Mobile TIG 316 welder?

[aussiegeorge]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Does anyone here know how to use a TIG welder?

Or does anyone hear know of a welder that will drive to the West Coast of Florida? Around the Fort Myers and Naples area?

I have been trying to get someone to do welding since February.

I’m on my fifth fabrication company now and they are still doing nothing. Even though they said they would get right to work.

I cannot get my rig up without some welding being done.

I will pay anything. Thank you.

Hi all, Tig welding stainless is pretty easy.
Things to know.
1 Use the right gas and rod.
2 Make sure you can see what you are doing. A really good auto darkening welding helmet is a must. I am near sighted so I take my glasses off and get right close so I can see. You must be able to focus.
3 buy the right tungsten and something to sharpen it and only it. You are going to stick it in the puddle.
4 make sure the metal is very very clean.
5 Buy a reasonably good welding machine. Consider a multiprocess machine that will arc weld and plasma cut.
6 Use only tools made for cutting stainless.

I find that stainless is much easier to tig weld than many other metals. As long as you don't overheat it you should get good results. Weld with the right current for thickness.

I am not coming to florida

[Dave_S]

Have you tried a mobile welder, perhaps 2. One specialist aluminium and one for stainless. They are very different animals to TIG, we do both but we wouldn't go to site only in-house. The reluctance may in part be because they aren't confident in both materials, or just as likely that they are workshops not mobile, they have all the support gear in the workshop and it's a PITA to pack up everything and load it in the truck without forgetting something. There are guys in trucks who have it kitted out as a full workshop and their primary business is they come to you.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

Have you tried a mobile welder, perhaps 2. One specialist aluminium and one for stainless. They are very different animals to TIG, we do both but we wouldn't go to site only in-house. The reluctance may in part be because they aren't confident in both materials, or just as likely that they are workshops not mobile, they have all the support gear in the workshop and it's a PITA to pack up everything and load it in the truck without forgetting something. There are guys in trucks who have it kitted out as a full workshop and their primary business is they come to you.

Most of those are the ones that just flat out said no.

[Q Xopa]

Welding generally reminds me of learning to hover a helicopter. A pilot trying to teach me said, "it's the hardest thing to learn but the easiest thing to do". He'd been there, and I was struggling with it.

Having learnt both I agree with this. There are a bunch of 'moving parts' you have to put together. But once you clearly see which bits go together is 'clicks' and it's easy.

For me understanding what the instructor was describing and what I was seeing, feeling what was happening was the hardest thing to understand. It's really hard to describe what an arc cone, weld puddle is and for the student to understand that's what he's looking at. Some people mark these associations and connections reasonably quickly. Others of us get stuck on things for what seems an eternity. Many give up quickly. It will click. Having done some Gas torch brazing beforehand helped me. It's actually quite a similar skill.

But welding, like shooting is definately a case of the more you do the better we become.

My advice is if you want to do it, dont let the guys telling you you cant put you off. But it does take a certain time commitment to.

But for many not so much. You are on your way as soon as you can recognize what you are doing wrong. So you only have to be taught enough to self learn.

The way I learned was to latch onto the guys that were good, offer to help them. I cleaned and polished a bunch of bits of metal being their 'gofa' assistant. I worked for 'free'. But to me it wasn't for free it was the price of my education.

As has been the gist of this thread this is a valuable in demand skill.

It's in demand because it takes some effort to gain. Not every idiot can do it. It takes special idiots, lol.

So the question comes down to how valuable is it to you, and what effort would you do to get it?

My personal take is that TIG is not as hard as many say, but I'm also not saying it's that easy.

I would say, like everything, if you want it, it is never an effort.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by pendragon

Buy some stainless steel electrodes and hire a small AC welder.

You could buy a welder cheaper than a hire

I threw out my old ac welder, nothing wrong with it apart from being heavy
Couldn't give it away

Replaced with HF start inverter TIG and stick for $250
Fraction of the weight and paid for itself on the first job.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Most of those are the ones that just flat out said no.

They may be worried because they understand the gravity of getting it wrong, have you spoken to a rigger to see if they know of a welder who does this type of work.

We've had welders and we've had tradesmen that their trade included welding but they are not the same.

Not related but of interest to some......
One welder for additional certification was required to weld the two halves of a LPG gas bottle together with a stick welder, the first weld was the internal weld where the two halves were spaced apart the thickness of the welding rod and the rod bent around, passed through the gap and filled the internal weld including the sealing weld as the rod is withdrawn. Then the bottle is pressure tested before the outside is welded and re-tested, cut apart and inspected. The same guy used to weld 3" plate for drag lines before he worked with us, his stuff was perfection.

[Baby tug]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Can an amateur get acceptable results stick welding if he starts off knowing nothing?

The answer is yes, despite all the naysayers.

As usual I knew nothing and didn't even know what I didn't know when I commenced my stainless steel projects for my boat. My friend had a welder and knew how to turn it on. We went to a scrap metal yard and bought a bunch of stainless pieces (I didn't even know there was a difference between 304 and 316 or any other type). We got some rods and a bunch of cut off blades for his table saw and my grinder.

In his basement we sawed parts on the table saw, welded them together, and cleaned them up with a variety of discs on the right angle grinder.

I made a Sampson post, anchor roller (massive), brackets for my outboard motor stand, hooks for the line locker to hold coils of line, and several other parts. None were structural but the Sampson post and anchor roller were important for the boat and had to be strong, they were.

