Tig welding challenge

[@supercalcium]

Desearía tener un amigo como tú Greg y que viviera cerca de casa, me encantan los experimentos que haces, yo voy a comprar desperdicios y hago mis propios experimentos. Gracias por compartir tus conocimientos. Saludos

[@Adis.K-87]

You’re a great teacher Perfect person to learn from I salute you Sir.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks for the kind words 😀👍. It’s my goal to help as many people out as possible learn to weld/fabricate stuff.

[@ironhead65]

Great idea for a video/challenge! Thanks for continuing to lead us in our learning adventure

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

No problem 😀👍. It’s actually a decent challenge and fun. I hate prepping stuff for practice, and the fact you can just grab a bag of nuts and put down super clean welds with virtually no prep time, is awesome. It’s pretty hard to do at first but it won’t take long to get good.

[@rjay1674]

Hi Greg, I have found its next to impossible to get bare steel nuts or bolts. Everything my local hardware stores sell has some form of plating or coating. I have seen several videos where guys soak hot rolled steel in regular white vinegar to remove the mill scale before welding or powder coating. I have used this process for a couple of years and it works way better than grinding scale off and is much cheaper. Awhile back I saw where someone also soaked galvanized nuts and bolts in white vinegar to remove the zinc. I have used this method several times now and it has worked very well. Have you ever done this? What are your thoughts? Thanks.

[@rjay1674]

@@melgross Yeah that doesn't work so well when you are in the middle of a project and then have to wait a week to 10 days to get them shipped. Vinegar will strip the coating off within 24 hours. Thanks for the reminder though. I seldom remember McMasterCarr. It's either the local store or Amazon depending on how soon I need it.

[@melgross]

@@rjay1674 McMastercarr is normally overnight if you order before 6:30 pm. I keep a rather large number of fasteners in stock and I still don’t always have what I need.

[@nikitanadein]

Citric acis eats away zink way faster than vinegar and doesn't stink. At room temp it'll be couple hours and literally couple minutes if you boil it

[@ypaulbrown]

Muratic acid strips zinc fast, but you need to neutralize with 1 lb baking soda per gallon of water after

[@jheissjr]

Where do you get your citric acid?

[@donsundberg5730]

Austenetic stainless steel (300 series) will be come slightly magnetic as it it cold worked. Stainless fasteners are made by cold heading and are hence heavily cold worked so they will have some magnatism.

[@melgross]

As long as there’s iron in an alloy, there will be some magnetic qualities. But the more chrome and nickel, the less magnetism.

[@ForestForTheTrees3283]

Would love to see a video on aluminum rod brazing. I know it's not fancy machine welding but it is a great skill to have. I have trouble with it. It's basically a low temp tig rod and propane torch. Kind of like soldering. Always love your videos! Thanks

[@wxdave5448]

Great exercise. I’ll definitely want to try it. Would it be similarly valuable doing it on mild steel and/or aluminum as opposed to stainless?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

You can do it on mild steel with steel nuts, and if you can find aluminum nuts that would work as well. I can tell you aluminum nuts would be a very difficult challenge. I will have to try that out soon when I get into aluminum welding 😀

[@TheBloomberg]

What color tungsten did you use? What was your tungsten angle prep? What was your grip, when and how did you rotate the nut and how did you move the torch around the corners? I am welding tube to plate and a lights on example of hand movement would have been helpful. I’ve watched all your tig videos and they have been very helpful in getting my skills up. Thanks

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

I use 2% lanth for everything because it works reliably. Angle wise I generally use an angle between fairly blunt and longer needle taper, I am not exact in this. If you use too long of a taper the arc cone is weird in the sense its position on the tip becomes erratic. Blunt works fine on ac but on dc it tends to again have issues with the arc cone. As far as hand grip, I used more like a cigar like hold with the torch neck slightly bent back (it’s a flex neck). I am working on a whole body positioning video regarding this to help everyone out. The nuts during filming were welded just around the corner and that was it. If it was a critical weld and I didn’t have a camera in my face I would probably weld it in 2 steps, half in one shot, if not 4 out of 6 sides. Tig has the ability to maintain root fusion with stops and restarts, something mig and stick cant do on a fillet weld. So starts and restarts are often much stronger with tig than other processes. This means the necessity of welding around corners is less of a concern with a skilled welder. I will also talk about this in a video where I compare the strength of tig welds to stick and mig 😀👍

[@TheBloomberg]

@ I hadn’t considered tig having stronger starts and restarts. Makes sense. Thanks for the reply. And . I really like the garbage truck repair videos

[@ypaulbrown]

Beautiful arc shots Greg !❤

[@michaelbigelow367]

Very cool! Thx Greg!

