It’s about time you guys put a skills package together for us guys who REALLY suck at welding, 🤣🤣🤣. Stick - ✅ mig - ✅ Oxy - meh Tig - HOLY CRAP!!! 🤣🤣🤣 Love my Unimig, a far better welder than they’re given credit for.
Funny .. selecting the right electrode is simple. Finding the full range of Unimig tungsten electrodes in stock is HARD! I recently ordered some online (6 packs of 10) to be told after a week of waiting that they're waiting on stock from Unimig and they expect it to be another 6 weeks. I cancelled the order and I'm now hunting. It's very frustrating that something that should be incredibly easy to source is insanely hard. If Unimig resellers can't stock the full range, Unimig NEED to set up a rapid despatch online service to supply those things DIRECT. The same goes for filler, wire, rods, etc. Even more frustrating is that the place I purchased my Unimig welders from try to push their house brand stuff. Doesn't Unimig have any ability to enforce ranging Unimig fillers and consumables when they sell their welders and cutters?
Funny .. selecting the right electrode is simple. Finding the full range of Unimig tungsten electrodes in stock is HARD! I recently ordered some online to be told after a week of waiting that they're waiting on stock from Unimig and they expect it to be another 6 weeks. I cancelled the order and I'm now hunting.
I like to deal directly with a welding shop like Gasweld or BOC Gases. BOC is where I bought my Tig Welder and they Had most of the Tungstens, cups and collets as well.
I see you're displaying a dodgy old grinder sharpening electrodes .. but there's a bunch of options out there made for accurately sharpening different thickness electrodes at different angles. I'm a noob and have zilch in experience .. but some of the pros seem to take electrode prep very seriously. How much difference would you expect between a "looks good enough" grind on grandad's old bench grinder v's a $3K professional electrode sharpener? Personally I'm considering one of the multi angle Dremel attachments that are all over Ebay. Dumb?
I've been tigging since I was 17 and I'm 61 now, so I guess I've been around the tig block a few times, lol ..... But to be honest unless you're doing certified work with welding specifications that call for specific prep, process and testable weld quality, you're not going to notice much difference. My first welding job in So-Cal in the late 70's was for a company that had the contract to weld all of the Redline BMX racing frames. Thin wall Chromoly tubing. Since it was piece work paid, we used to "quickly" grind a handful of tungsten on both ends with a vertical belt sander, usually doing it the wrong way, lol, ie holding the tungsten partly sideways instead of vertically, and rotate it until you had the point taper you desired. Technically the grain pattern should be straight down to the point, and not swirling as you rotate the tungsten, but again to be honest it made very little noticeable difference. We were known for our signature weld style and they were strong AND beautiful and done very quickly. Is the arc more stable with straight grain? Yeah, marginally. Is there the potential that the tungsten will have some minute contaminent from the grinding wheel or sanding belt? Maybe, but will it affect the weld quality for the average guy? No. Will it make or break the average even skilled welders weld? No. Is it best to do it properly? Sure of course, but my point is that for most guys, it's going to be a negligible difference, and i can say that after having 1,000's of successful welds in service on all manner of things. Ive done Aerospace in the past and that is a different world where the welding process is often specified and non destructive testing employed, and there it makes sense to carefuly prep your tungsten to insure the purest weld pool you can. The precision grinders are nice tho because a) you DO get a proper grind everytime, b) You get it without burning your fingers trying to rotate the hot from grinding tungsten, and c) it's way faster, AND its safer (if you're grinding 2% thoriated).
Personally I don't have 3 grand for a purpose built Diamond grinder. But you can easily buy a Silicon carbide wheel at Welding supply shops, put it on one side of your bench grinder and end up with a Tungsten Grinder, and you only use THAT wheel for Sharpening Tungstens.
Mate, this is the best video on choosing your tungsten I found. Subscribed, gonna binge your videos on the holidays
It’s about time you guys put a skills package together for us guys who REALLY suck at welding, 🤣🤣🤣.
Stick - ✅
mig - ✅
Oxy - meh
Tig - HOLY CRAP!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Love my Unimig, a far better welder than they’re given credit for.
Thanks for the great feedback!
