New 3" exhaust and pics

[cjames]

I like to TIG stainless at around 15 CFH on the argon flow meter. More if theres a breeze or something. I purged the pipe with argon too for most of the welds on that system. The way I have my regulator set up, I can just crack the little valve after the flowmeter for the purge line.

 

Like I said, that Century arc machine runs TIG very, very nice. It holds a very steady arc, and as long as I remember to turn my air compressor off it doesn't fluctuate power at all.

 

I'm guessing I was welding at around 45-50 amps for that .065" tube. As long as you dont have huge holes to fill, 1/16" 316 filler rod is good. With that machine, I cant weld aluminum, which I have to take to work and use something with high freq.

 

Any DC arc welder can be used as a power supply for TIG welding, just purchase the torch, hose and cable, a regulator and an argon cylinder. Remember, you TIG with the electrode negative. Some nicer TIG machines have gas solenoids, remote amp control, high freq, among many other features, but really you can get by without all that.

[grumpyvette]

after reading that, Im both impressed with your ingenuity and thankful Ive got a water cooled 300 amp tig torch, and 100 amp feed circuit on my tig welder. It took me years of looking to find a decent used TIG with the water cooled torch etc, for what Ive got into the equipment cost, btw correctly hooking UP a dedicated 100 amp breaker and adding a 50 ft 2aw, 3 conductor feed cost damn near what the welder cost, and it weights easily 900lbs plus, so be aware of that when you get a price on a USED OLDER TIG, I picked mine up from a shop that was going out of business for ALOT less than a similar capacity newer TIG would have cost , I have about $1500 in the rig and a new tig could easily cost $7K,

BTW Ive found blocking off the ends of the exhaust pipes with metalic backed air conditioner duct tape and flushing the inside of the pipe sections with argon helps the weld quality just like you stated, Ill need to check on the tig rods Im useing as I don,t remember the id number

[cjames]

We have one like this at work, and I find myself using it more than I use any of our other welders. Alot of the welding we do is not something you can bring back to the shop and do on the bench. They are light, portable, and tough too, its been dropped from over 10feet (that I know of), we use it in the freezer (-40 degrees), its been soaked with water more times than I can count, and it keeps on ticking.

 

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/maxstar_150_sth/

 

If I ever upgrade my welder at home, I'll buy one like that. At 14lbs, you can carry it anywhere, and it runs on 110VAC. No, I dont work for Miller, but I love these little inverters for stick and TIG.