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

No problem 😀👍

[@tallyman15]

Great for practice. I have welded nuts on engine head bolts to remove them like you mentioned. Works great . What filler rod did you use for this?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

You can use 309 (stainless to mild steel) or for practice sake 308 or er70 works just fine 😀👍

[@emel60]

Hi Mr. Greg and Mr. Greg's followers! Irrelevant to this video, I have a question too ask. A highschool colleague, now a ship builder/designer has to commission a 'shaft boss' which will accommodate the engine shaft, and it will have to be welded to the struts via legs, and then to ship mainframe altogether. The material has to withstand 650MPa; the dimensions are 1100mm long, outer diameter 500mm, and 100mm is the wall thickness. I have worked in the foundry before, and such a model is simple to make, fairly easy to cast, alebeit heavy. Add enough Magnesium and you reach that yield strength of 650MPa in a jiffy. The only concern is the welding part. Could such SG cast iron cylinder be welded to the steel legs? Proposed or mandatory material for the struts is Strenx 700E/F steel)? I recommended making the cylinder in another method: bending a 100 mm plate and then welding the seam. Due to the massive thickness such a bending machine would be an issue to find in EU, hot rolled or not. But the plate of such dimensions would be easy to obtain. Such a cylinder would be simple to weld to the struts/brackets. Kind regards all.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

So I have some thoughts on that. Cast iron in specific isn’t a grade, in the sense it’s not like 1045 steel or 6061 aluminum. The weldability of cast iron is heavily dependent on what it’s made from and its carbon content. Carbon is often added to castings in high amounts because the molten melt flows into a mold better, from my understanding. The casting will be strong however it will be fairly brittle with limited ductility. When you weld on it the carbon in the casting will absorb into the weld and make the weld literally so hard it can’t be filed. The heat affected zone will often become heat hardened and will be brittle as well. To weld castings generally nickel 99 or nickel 55 is used. It has the ability to absorb carbon and not become brittle. 309 or 312 do as well, however those put more shrinkage stress on the casting and can cause weld toe cracks. So basically how well the weld will work is 100% dependent on the castings metallurgy, and how much force it might see. Another option might be to braze it, which will provide a very strong bond with mostly a disregard to what the casting is made out of. Brazing doesn’t melt the base materials.

[@davidbeard8803]

If all you've got is zinc nuts soak them in muriatic acid and rinse with water. Nice clean zinc free nuts. They will flash over (rust) pretty quick though

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

That would definitely work, it’s just far easier to no prep stainless nuts. Prep work sucks lol. I wish barefoot steel nuts were easier to find in a ready to weld state.

[@baconpizza1239]

Is a tig torch an effective replacement for Oxy Acetylene or Oxy Propane torch for removing rusted bolts?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

That’s an interesting question and something I never thought of. Would it work? I would bet it would work well in some situations. However there could be some downsides. You would have to put the ground clamp on the bolt or whatever needs to come off. If you clamped it to something near a broken bolt (say like on an engine block and you tigged the busted bolt) you could inadvertently cause the bolt thread to weld to the block. Oxy fuel and even an inductance heater would heat up the object without needing an electrical path to complete a circuit, so they wouldn’t risk fusing things together. I do tig weld stainless nuts on busted bolts fairly often, but I often clamp the ground to the nut.

[@michaelwhiting878]

I tried this once because I needed to apply heat to a rusted bracket bolt in a tight spot, but I didn’t want to get other wires and relays and a rubber hose hot by using a torch, so I turned the amps down way low to about 25 amps, and used the Lift-Arc mode (because a pedal was not possible) to protect nearby electronics, and applied heat to the bolt head in little bursts (being careful to not cause a puddle to start). Then as it cooled off a few seconds, I hit it with some penetrating oil, and it worked nicely. The surrounding components were unharmed, and the heat was essentially applied with pinpoint control.

