Switched from stick to TIG for thin wall tube and I’m never going back

I’ve been a boiler maker for about 8 years now, mostly doing heavy stuff like pressure vessels and big pipe. Always used stick because that’s what the old timers taught me and I figured it was fine for everything. Then last month we got a job at a food processing plant in Kansas City building some stainless handrails and supports out of 16 gauge tube. I tried to run stick on that thin wall and burnt through so many times I wanted to throw my hood across the shop. My foreman told me to just borrow his TIG rig for the rest of the job. Man, what a difference. The control you have with the foot pedal alone is night and day. I could actually see my puddle instead of guessing through all that slag. Finished the whole rest of the job with maybe 2 burn throughs total. Got my own TIG setup now. Anyone else have a moment where you realized you were using the wrong process for the job?

2 comments

2 Comments

val_bailey666d ago

TIG changed my whole world once I tried it on thin stuff.

keith_bennett6d ago

You know a buddy of mine from the local fab shop? He tried running 6010s on some thin wall fence posts once, burned a hole clean through the first weld and just sat there staring at it for a solid minute. He gave up and bought a TIG that same afternoon.