TFS: Battle of the Tungsten Colors

Which color tungsten should I use?
That is one of the most asked questions in welding. Rather than tell you our opinion which one is best, Justin the Fabricator shows you a few pieces of tungsten in this #TIGSimple episode as a follow up to the first tungsten episode.
Tell us what you think in the comments below!
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[@leelotungal819]

I weld tig for a living every day and honestly i just go with purple for everything, works perfectly fine. From xray pipes to aluminum tanks and sheet metal work. Awesome video buddy!

[@brettservin4395]

I'm learning. I have a guy who I work with that says purple is good for everything. I guess back then there were only 2 colors. Gonna attempt aluminum tomorrow yikes 😆

[@peterscully4961]

@@brettservin4395 How did you go? Purple works on Aly just fine, unless you are paying for it - twice the price and lucky if it lasts half as long. It has similar problems if sharpened enough for fine work.

[@skeetersaurus6249]

Pink's a little slower to cone than the others, but beyond that (and a bit more adjustment for faster burn-back), it has a Smooooooooth flow (check that cone out!) and does WONDERS for small precise welds where the final product requires high-grade finishes before any rework (if allowed)...it is BY FAR, the best 'small parts / small welds' tungsten you'll get...

[@brettmansfield3136]

Man, your videos are great. This was so light hearted with great comparisons and video editing. I especially liked the slow motion arc starts. Pink and purple killed it!

[@ElementofKindness]

What I learned: Doesn't really matter which tungsten is chosen, and it's just a matter of choosing the best performance settings for the particular tungsten that is used.

[@DmitrysGarage]

But the settings will matter for what you're welding. So it's really more about having multiple tungsten choices and picking the right one for the job.

[@brettservin4395]

Too my understanding for me learning to weld aluminum the ball end can help

[@tomstiel7576]

@@brettservin4395 on thicker metal,not so much on thin

[@d.b.o.c.6852]

So u didn't learn that much. Interesting

[@tonytully4943]

Thanks for all the testing and info. Very nice to see someone put all this work together for the rest of us to see

[@firstmkb]

Justin, this was an amazing video showing the differences, and was extremely thorough. It's way beyond me, but was still interesting. If you ever have spare time to kill, it would be interesting to see how differently they work in different special circumstances. Thanks for the time it took to make this!

[@jamessonger3]

Gotta love it when you do a test with the exact same machine i use. But i use blue and purple for my choices. Nice video!

[@bluehornet6752]

Amazing editing in this video--great job!

[@tombaker2523]

Just wanted to say thank you for the info on the various Tig electrodes. I am just now starting to learn how to Tig weld buying all my consumables for various metals and such the info is much appreciated 👍.

[@loveapocalyptus]

I'm learning how to tig...thank you for sharing this information...please dont hesitate to add more in your lessons..

[@cablessleeping]

The pink looked to have had promise. I used gray (2% ceriated ) recently- it was great! The rod didn’t ball up much at all, so I’m able to direct the heat to a very specific spot as the arc wander is at a minimum

[@kaylapearcey2527]

Thanks for your videos. just bought a JD2 model 32 bender after watching your videos. You saved me from making the mistake of getting a pipe bender.

[@Bravo-ry9st]

Excellent informational video, great example for all other youtubers!!!

[@ChrisWojnarski]

Thanks for the good video. I been using blue for a while and am happy with it. Been wanting to try one of the new ones out lately. Thanks to your video I think I am going to go with pink

[@88jscott88]

Thorough enough for me! Another video going more in depth would be good to see weld pattern differences, but I like that this video gave me a breakdown of the main differences in the arc patterns of Tungsten electrodes. I watched all the way to the end ;P

[@rossy83]

I would love to see the CNC welding. Please do it when you have time. Thanks for the great content!

[@amanofmanyparts9120]

Another well made informative video. I've saved it for future reference.

[@jamesgulrich7416]

Thanks for the video. I've tried several different kinds of tungsten over the years, but as a hobbyist, I don't have a lot of money to see what I like. So, Cody, the godfather of welding on KZbin, said that blue works for about everything he does and that's good enough for me.

[@TheFabricatorSeries]

James Gulrich Just about every welding store sells 2packs of tungsten which is cheap. Weldporn sells a multi-pack as well. That saves you some money to try out new stuff. There's nothing wrong with blue... It's all up to preference, but it's worth discovering your preference by trying something new.

[@StreetMachine18]

Just like the best power ranger, the only vote is for pink!!!!