[@nightheron714]

Nice. Would this exercise work the same way using carbon steel (and thus avoiding hexavalent chromium) as it does with stainless?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

It will yes. Keep in mind the fume from the nuts is virtually nothing when tig welded. The issue is mig or stick welding stainless produces far more fume. And since you don’t have to grind the nuts at all to prep them for welding they are ready to go right out the pack.

[@sixdegrees6434]

Greg, I’m going to try and build my own ac/dc tig welder. Apart from the usual functions on the current models, what features/functions would be on your holy grail welder machine? I’m planning 5amp-200amp with a heavy duty, glove friendly touch screen.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

That’s a wild idea, and awesome 😀👍. The main things that are of use with tig (to me) are a gas solenoid, lift arc and high frequency start (having both is helpful), adjustable timer for pre and post gas flow, and a simple pulse feature. I rarely use pulse but for very specific uses it’s handy. For ac welding there are a bunch of must have things such as: ac/balance (balance of negative to positive, preferably 60 to 90% EN) and frequency (60hz to 200). My dynasty can tune a ton of other things (like different amperage’s on en vs ep) but for the most part the settings aren’t very useful. The best tig welds on dc that exist on the internet could probably be done by a scratch start tig setup on a 200$ Amazon welder. A/c capability is what really separates welders from one another.

[@sixdegrees6434]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg I didn’t expect the lift arc being necessary. I’m not a welder though. Just someone that wants to learn and make the whole thing a frustrating hobby as I do. What pulse frequency is useful? 0.5 to 20 or so? Is a screen useful or are dials preferred? Thank you for taking the time to answer.

[@michaelwhiting878]

Weld-Through Primers? I have seen several welding/fabricating videos where they are using Weld-Through Primers. I get that we want to weld on bright shiny metal, and I also get that we don’t want corrosion behind the weld. It seems like a good idea, but it also seems like you are just asking for trouble with contamination in the puddle and toxic fumes. I googled such products, and I was shocked how many boasted about high ZINC content! I’m sure there will be a lot of opinions on this subject, but “IF” this is something to consider, I would like to know if they work as advertised. What are your thoughts/experience on these Weld-Through Primers?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

I just picked up a can to do some testing, great idea. Truth be told I have never used those weld through primers. My general assumption was they were going to be bad, but I was shocked to see most of them are exactly what you said, heavy zinc based. All paint is weldable, in the sense if you burn off enough of it to get an arc started it will melt right through it, even with mig. I bet the reason “weld through” primer works is that the paint probably conducts electricity better than normal paint. It’s easier to get an arc started on it and the zinc coating will last longer than straight grey primer. The odds of getting sick off welding an auto panel in (or something else for that matter) has to be pretty high. Definitely a respirator and fresh air type deal. I am sure people have gotten sick from that stuff 🤢

[@melgross]

I do this all the time, usually with stainless. Generally, you only need to TIG opposite edges for enough strength. But the other day I had to make a small part to modify my surface grinder. It involved welding three stainless 4mm nuts to a small 16 gage sheet about 1” x 3”. A hole for a screw for each nut. Well, those are pretty small nuts and the walls are pretty thin. It was a mess. If you don’t have enough amperage, you melt the sides of the nut. If you have too much, you melt the sides of the nut. I had to get a bag of flanged ones from McMastercarr and do it again. That was fine. When I only need a small number of screws or nuts, particularly in stainless and it’s nit critical, I’ve found Amazon to be fine. All the Chinese parts have been stainless.

[@Hey_Its_That_Guy]

Maybe a dumb question, Mr. Greg, but what filler rod were you using? BTW, good arc shots!

