Fun with copper

[Gwaltnak]

Here are some pictures of tig welding copper. I don't remember all the settings but I did use 12 awg romex for fill. Works great!

[undercut]

Just playing or do you have a copper project in mind?

[cbmkr]

Looks familiar , We had a project with some copper sheets involved for a restaurant and none of the welding dealers could supply us the copper tig rod, We did the same as you did used bare romex ground wire.I guess there is not a large market for copper tig rod so nobody has it in stock.Looks pretty good and actually is the same technique as tig welding brass.

[Gwaltnak]

I have been playing around with copper to make outdoor accent pieces, as well as maybe a copper sink for my BBQ island, light fixtures, and to just test my skills.
Copper is really difficult to weld, heat just sucks out of the puddle, and the fill rod wants to stick. Can't wait to get my 250EXT working so I can try pulsing at a higher amperage

[Spike]

Romex for filler wire. It works!

When I do copper projects, I use the leftover strip that comes out of my metal shears and shape that into a wire to use as filler rod. It's nice because it's the same copper alloy as the base metals, so when it's ground and polished there's no difference in the color or texture at the seam.
Good job and keep welding!

[vicrc]

Kewl stuff, will have to try that as well. I have quite a few Romex stuff laying around from my house remodeling days.

[marvin]

Copper wire works great! Mainly because it's oxygen free copper.

[Trickle X]

I will have to give this a go! I have a few copper projects that I decided to solder and well I hate soldering copper...lol

[youngnstudly]

I've tried welding copper scraps in the past, and I tried again several months back when I first got my Everlast tig, but it has always been hit or miss for me. The really clean copper flat bar welded great with romex wire, but I have also had trouble welding (what I thought was clean copper) with romex.

My little 160STH was pretty much maxed out on a few of the beads that didn't weld so good, but I was able to back off on the heat with the clean copper and gain control of the puddle. I prepped my copper like I normally prep aluminum (a quick wipe with acetone, followed up with a clean rag). I thought that was enough, but maybe not?

[breakneckmot]

That's neat and really simple! What setting do you use to weld copper? (DCEN, DECP or AC?)

[youngnstudly]

Straight polarity (DCEN). It will take a good amount of heat (amps) to get your bead started, but once you do, it won't take near as much to keep the puddle liquified. As with welding aluminum, cleanliness is the key. Obviously you'll need smaller diameter filler rod and a thinner piece of copper if your welder is of limited capacity like my 160STH is.

[Tensas]

The 200DX welded copper romex onto carbon steel nicely. I was thinking of welding an outdoor table that could show off the contrast in color but after welding I could not get that deep color to return. Any help?

[Rambozo]

The 200DX welded copper romex onto carbon steel nicely. I was thinking of welding an outdoor table that could show off the contrast in color but after welding I could not get that deep color to return. Any help?

If you truly melt the steel, then the copper will mix in and get blotchy. Joining copper to steel should be a brazing process, where you don't melt the steel at all, just the copper. It will bond to clean steel, although you might need some flux. Depending on the color you are looking for, there are also many bronze alloys that can be used for this process.