[@kazinazrul5858]

Thank you very much for great instruction. Excellent.

[@paulmorrey733]

Thanks Justin Great info

[@corygodwin814]

Awesome videos bro once again. Pink and purple killed it. Before this video all my friends swore 2% lanthanated was the best for sst and alumni. I'm sold on pink and purple lol

[@thomasbarlow4223]

so excited to read these comments

[@1g2gautosport85]

Bruh. Thank you for the free knowledge. Much appreciated.

[@davidmorgan8612]

Well........ I like..........to switch out my buddies tungsten with a piece of stainless and sit back and wait for the cussing!!! Hahahahaha

[@KerbsterCrushtic]

you monster

[@tattoorocker]

a buddy of mine did that to me at welding school I did get a little bit upset but when the teacher told me what happened I just laughed because I thought it was a good prank

[@9595david]

Amazing video!! I’d love to see this test done with different metals. I can’t imagine each would net the same results as in this test. Would love to see that!

[@zacharytuttle5618]

I've been told ceriated is the best for aluminum and lanthinated for stainless. I have not done a comprehensive test though.

[@wadepatton2433]

Jody likes blue. He's a good instructor too.

[@haylspa]

thank you for your videos I am learning so much!!!

[@umavrick1730]

Never knew about the pink, awesome video and thank you 👍

[@davidgeorgea]

Mmm very interesting to see this and from it make your choice. I wonder how many welders use the tungsten sharpener . I was taught to grind the tip so that the grain ran straight with the tungsten . The spiralling grind would cause the current to fire around and not straight . One thing l learn is don’t be afraid to try different ways to improve your welding techniques. And the more you practice the better . Most welding M/C are different . And when buying get the best you can afford. I would definitely want one with high frequency start 🤗

[@ronguise7020]

During the one minute run, you could clearly see a difference in the shape of the puddle. It would be interesting to see the shape afterwards in normal light. I think that would also give you an indication of which has the most stability.

[@momobadilak]

I was starting to notice that in the video (noob here) ..but the pink seemed to have a nice shape. would you agree?

[@ronguise7020]

I agree. I thought looking at the puddle, pink look the most consistent and concentric. Also, I am definitely no expert.

[@garytodd5605]

All of the different tungsten in my box is collecting dust except for the blue.

[@danieljandt6981]

Im just getting set up in my shop, im going to try to tig weld or learn to tig weld on a miller 301 G trailblazer. I can Mig and stick. that was from my days of trial and error. i love the video and learned a lot. thank you. o yea Pink🛡

[@ianrudge8789]

Wonderful video as ever and useful information too help us all ....something u may consider when u visit this next time is th arc stability is affected buy th amout of oxides in th weld puddle causing th arc to flutter buy moving th torch or work piece so th arc has fresh oxides u may get a different set of results.. as u talked about using your cnc to see how they weld may be th answer... thank u for doing these tests for u all to see arc shots are brilliant u can actually see th arc switching from ep to en going from th point of the electrode to th sides of th point brilliant camera work .. thanks again...... Ian UK

[@andersenchong]

I loved pink tungsten result

[@PBS-nm1uu]

great demo thanks

[@bikertrash78]

We switched from reds to purples at work a few years ago. Love them. No complaints aside from needing more frequent touch ups. Great arc stability.

[@alexscott730]

Brett T. Purples are garbage.Constantly sharpening them.

[@bikertrash78]

Alex Scott I don't particularly care for that either. PITA. They weld nice though. When they're clean.

[@alexscott730]

Brett T. They last about 5mins then they need sharpening again...

[@davideason5654]

Nice demo

[@nemyaw2770]

This is some good stuff

[@isaks3243]

i always weld gold colored tungsten at work cause that is the one they provide, would be nice to see a comparison with the gold color tungsten. but i used to always run grey for steel and stainless and purple for aluminium and it have worked good enough for my applications.

[@elfinyootube7971]

Man, i love your videos but honestly, i wish you'd just make a short video about which tungsten you use for what, and thats exactly what i would do. (to get started anyway) The more videos i watch and the more i read about tungstens, the more confused i get...

[@pn2365]

Iirc He says it doesnt matter much but he uses purple. he says 3/32 for most. I don’t remember which video.

[@harperjmichael]

Looks like I now need to get some new tungsten! I've had a hell of a time with 2% on my AHP, could tell the arc wanted to wander like crazy.

[@harperjmichael]

@Dennis Young lanthenated / blue.