These pieces were made 25 years ago and have held up perfectly (they have less rust than the commercial stanchions and bases we have), so it can be done.

You will always have a lot of people who say you can't do it. They just don't want you to succeed.

However, I would want a professional for Aluminum or structural bits.

I couldn’t of said it better myself if it is mild steel or stainless . I would probably do it myself . aluminum is a completely different animal and something critical like a sailboat mast i would probably have somebody else do it . I Mig weld everything the only tig welding i do is something small enough that fits on my welding table . I know Several welder fabricators in my area that could handle your project however you’ll have to wait five or six months until they can fit it into their schedule just the way it is , I do everything myself if I can’t do it myself it doesn’t get done , I don’t wanna pay thousands of dollars for something that I can do myself for hundreds, Since your project seems to be top-secret it’s hard to give you advice , are you going to keep it covered up once you get it done , I’ll be welding an aluminum flatbed for a new to me mini truck i just bought , my advice to you on aluminum welding , practice , practice , practice and keep it very clean , dirty oxidized aluminum is very difficult to Weld , good luck on your project

[Chotu]

Top secret?

What if you made your living designing things?

What if you sold a set of your designs to someone and they published it on the Internet for everyone to see?

Now the design is public domain and nobody is going to pay you for all the work you did designing it.

How would you feel?

Why would you wish this upon another person?

There is no way in hell that I’m putting his designs on the Internet. I don’t even like the guy, but I would still would never do that to my fellow human being.

It’s wrong and it’s not right for anyone to chastise me for protecting my designer’s intellectual property rights. He’s a jerk. But he designed a hell of a boat. He has a wife and he has kids. I’m not going to take bread off anyone’s table no matter if you think it’s ok to steal from him or not.

Case closed.

[Chotu]

What I am doing is lighting a bit of a fire under the people who actually said they could do it and seem to be getting it on the schedule. Finally. Kind of a new place.

From there, I will take up some offers from this thread, and then finally if none of that works, I’ll have to go buy a welder.

[cyan]

It took me many weeks (self-taught) to TIG weld thin-walled aluminum tubes (like a bicycle frame). After learning aluminum, stainless came easy- much easier when the metal is not stealing heat as fast. A LOT of time was spent learning how to do good work in weird positions, as not every joint can be neatly positioned on a bench, with gravity where you want it.

For me, it was all about motivation to learn. Beer brewing gear in stainless steel just begged for DIY time. In the end, however, I found that designing a robot to make beautiful TIG welds in weird positions was faster than learning how to make beautiful TIG welds in weird positions. YMMV

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by aussiegeorge

Hi all, Tig welding stainless is pretty easy.
Things to know.[...]

I am not coming to florida

Your very first post after 10 years? Wow...

[blackbeard10]

A structural part of a sailboat that requires welding needs to welded by a welding professional. Been welding all types of metals and processes for 40 years. All the the posts with DIY advice about going out and buying welder or the advice about stick vs. tig or mig is almost criminal. Would you go sailing on a guy's boat if he told you he altered his mast and welded the extension after either watching some Youtube videos or taking short course on welding? Probably not!!! This advice is laughable and confirms my point of view that all forum advice must be taken with a large grain of salt. My advice to the gentleman who is requiring the welding is to be relentless in finding the right company or person to weld his mast.

[Manateeman]

Chotu. You have a lot invested in this boat. Now is not the time to try something, which if it goes wrong, will destroy all your work.
There are TESTS to certify welders. They are expensive and difficult to pass.
Why do you think they exist?
When we were building our boat, we had to weld the backing plates for the thru hulls and the stand pipes. The welds were upside down. My wife insisted the man who taught me to weld was the one to do them...not me.
There comes a point where you just need the expertise or skill of professionals.
Please don’t risk failure at this point.
Mark

[Dave_S]

If you want to test how good someone is at welding. Really bad welds are easy to see but a good looking weld is not necessarily a good weld with good penetration. Most people work harder at making the welds look good than they do at making good welds.

Find some steel round bar, say 1" or 25mm round, drill a neat fit hole through a 1/4", 6mm mild steel plate (sizes don't matter much but make it a good slide in fit, not fall in fit). Weld it on the flush side only, with the bar flush with the plate then grind the weld flat. Turn the plate over and stand on the plate and wiggle the bar then see if there are cracks on the side you ground.

There should be no cracks. It is common to see cracks before you even wiggle the bar which shows no penetration at all, the weld is just surface build up.

You can keep grinding down to see how much penetration there is.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

They may be worried because they understand the gravity of getting it wrong, have you spoken to a rigger to see if they know of a welder who does this type of work.



We've had welders and we've had tradesmen that their trade included welding but they are not the same.



Not related but of interest to some......

One welder for additional certification was required to weld the two halves of a LPG gas bottle together with a stick welder, the first weld was the internal weld where the two halves were spaced apart the thickness of the welding rod and the rod bent around, passed through the gap and filled the internal weld including the sealing weld as the rod is withdrawn. Then the bottle is pressure tested before the outside is welded and re-tested, cut apart and inspected. The same guy used to weld 3" plate for drag lines before he worked with us, his stuff was perfection.

That’s not how you weld pipe

You fit a ring in that has the appropriate space between based on the thickness of the pipe and you weld skipping in places to keep it from gaining stress

Run the root weld then continue until you have a full weld then continue on skip welding until you get to the surface weld

Simply said but I think you get the picture