Tig vs Torch

   / Tig vs Torch #1  

woodlandfarms

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OK, so I was out tonight with an old school welder. Friend of friend. I was on about the new toys, mentioned the thought of doing some aluminum and stainless and getting a tig for my Lincoln stick and he asked me why. His feeling was that I could get the same results with a torch.

I asked about thin stuff and he said it torch is just as good as tig. I guess experience would be the great leveler in this conversation, but thoughts on his thoughts?
 
   / Tig vs Torch #2  
Stainless steel with an O&A torch? Never seen or heard of this. Be interesting to see it done.
 
   / Tig vs Torch
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Ahhhh Something you haven't done (which is completely surprising to me). So this means you are going to give it a try?
 
   / Tig vs Torch #5  
Sure it can be done with a torch. And just as good. But tig is easier and faster.
 
   / Tig vs Torch #6  
Ahhhh Something you haven't done (which is completely surprising to me). So this means you are going to give it a try?
I think you'd be shocked at what I don't know about welding. I only know a very small sliver of this trade.
I doubt I will ever try welding stainless steel with O&A. What little I do with stainless steel I'm very happy with GTAW, and SMAW. Both of these were done with my Everlast PA-200. First one is with a Tig rig, second one stick.
While looking for pictures, I found this, I'll bet I scanned it out of the Lincoln Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding. Boy is my memory going or what?:shocked:
 

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   / Tig vs Torch #7  
Back before engineers and box stores cut down to the thinnest possible an item can be and trimmed every corner to save a buck (heck my grandmothers toaster lasted 50 some years, one you buy today barely lasts a year) putting in a weld on something with whatever worked was just fine. You had something solid to weld and there was area for it to have strength. Today the alloys are more precise and the steel is no thicker than it has to be. So changing the strength or somehow changing the steel can lead to failure.

Will it work? Sure will. Will it fail again? Time will tell. Is a TIG better suited to thin stainless? I guess that depends on what you learned to weld with. I remember my crusty old motor pool Sargent looking at me and telling me he would teach me arc welding and wire feed after I learned O&A. Best thing anyone ever taught me about welding. The old timers could weld a broken heart to the crack of dawn with O&A. True craftsmen
 
 
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