[@BrianNichol]

Just started using 2% ceriated (grey) was cool to use one tungsten for stainless and then aluminum, and seemed really stable to me, at least compared to pure tungsten lol

[@heavymetalworks6375]

my fav to use is 2% thor or e3. On old machines i like pure tungsten dark green on alum.

[@mrmidnight32]

My 2% Thor sucks on AC. It clumps doesn’t ball and my cone is all over the place. For DC welding it’s amazing tho. But sucks on AC.

[@GeekInJeep]

I haven't used all of these, so can't offer the strongest of opinions, but I've always liked the E3. You can use it with steel or aluminum as long as you are using an inverter.

[@craighamilton5937]

The multi-mix Pink seems to have the cleanest weld pool by far compared to the rest. Was the gas, type, flow, lens the same? Was the material the same? Had the material been cleaned the same for each electrode test? Moore of an observation than a complaint however with a dirty weld pool, no electrode will be able to maintain a stable arc.

[@PM17E5]

4G64 FTW!! Is that one of your projects? I did a DOHC conversion with a KIA head on mine, poor man's EVO engine. Before I even did that though I did a very cheap easy (utilizing junkyard ignition coils) coil over plug conversion to get rid of the two coils. It made the car feel much better. And that's after having my 500 dollar COP setup die, never again wasting money on that junk.

[@philtitus7860]

I'd like to see this test done to compare inverter versus transformer machines.

[@davidschwartz9636]

That's a good question Phil, and I'd like to see the result. A few years ago now, when inverter based machines were just getting established, I can remember being told they worked better with different tungsten to the big old transformer machines.

[@notgoingQuietly410]

gonna have to grab some of that multi mix that was really clean after the reset

[@TheFabricatorSeries]

Chris Irish Definitely! I have a link to the stuff I used in the description.

[@b00stedss63]

Very Interesting results I used to use E3 for both ac and dc welding in my inverter but found I would get noduals extremely fast on ac and it was making the arc wander so I gave 2% lanthanated a try and that seemed to be way better now we have an older transformer machine at work that I do pretty much strictly ac with and they used pure tungsten and thoriated but I was having all kinds of issues so I found a piece of E3 at work and that was way better then I brought in some 2% lanthanated and I've stuck to that seems to work the best for me

[@DonziGT230]

I'd love to see some tests with DC, bonus if you can show which starts easiest with a lift TIG machine.

[@mikemuniak4711]

I got all the colors and just starting to learn to tig weld ,hope I can figure it out lol

[@peterscully4961]

Rare earth are great(purple and I think your green,) but expensive. I strongly recommend zirconiated (white) for Aly or other AC such as Magnesium (but 50% balance is irrelevant,) Ceriated is the best for thin metal like car bodies, Lanthanated is the go to for all-rounder. Thoriated is also good for DC work and lasts the longest, but can't be used for AC.

[@Darkdexter123]

Love the channel

[@clay10h77]

I know we all hated when the shop changed to lanthinated from the old red when hi amp roll welding carbon pipe roots. Lanthinated electrodes meant more trips to the grinder because of contamination without touching the puddle. We were running in the 200 to 270 amp range. But for ac aluminum in that test my pic is pink for sure!

[@TravisAndrew1]

I LIKED E3. the red ones kept me up at night

[@CityPyro]

Thorium is a radioactive element

[@gatekeeperoffroad4252]

I use pink for steel red for stainless and blue for alluminum thanks for your dedication to science

[@weld_dat_fakah740]

It's good to see stuff like this. Because I've been welding for years 2% lanthanated and it's worked great but now I will definitely give pink a try

[@Patriottoo2]

I haven't watch the video, yet. So, I have a question... how does the color of paint on the end of an electrode affect the performance?

[@weld_dat_fakah740]

It's a way to identify the make up of the tungsten. They all have different elements added to the tungsten so it's just a way to visually identify what is in that specific electrode, as they all look the same it would not be possible to identify it without the color code

[@Patriottoo2]

@@weld_dat_fakah740 So, when I order tungsten, do I specify by content or color?

[@weld_dat_fakah740]

Contents

[@dhtsoaedsdhtnadi9575]

watched to the end!

[@Cholton327]

Blue seems to be the middle, meaning more consistent, it did( well) all over. Not just one test . Pink,purple, blue roll the dice is what it looked like to me. Any of them would work. ....nice video dude. Ty for the time....

[@matthewhood3243]

The pink but I mix is the best arc!

[@dlewis4647]

Many people don't know this but on that sharpener if you adjust it the tungsten will ride in a different spot on the diamond wheel and provide much better quality grind. The adjustment is not very well documented in the manuals for it.

