc-Zone.com<\/a>. \u00a0I even know a bit about plasma arc welding and cutting. But ’til now it’s all been book learnin’ and talking to a lot of knowledgeable people.<\/p>\n

Finally I got a short one-on-one lesson in TIG Welding from Arc-Zone’s own Joe Welder (aka my boss, Jim Watson)<\/a>. \u00a0Wow. What an eye opener that was!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u00a0And fun.<\/p>\n

First off, let me assure you, that contrary to popular belief, Welding is NOT for dummies. \u00a0You have to keep a lot of things in mind. And if you want to be any good, you’ll have to understand about electricity, metallurgy, a little geometry, joint fit up, and then there’s the hand-eye coordination that takes practice. And more practice.<\/p>\n

Safety First.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"flipped\"<\/p>\n

Even though with TIG welding you don’t see sparks flying, you still need eye protection. We did not have one of the super slick fancy electronic welding helmets <\/a>in stock so I had to go old skool and flip my lid up and down. \u00a0<\/p>\n

At least the helmet looked good– the orange flames matched my long-sleeved \u00a0cotton t-shirt perfectly.<\/p>\n

And check out these gloves. They’re the Firefly TIG Gloves made for women who weld<\/a>, which means the sizing is smaller. \u00a0I was suprised at how well I could maneuver the TIG Torch and the filler rod.<\/p>\n

\"how-to-hold-the-torch1\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s Jim showing me the proper way to hold the TIG torch. \u00a0It’s heavier than it looks, \u00a0and this was a WP-20 water cooled TIG torch<\/a>. \u00a0Though the torch body \u00a0itself only weighs 3 oz. you’ve got to take into consideration the weight of the cables and hoses which makes it a little awkward and it feels heavier than it really is. \u00a0Because this is delicate work, you’re using all those tiny muscles in your hand, wrist and forearm. \u00a0Of course I’m a bit of a wimp, I’ll admit it.<\/p>\n

\"themachine\"<\/p>\n

I let Jim set up the machine. \u00a0This is a basic Miller Machine upgraded with a Cool Kit<\/a> so we can use the water cooled TIG Torch. \u00a0<\/p>\n

First he opened up the Argon bottle- \u00a0slowly so as not to “shock” the flow meter. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Next he plugged in the water cooler. It was a little noisy, but not too bad. \u00a0Kinda comforting to hear the hum and gurgle since the welding machine itself was so quiet.<\/p>\n

Then he checked that the work cable was grounded to the work bench… \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jim got me a coupon to practice on, 308L Stainless Steel, and some 1\/16″ diameter \u00a0308L Stainless steel rod. \u00a0We cleaned the material with EZ Wipes to make sure there was nothing to contaminate the weld<\/a> and mess it up (I figured I could do that all by myself without any help from dirt). \u00a0<\/p>\n

Jim turned the machine to Electrode negative 150 amps, and I was ready to roll!<\/p>\n

NEXT POST: \u00a0See the results…..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hate to admit it but I don’t know how to weld. Sure, I know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arc-zone-news","category-welding-how-to","entry","fw-tab-6 fw-tabr-4"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nFinally Learning to TIG Weld Part 1 - Carmen Electrode\u2122 Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Finally Learning to TIG Weld Part 1 - Carmen Electrode\u2122 Blog -\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.arc-zone.com\/carmenelectrode\/2009\/03\/25\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carmen Electrode\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.arc-zone.com\\\/carmenelectrode\\\/2009\\\/03\\\/25\\\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.arc-zone.com\\\/carmenelectrode\\\/2009\\\/03\\\/25\\\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carmen Electrode\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.arc-zone.com\\\/carmenelectrode\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e46282544508b6da8e7a7947fcbb3dc3\"},\"headline\":\"Finally Learning to TIG Weld Part 1\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-25T18:45:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-03-25T19:00:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.arc-zone.com\\\/carmenelectrode\\\/2009\\\/03\\\/25\\\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":517,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Arc-Zone.com News\",\"Welding How-To\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.arc-zone.com\\\/carmenelectrode\\\/2009\\\/03\\\/25\\\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.arc-zone.com\\\/carmenelectrode\\\/2009\\\/03\\\/25\\\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.arc-zone.com\\\/carmenelectrode\\\/2009\\\/03\\\/25\\\/finally-learning-to-tig-weld-part-1\\\/\",\"name\":\"Finally Learning to TIG Weld Part 1 - 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