tungsten choice

[Winky]

Been welding for about a decade but I am a noob when it comes to AC TIG welding ... in anticipation of the arrival of my new machine I stopped at Airgas yesterday grabbed some aluminum filler rod and asked the guy behind the counter for some 2% lanthinated tungsten ... he sees I have aluminum and tells me the lanthinated is for steel and stainless only ... I asked him what I should be using and he says pure tungsten. Now this guy has never steered me wrong before but I've heard from many people that pure tungsten is pure crap ... I think I even heard Jody say to stay with the 2% ... so now I'm totally confused.

[Rodsmachineshop]

he needs to get with the times , pure is for tig old machines but not on the new ones . 2% lanthinated tungsten or Tungsten, 2% Ceriated, is the rite for the everlast machine . not pure . the manual say do not use pure tungsten http://www.everlastgenerators.com/do...ertigfinal.pdf

[Brian Ski]

I asked the same question a while back. 2% Lanthanated seemed to be a good all around. Sure some kinds of Tungsten seem to be a little better for one kind of welding but worse for others. Some people have a preference, it has to be this etc. Unless you are doing very specialized welding 2% lanthanated seems to be a good middle of the road.

Thoriated was better for DC steel welding, but Lanthanted was pretty good. Just what I have picked up and I am not a TIG welder yet.

[Rodsmachineshop]

2% Lanthanated is what i use all the time. I order some better welding tig gas lens today

[KSmith]

Been welding for about a decade but I am a noob when it comes to AC TIG welding ... in anticipation of the arrival of my new machine I stopped at Airgas yesterday grabbed some aluminum filler rod and asked the guy behind the counter for some 2% lanthinated tungsten ... he sees I have aluminum and tells me the lanthinated is for steel and stainless only ... I asked him what I should be using and he says pure tungsten. Now this guy has never steered me wrong before but I've heard from many people that pure tungsten is pure crap ... I think I even heard Jody say to stay with the 2% ... so now I'm totally confused.

Winky, a good low price source for tungsten http://www.weldingcity.com/

ken

[Winky]

Thanks everyone ... that confirms what I was thinking ... 2% it is ... fortunately I have a few pre-cut and pre-sharpened that I was using with my old unit. Ken, thanks for the link ... I'll ck it out.

[Brian Ski]

Winky, a good low price source for tungsten http://www.weldingcity.com/

ken

I will second that... I just picked up a couple sets from him. Best prices I could find...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200720864107...84.m1497.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200720864107...84.m1497.l2649

[everlastsupport]

I'll chime in here as well. As the prices seemed to good to be true.

I have used his ER70 wire (what a deal I got on two spools back at Christmas $9 for 11lbs) and his 2% lanthanated for probably 6 months or more now. No problems at all. I like them much better than the weldcraft 2% thoriated I did use.

His labeling looks cheap and made me nervous too when they showed. So far so good. I gave the weldcraft to a friend.

[everlastsupport]

Quick note. The new forum on shop tips and tricks, etc. Under chat lounge. If you want to get posts for any of the contest.

Go there and talk about (review) the tungsten or a tool you made (Rod will win there). About to post up the plasma helper purchase now. Or a picture and general thoughts.

[5440]

Winky, a good low price source for tungsten http://www.weldingcity.com/

ken

I placed an order with them 2 months ago. Order never went through. Emailed them and didn't hear nothing for a couple of weeks after that. Horrible service and I did not proceed with my order. I went to Weldfabulous and tried Weldcraft. I figured if weldcity had crap service then their products must be crap too, but that was just my experience with them.

[Brian Ski]

I placed an order with them 2 months ago. Order never went through. Emailed them and didn't hear nothing for a couple of weeks after that.

I see their ebay prices are higher... ehh... About .50 higher on a 10 pack. Not bad. I ordered through ebay and got them fast. Maybe they take care of ebay customers better... Feedback n all...

[KSmith]

I see their ebay prices are higher... ehh... About .50 higher on a 10 pack. Not bad. I ordered through ebay and got them fast. Maybe they take care of ebay customers better... Feedback n all...