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

I actually used a mix of 309,308, and just straight er70. Any of them will work for practice. Only 309 and 308 won’t really rust. 309 is the correct rod to use for stainless to mild steel 😀👍

[@nodriveknowitall702]

Weld deez nuts... Have a good day Greg. I was showing someone ...not how to tig weld... but how I do it the other day. I tig better than anything else since it's the first process I learned and what I occasionally do as part of my day job. It's practice and a steady body. I've told people "find something to prop against if you can and let your gut hang". A lot of beginners don't realize how close you have to get when welding small things. Youre going to dip the tip a few thousand times and get good practice sharpening.... ...on letting your gut hang... try skipping that third cup of coffee. Tig welding will show you how unintentionally tense you are. Thinking about it now... it's almost theuraputic.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

No doubt the more tense you are the harder it is to tig weld. The fear of dipping the tungsten is definitely not much help when learning 😅. It’s that fine line of dipping and almost dipping that needs to be maintained, which is hard to do and stupidly frustrating at first 😅.

[@ypaulbrown]

Carbide percipitation is different than the oxidation you get from no argon shield, (on back of material) which is just oxidation…carbide percipitation is molecular and you will not see it, that is where the carbon mingles and forms borders with the chrome,nickel,and iron….i hope I described properly….both are bad, but carbide percipitation leads to brittleness….paul

[@charlesmcdowell2801]

Any suggestions for welding nuts to plate while keeping their shape so the thread still works after welding?

[@melgross]

Use flanged nuts and just weld the flanges. I do that normally with anything smaller than 3/8”, 10mm. I recently tried to weld 4mm stainless nuts without flanges, because I had them. It didn’t go well. I had to order flanged ones from McMastercarr.

[@nodriveknowitall702]

Practice. Screw it up a bunch of times. I've welded regular 1/4-20s that were still serviceable afterward without extra steps. A tight arc, clamped tight fit, clean parts, and no more welding time than necessary. Dip the filler as soon as a puddle forms...it helps to cool. Stop and reposition repeatedly. I've seen people use a bolt coated with antiseize, threaded into a nut to be welded, to protect the threads. I generally avoid this practice since I don't like the smell of burning antiseize and tig welding shouldn't produce spatter, but this might be helpful to you.

[@andrewbradstreet4218]

Love those KT brand v-groove brushes! By far the most economical ones, where im at anyway

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

The v-groove brushes make a big difference in cleaning for sure. I wish I had known about them years ago.

[@ypaulbrown]

Thank you Mr Greg….Paul in Florida

[@richarcruz7843]

Thank u Greg I appreciate u we all do God Bless🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@ypaulbrown]

You are going to melt that Sunshade one day Greg….cheers..pb

[@googlegok9637]

Fun little job , I guess 309 filler would be the right choice ?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Yep, officially it is. It doesn’t weld much different with er70 or even 308 over 309. 309 is the correct filler to have ideal performance and some corrosion resistance on stainless to mild steel. On non critical, non high temp exposed welds er70 will work just fine, and definitely for practice.

[@danielmichalka2648]

Dont know how common din 929 weld on nuts (carbon steel no zinc coating made to slot in a hole a bit bigger than tread size) are in america but i think they would be better for this kind of challange

[@tsl7881]

Thought maybe you were going to make a yellow and blue flower...

[@ypaulbrown]

18/8 and 304 are the same thing…18% chrome & 8% nickel….all depends on who they are marketing to…and it is not a strength grade code like 5 or 8, or 325…hope this may help, Paulie

[@SteveoDaily]

That's a hole filling job that's not going to need a back purge.

[@rudyrivera7426]

👍👌

[@24jh42]

Do not think it is the strength of the magnet, but either the stainless steel "changing" during production or stainless steel of questionable material. If you use an old type punching machine in the process. The noisy type with a big wheel and a tool that go KATHUNK and smash the materiale into whatever shape you want. Small pieces of stainless steel rod could become magnetic after that abuse.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Cold working or heating definitely has an effect on stainless and can make it attracted to a magnet. Believe it or not if you have a strong enough magnet you can have it stick to even unworked 304 stainless sheet. The magnetic attraction is so low that the common weak magnets people have aren’t enough to notice an attraction.

[@charlottesspot]

excellent video

[@tigxxl]

😁

[@jakepeoples8525]

Why stop so much just do it in one pass?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Depending on skill level a person could do it in one pass. A vast majority of welders aren’t capable of doing that and doing it in 2 passes would likely result in better results. Filling the hole could be done in one pass too, but preventing excessive heat input would give better results with taking breaks on the heat input.

[@vincentbarkley9121]

18-8 is 304

[@rakentrail]

Deeze Nutz?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

😅 yep