2% Lanthanated in 1.6mm, 2.4mm, and 3.2 depending on my amps i need., My main Tungsten for 99 % of my welding both DC & AC
i would like to see a video on the Razor 320 watercooled
2:20 actually, irridium has the highest melting point of any pure element. Alloys can go higher.
At 2:08 don't sit in one spot on your grinding wheel. Keep moving it across the wheel to extend the wheel life.
nah, im a 3 groove grinding wheel kind of guy
That’s very clear , thanks !! 👍🏼👍🏾
Funny .. selecting the right electrode is simple. Finding the full range of Unimig tungsten electrodes in stock is HARD! I recently ordered some online (6 packs of 10) to be told after a week of waiting that they're waiting on stock from Unimig and they expect it to be another 6 weeks. I cancelled the order and I'm now hunting.
It's very frustrating that something that should be incredibly easy to source is insanely hard. If Unimig resellers can't stock the full range, Unimig NEED to set up a rapid despatch online service to supply those things DIRECT. The same goes for filler, wire, rods, etc. Even more frustrating is that the place I purchased my Unimig welders from try to push their house brand stuff. Doesn't Unimig have any ability to enforce ranging Unimig fillers and consumables when they sell their welders and cutters?
Really WELL DONE - Thank you for this very clear and instructive video! Excellent.
can you recommend the least toxic tungsten for those without a fume extractor
Purple is the new revised red tungsten everyone I know has made the switch to only purple for the durability and overall performance over the red one
Funny .. selecting the right electrode is simple. Finding the full range of Unimig tungsten electrodes in stock is HARD! I recently ordered some online to be told after a week of waiting that they're waiting on stock from Unimig and they expect it to be another 6 weeks. I cancelled the order and I'm now hunting.
I like to deal directly with a welding shop like Gasweld or BOC Gases. BOC is where I bought my Tig Welder and they Had most of the Tungstens, cups and collets as well.
Brilliant video thank u 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Good info. Thanks
I see you're displaying a dodgy old grinder sharpening electrodes .. but there's a bunch of options out there made for accurately sharpening different thickness electrodes at different angles. I'm a noob and have zilch in experience .. but some of the pros seem to take electrode prep very seriously. How much difference would you expect between a "looks good enough" grind on grandad's old bench grinder v's a $3K professional electrode sharpener?
Personally I'm considering one of the multi angle Dremel attachments that are all over Ebay. Dumb?
I've been tigging since I was 17 and I'm 61 now, so I guess I've been around the tig block a few times, lol ..... But to be honest unless you're doing certified work with welding specifications that call for specific prep, process and testable weld quality, you're not going to notice much difference. My first welding job in So-Cal in the late 70's was for a company that had the contract to weld all of the Redline BMX racing frames. Thin wall Chromoly tubing. Since it was piece work paid, we used to "quickly" grind a handful of tungsten on both ends with a vertical belt sander, usually doing it the wrong way, lol, ie holding the tungsten partly sideways instead of vertically, and rotate it until you had the point taper you desired. Technically the grain pattern should be straight down to the point, and not swirling as you rotate the tungsten, but again to be honest it made very little noticeable difference. We were known for our signature weld style and they were strong AND beautiful and done very quickly. Is the arc more stable with straight grain? Yeah, marginally. Is there the potential that the tungsten will have some minute contaminent from the grinding wheel or sanding belt? Maybe, but will it affect the weld quality for the average guy? No. Will it make or break the average even skilled welders weld? No. Is it best to do it properly? Sure of course, but my point is that for most guys, it's going to be a negligible difference, and i can say that after having 1,000's of successful welds in service on all manner of things. Ive done Aerospace in the past and that is a different world where the welding process is often specified and non destructive testing employed, and there it makes sense to carefuly prep your tungsten to insure the purest weld pool you can. The precision grinders are nice tho because a) you DO get a proper grind everytime, b) You get it without burning your fingers trying to rotate the hot from grinding tungsten, and c) it's way faster, AND its safer (if you're grinding 2% thoriated).
Personally I don't have 3 grand for a purpose built Diamond grinder. But you can easily buy a Silicon carbide wheel at Welding supply shops, put it on one side of your bench grinder and end up with a Tungsten Grinder, and you only use THAT wheel for Sharpening Tungstens.
I dip my tungsten like 10 times a day 😂