Bought a Tig need advice on filler and tungsten

[JohnDeereJimOhio]

Hey guys I have been looking for a tig welder for a while and
finally bought one. I have an AC/DC Lincoln Stick and a Nice
Miller Mig. I would have loved to spend the money for a Miller
acdc tig but wasn't in the cards... I read a lot of great reviews on
the ever-last 140st so i bought one. its a portable stick or dc tig
machine and was 279 bucks... Really couldn't go wrong.. Heard a
lot of people talk trash on them but their warranty is one of the
best i found for the lower end products offered 30 days cash
return and a warranty for 5 years... Anyway my question is this
machine is 110/or 220 and i will probably just run it on 110 i
only want it for thin metals and only plan to use the tig welding.
What size filler do i want for thinner steal, and what size
tungsten ??? Any help will be appreciated... If anyone is
interested how the machine is I think I may make some videos of
it...
 

[JohnDeereJimOhio]

Also have to buy an argon bottle this weekend how big of one would you buy?
 

[Reid1650]

Lanse is a member here and maybe he will see this. Makes all kinds of welding vids on youtube. Look him up: ChuckE2009
 

[Lanse]

Get the biggest argon bottle you can. Airgas here charges $100 for a 5 year lease on ANY size bottle. I got a 330 cubic footer. The bigger the bottle, the less per CF you pay when you exchange it.

2% red tungsten runs on everything. Sometime it comes down to personal preference tho... Ive been told some are better for inverters than others.

Filler rod... I'd get a lot of mild steel (ER70S-2 or 6), and a little stainless for the odd job (308 or 309). You wont be doing much aluminum with that little machine...

I find some of your other questions intriguing... Most people find out what voltage a welder runs on and other basic information before buying it, I know they claim to have the best warranty ever, makes this post feel like its half spam... Everlast has been known to give people "incentives" to post various things on forums...

Anyway, either way, have fun with your new toy! I just got that machine's big brother, only the Longevity equivalent of it. TIG isnt that hard, just takes a while to learn...
 

[JohnDeereJimOhio]

Lanse thanks for the reply.. I will check into the lease... I have a friend that owns some NAPA stores and He sells bottles there I am going to see what he can get me.. I am going to order some 2% red Tungsten as I have read a lot about it.. What size would be best to get 1/16 or 3/32? same goes for filler what would the best size be? I was saying i did not under stand the voltage the machine can either be run on 110 or on 220.. Idk if it will be a good product as i said my first experience with them. I would have loved to buy a miller maxstar 150 but couldn't convince myself to spend that...
 

[Lanse]

Yeah, I know how that goes :)

I would get 3/32" tungstens for most things, 1/16 for thin stuff, and even thinner if you plan to work on super thin materials. I'd get filler in the 1/16 and 3/32 sizes, maybe a little 1/8" but only for welding up gaps, if thats something you'll end up doing...

Most Dual-Voltage machines will have another plug, or a cord or something which goes on the stock 220v plug, and plugs into a 110v outlet. Thats how my Longevity plasma is... You can see the setup in one of the earlier parts of this video:
Poke here

 

[JohnDeereJimOhio]

The 140st actually came without a plug and you buy one and wire it up 2 what you want... I have my mig and stick to do thick stuff so I am going to keep it at 110 to make thin stuff for my pulling tractors and to fix sheet metal on the tractors we restore... Im going to start out with 10 of the 25 1/16 electrodes and 5 lbs of the er70s6 to practice with and go from there... I watched some of your videos they look good.... Ill be sure to upload some of my projects once i get this thing going...
 

[Stick welding]

2% thoriated are the most common tungstens but now there are ceriated tungstens that aren't slightly radio active like thoriated (red) tungsten. I think 1/16" and 3/32" will cover most of your needs for tungsten and filler metal.
 

[Stick welding]

A 337 is a big brute to move around. I'd go with a 244 or maybe a 122 if you're not doing too much welding but only if the lease is significantly cheaper. Check the cost of the lease or if you can buy outright and also check on the cost of refills. You'd be surprised how little difference there is in refills between cylinder sizes, especially the smaller cylinders.
 

[Puddles]

I'd be real interested in hearing how this machine works out of you! I have an Everlast PA-200, has a fantastic arc for SMAW, and GTAW with a Tig rig. I loaned it to a buddy, gee must be a year ago now, and he won't give it back!
For these inverters I've got to where I just use Ceriated, (orange) on everything. When welding aluminum with 1/8-inch Ceriated I can go up to 300-amps and it won't splinter, and holds a sharp point! With 1/8-inch Lanthanated I had trouble with it splintering.



 

[Puddles]

One of the moderators over on Welding Web has a very slick way to sharpen tungstens. But caution! Removing the guard on your bench grinder if you have employees, OSHA will take you to the wood shed!
Place the tungsten in your drill motor, stand on the backside of the bench grinder. You change the angle of the tungsten by lifting or lower the drill motor.


 

[johnlobb]

That is exactly how I sharpened my tungsten when I was welding at the Midland, MI and Fermi nukes in the early 80's. I used mostly 1/8 2% thoriated tungsten.
 

[JOB]

Inverter Tig machines might be different but using an older style machine I would sharpen the tungsten so the length of the taper was 2 1/2 times the diameter of the tungsten.

With 1/16 tungsten the cup orifice diameter can vary from 1/4" - 3/8" of an inch.
3/32 tungsten the cup orifice diameter is 3/8" to 7/16"

1/16 tungsten will handle the 140 amps of your machine so that might be the only size tungsten you will need unless you go down to the .040 tungsten for thin stuff. On mild steel the argon flow should be 8-10 cubic feet per hour, with the amperage anywhere from 100 to 170.

I have used .035 stainless wire for a lot of small or thin stuff on mild steel, and stainless steel.
 

[JOB]

Do the inverter Tig machines have a different
procedure for welding than the machines that are
not inverters? The sharpened tungsten you have
pictured has a very long taper on it, is that the recommended method for the inverters? Zirconiated
(brown) tungsten would seem to be the better
tungsten choice for high amperage aluminum.
I found this on ceriated tungsten that might be of
interest to you.
The only tungsten that I ever used was the Green
and red. So this is all new to me also

Ceriated (Color Code: Orange)
Ceriated tungsten electrodes (AWS classification
EWCe-2) contain a minimum of 97.30 percent
tungsten and 1.80 to 2.20 percent cerium and are
referred to as 2 percent ceriated. These
electrodes perform best in DC welding at low
current settings but can be used proficiently in
AC processes. With its excellent arc starts at low
amperages, ceriated tungsten has become popular in
such applications as orbital tube and pipe
fabricating, thin sheet metal work, and jobs
involving small and delicate parts. Like thorium,
it is best used to weld carbon steel, stainless
steel, nickel alloys, and titanium, and in some
cases it can replace 2 percent thoriated
electrodes. Ceriated tungsten has slightly
different electrical characteristics than thorium,
but most welders can't tell the difference.
Using ceriated electrodes at higher amperages is
not recommended because higher amperages cause the
oxides to migrate quickly to the heat at the tip,
removing the oxide content and nullifying its
process benefits.
 

[Puddles]

I own a Miller Dynasty 300, Miller doesn't recommend the use of pure (green) tungsten.
I sharpen the tungsten that way for open root pipe welding.