Okay here's what I learned in a two day welding exercise.. had Gas, Mig,
Tig, and even tried a bit of brazing... cause I could...
Tig has the best penatration.... puts the best amount of controlled heat in
the parent material and overall simply kicks butt.
Mig comes in a close second but when your on the limits of the machine the
real penatration is questionable... ( lots of effort to get it deep enough )
Gas wasn't just a joke it was worse then that.... I warpped 3/16th plate
trying to get enough heat in it to weld.... it just spreads the heat so far
that warpping is enivitable.. Gas may have some merit for cutting old car
body's apart.... heating ring gears to install them on fly wheels... but
unless I'm doing thin stuff I'll never use it again. I'm thinking it's good
for headers... and brazing flanges on headers.... but for general welding
requirements it was replaced by other techniques for a reason....
Mig just works.... the machine needs to be big enough and you have to pay
attention to what your doing... but it sticks metal together faster and with
less warpage then any of the rest by a lot.... ( keep in mind it's doing
that by not heating up the parent material enough too )
Stick.... the 7018 was radically better then the 6011 or 6013 rod.... flowed
nicer... acted better and I'm not sure why I have 6011 rod any more.... the
key I was missing was the rods being totally dry.... 2 hrs in an oven does
wonders for drying them out.... I think Joe's recommendation was 250
degrees....
I really had a blast using all this stuff and semi scientifically testing my
theory's.. but the honest answer is that there is still 50' plus of welds to
be accomplished.... so anyone with some free time that wants experience....
drop on by I'll hook you up....
Keith
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