[@mummbles82]

50/50 balance, I vote pink as it has the best arc start and formed the Best puddle to start welding. I personally tried blue on aluminum and did awesome! Used purple, red, grey on DC. I have yet to personally weld with chartreuse and pink.

[@strangetamer69x12]

Like watching paint dry. I suddenly feel the urge to put my head through a wall hahaha

[@garymucher9590]

Just starting TIG welding, I am presently trying to get anything to work. Once I gain the skills to know the different, then I will understand the difference. But right now, getting anything to work even a little is my goal... :-)

[@magnus5356]

Always like some of the pink.

[@sharpeguns1]

Coming up on a Big Alum job. Best of everything Alum.

[@toms8466]

I think a 100 percent pure tungsten with a truncated taper would have performed best on aluminum, but it really depends on your application and preference. For example, the pure tends to work well on somewhat flat pieces but it wanders substantially if you are working in any sort of hole, where a rare earth blend keeps it's precision. If you have techniques that blow what other people say out of the water though more power to ya.

[@Equiluxe1]

I still use thoriated for stainless but have found that there is not enough difference in the others for aluminium to make much odds so I get whatever is cheapest at the time from my supplier but never pure tungsten. The radioactivity of thorium in the quantities involved are not enough to be worried abbout unless you make a habbit of breathing the grinding dust from sharpening the tungsten's, greater risk of silicosis so wear a dust mask when grinding anything.

[@Chris-vx5kp]

I'd like to see this test for DC stainless. We used red at the shop, but I started using blue for my own use there. I was wondering how they would perform against each other. That's for the great video.

[@fabchild6414]

I love using blue on stainless

[@Chris-vx5kp]

@@fabchild6414 Same. It does so well on delicate items like 18 gauge and thinner.

[@RAWRMotorsports]

Pink looks most stable at the end but hey I've never even tig welded .. but 8 got a little cheap tig machine other day .. just gotta get some argon 😃

[@deathsicon]

im fairly new to welding but whats worked really well for me to ac weld aluminum is a 3/32" 2% lanth that I sharpen and grind off the sharp point till I have a small flat spot at the end maybe 1/4 at most of the diameter of the electrode

[@gangleweed]

Funny you should day that.......many years ago I worked with a guy who did a lot of Tig work and he ground his tungsten point at a 45 deg angle because he said it delayed the point getting burned off.....and he polished his tungsten on the diamond tool grinder....Is that being super fussy or just him?

[@deathsicon]

@@gangleweed I've never tried the polishing step so I couldn't day, but I use a diamond wheel that came with the sharpening guide for the dremel , definitely works better than when I started using an angle grinder

[@laiky71]

I started TIG welding with a dynasty inverter, using lanthanated. I have tried ceriated a number of times, but i find it pretty awful. Maybe on thinner stuff? I don't know. I have had luck with Thoriated, and i used pure tungsten on a transformer machine in a class i took, i found i could weld well with it. Basically i only use 2% Lanthanated because that's all i need to use. No fears of radiation, better than pure or ceriated on aluminum, lasts long, i can ball it if i want to and it's pretty cheap. If there is a new option that is better than 2% Lanthanated, i'm game. Also, i cut my tungsten and double end them, so if i had more than one alloy available, i would quickly lose track of it. Another reason i like 2% Lanthanated.

[@frankhughes4600]

Can’t find the “Positive AC balance” setting on my 1970's vintage Lincoln Idealarc 300/300 ac/dc TIG welder! Going to guess 50/50, as it is just spark gap technology.

[@jimfitzgibbon5492]

Yep pink & purple

[@PabloDelafuria]

why im I watching this? i don't even own a tig welder xD

[@77Avadon77]

Once you tig you will forever

[@shanecateriny4359]

The lord knows you need TIG welding in your life. That is why.

[@exhaustfumes927]

Same here

[@amanofmanyparts9120]

I bought one, but it came without any tungstens (or heat shields), so I'm waiting for some to be delivered. In the meantime I need to swap my argon/CO2/O2 mix for pure argon. If I need to go back to mig I can always use pure CO2. Not that I'm bragging (but I am) I also have propane for preheating and oxy/ace for welding, brazing and burning! Oh, and a couple of small propane torches.

[@twindragon731]

It's nice to have options when welding. Stick/mig/tig. Each has their purpose.

[@texasrocker01]

Pink, Blue, Purple, Gray, Green. My order. I usually use 2% Lanthanated. Might order some Multi-mix.

