[TheForge] welds on ironwork

[Ries Niemi]

I always tig on site. 
And 95% of the time in the shop, I tig.
I use clamps a lot, and generally Tig tack without a filler rod.
I have both foot pedal and hand control torches, and have been known to silver tape a foot pedal to a ladder, run it with my knee, and, in extreme cases, have someone else run the pedal.
I just hate cleaning up dingle balls. 
For mig, I have one machine that is 220 with .035, and then a little one that is 110v with .023, but I find the .023 isnt much better, because the lower amps means bumpier welds. 

ries


On May 16, 2012, at 5:27 AM, Cindy and James wrote:

> What size wire do you guys do most of your welds on your ironwork?  I 
> mean things like staircases where you are welding balusters to bottom & 
> top rails, scrolls to scrolls, etc. etc.
> 
> I have always used .035 w/ 92/8 mix gas and found it to be a good all 
> purpose wire.  But for finer welds on high-end ironwork ("finer" being 
> defined as joins that will be visible or touched by the client and have 
> to be ground smooth) I find the .035 puts out a little too much metal.  
> This may be compounded by my training years ago which was in structural 
> welding and those concepts are completely different from artistic or 
> ornamental work.
> 
> I have tried a few rolls of .030 in the past but only found it about 
> like .035.
> 
> I tried .023 in my welder once and could not get it to feed.  It kept 
> balling up after the rollers.  My main shop welder is a Lincoln 215.  I 
> changed the liner for the .023 wire, perhaps I should just have left the 
> .035 liner in place and only changed the tip for the .023.   The Lincoln 
> has a 15' wire cable/stinger.
> 
> I have a TIG setup and use it a lot, but much of this welding is in 1/2" 
> segments and NEVER is easy to get to once I get off the ground level.  
> Many times I wind up holding the workpiece in place with one hand and 
> sticking it with the other - that doesn't work well w/ TIG, esp. if 
> there happens to be a very large gap to fill.  Also, as you know, much 
> of this work is done out of position, usually on a ladder, and at least 
> 1/2 of all welding is overhead.
> 
> I seem to run in to this problem of too much metal on the piece that has 
> to be removed all the time.  However, when I get finished it looks 
> great, but the grinding/finishing is a real pain.  I'd like to simplify 
> my life.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> James
> Paris, TX
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