I've made three orders with them, all from their .com site, not ebay. I ordered a bunch of tig torch consumables first...they were out of stock on the tungsten I wanted. Then the tungsten came in, and I ordered that and some gas lens stuff. Finally, I ordered more tungsten and a flex head WP17 torch body. All came quickly, no problems. One time I was going to order, and they had a glitch in their shopping cart, but the next day it was fixed.

ken

[redbeard]

I've made three orders with them, all from their .com site, not ebay. I ordered a bunch of tig torch consumables first...they were out of stock on the tungsten I wanted. Then the tungsten came in, and I ordered that and some gas lens stuff. Finally, I ordered more tungsten and a flex head WP17 torch body. All came quickly, no problems. One time I was going to order, and they had a glitch in their shopping cart, but the next day it was fixed.

ken

I had good luck with the website too. Got gas lenses, torch parts, a pack of tungstens and a stick holder. They only had 1.5% when I ordered, but other than that, they shipped fast and everything seems to be decent quality.

The one difference I've noticed about the lanthanated is that it seems to start much easier, especially at lower amperages.

[everlastsupport]

I placed an order with them 2 months ago. Order never went through. Emailed them and didn't hear nothing for a couple of weeks after that. Horrible service and I did not proceed with my order. I went to Weldfabulous and tried Weldcraft. I figured if weldcity had crap service then their products must be crap too, but that was just my experience with them.

Oh yea, I did have a problem, got the email address from paypal and did it that way. I think they are a one or two person show. But the materials are fine. I was shorted an item but they sent a paypal credit when I emailed (ordered two and they sent only one; didn't really need two).

But yes, problem with order and a little communication delay as there was a mistake on my order. Also, it came in 3 parts as well, two boxes one day and another on the following. But time of year, that was probably not them.

[Winky]

I'm going to get a little off topic here ... I tried using a sanding drum to dress my tungsten and it just didn't work well so I'm going to buy a 6" grinding wheel and dedicate it for tungsten what I was wondering ... every time I put a new wheel on my grinders I have to dress them down because the are always not as true as I like them ... since you want to keep a dedicated wheel for tungsten ... how can you dress it down without contaminating it?

[Paul Moir]

It gets so messed up from the tungsten that you don't bother dressing it. Actually the groove makes it easier.

Seriously though, I got one of those cheap diamond dressers which shouldn't contaminate. But I never really thought about it.

Gotta try the "slap a diamond wheel on the side of your grinder trick". I'll have to see if I can get away with side guards off though.

[KSmith]

I am using one of these dedicated to tungsten, grinding point up (wheel rotation is top down). So far so good. Have a groove already established in the center of the grinding wheel. I think the wheel is wide enough to get up to three groove tracks in the wheel, which should let the wheel last a fairly long time. I can change out the wheel of course to some other composition of wheel.
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-inch-...her-94071.html

ken

[Rodsmachineshop]

when i were out my mini grinder wheel going to get a cbn wheel last long and leave a better finish

[Winky]

It gets so messed up from the tungsten that you don't bother dressing it. Actually the groove makes it easier.

Seriously though, I got one of those cheap diamond dressers which shouldn't contaminate. But I never really thought about it.

Gotta try the "slap a diamond wheel on the side of your grinder trick". I'll have to see if I can get away with side guards off though.

When I get off work I'm heading over to Jerry's Hardware if I see one of those diamond discs I'm going to grab it otherwise I'll just stick a new 6" wheels on a grinder and use it ... I went ahead and ordered some lanthorated 2% from weldcity E bay gave them a 100% positive score hopefully the problems a couple members were having is a fluke ... the prices were so good I had to try ... will keep my fingers crossed ... went through e bay and pay pal so I feel pretty safe.

[Brian Ski]

I am using one of these dedicated to tungsten, grinding point up (wheel rotation is top down). [/url]

ken

Not knocking you but I tried that years ago with a chisel, grinding up. It caught the wheel, flipped the chisel right out of my hand and threw it across the room. Ever since then I grind down or true. Spooked the crap out of me... Don't know if it was a fluke or a safety issue. I guess you live long enough you see lots of stuff.