[@TheSilentNL]

last week some one gave me the 2% Thoriated WT20 electrode i've never had an electrode wich welded so smooth as the red one, thinking of buying a pack for the higher amp welds. i normally use the WL20 purple.

[@BreakneckTrent]

New battle of the tungsten colors

[@shanecateriny4359]

TIG welding, will soon no longer be a dream of mine! TIG welding, reality!!!!!!

[@MichaelJWane]

Just bought my first TIG machine a few days ago, also excited about what’s to come!

[@Zfrk]

@thefabricationseries 5 years later, it might be time to amend this one since you're now sending the "chartreuse" LaYzEr tungsten with Weld Metals Online orders. I'm a little surprised you haven't already done a video on it specifically yet. I've got more Lanthinated tungsten than I'll probably ever go through, let alone push to it's limits, and a lone, unsharpened, layzer hanging around, so I'm curious as to why the push towards the latter?

[@aaron_z3383]

Would be very accurate if you do rig up the cnc. I'd really like to see this test on steel.

[@permagrin8742]

Other than burning back a lot on initial start( no biggie, just get the tip formed and reset) the pink seemed to have by far the best qualities, cone, startup scatter, puddle area containment. So multi mix seems best on that test. Would it change on steel or stainless? Different properties? Was the aluminum test plate fully prepped, scoured and acetone washed? I only ask since it wasn’t mentioned.

[@oceanhouse8080]

Let's compare thorium to q4 e3 and multi I liked e3 and multi mix for best overall arc quality, makes me wonder if thorium's is still king

[@danielkuchenberg7046]

What is balance? Maybe a video on setting up a TIG welder where you explain all the terms and settings. Thanks

[@chrishorbatt3504]

Just ran across this, good comparison, I've been using purple for a long time now, and it did good, so no need to change!

[@scottcarr3264]

Here in Australia I haven't seen the Pink or the Bright Green(Q4) I use Ceriated for AC and the Purple (E3) for DC.

[@Chubsandsubs]

scott carr I've used pink here in Australia. I think you have to order them online because local gas stores like Boc don't sell them.

[@peter21863]

At the end of the day red tipped tungsten knocks the socks out of all the others. Every other tungsten I've ever used don't last, can't handle the amps, end up splintering and splitting. When u sharpen most colours apart from the red ones they fall apart.

[@pdczrwnskz]

I used blue in school but use pink now. I like the arc on it

[@JustinGray70]

E3 Purple put on quite a show

[@TheBeardedWorker]

Interesting results. I would of like to see white in there tho

[@rich1953]

Pink, then purple. Pink displayed more burn back though.

[@Phantom-mk4kp]

What would be interesting would be pick one or two colours but different brands, cheapest to most expensive

[@LoneWolfZ]

I use a transformer hybrid machine (synchrowave 350) and I just go with ol' reliable. 2% thoriated. Besides, it's handy to have around as a radioactive source

[@luffararnesugerkuk]

It is human nature to be bias, all of us no exceptions! Could also tell you lean pink and the whole video have got a print of that all over it, so sure yes YT people will say this or that, of course they will count on a challenge from all kinds of corners hehe.. But on the flip side, I have yet to try one of those pink Tungsten's so just give me all the more drive to go do just that, imho there are so many aspects to getting it all right according to our own preferences, materials, Tungsten, the whole machine itself and gas/gasflow, my own technique, etc.. This create almost infinitive combinations and trying to sort out what work the best can be a long term job, when I think I have it dialed it and whops something enter the scene and tear me down again, start building back. It's all good, search for perfection is an adventure for life and we will not even reach the goal haha

[@jamest.5001]

What's the big deal with tungskin? I'm thinking about making the leap to tig, alot of what I do is stick, with some mig from a 120v welder with gas, I'm looking to upgrade to either a larger 220v mig or a tig.

[@julio43988]

Obrigado pela teoria das cores aprendi muito

[@haylspa]

multi pink stableized its cone the fastest even the it had a late start actually was the most stable the whole last run so theres my vote

[@stevecastaneda4425]

Pink is more stable and which one is for stainless using?

[@luvkountry]

Would there be any difference by grinding the tungsten with the rotation of the grinding devices instead of against the rotation of the grinding devices? Would that change any of characteristics of the actual arc.

[@kf8575]

Ceriated for us. Where i work, 99% of the time it's all DC welding. Carbon, stainless, duplex, chrome, and the odd bit of inconel and monel every now and then