Welding Gas Tanks

+1. I have one of those henrob torches and they truly are much more capable than a regular oxy acetylene torch. I don't use it much as I have access to a few tig machines, but given the right amount of practice you can weld even some fairly thin aluminum alloy with one.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
I have just successfully de-seamed the back of my tank with oxy acetylene. There is less heat than Tig but you do heat a bigger area so there can be more heat distortion. I did small runs. It is not difficult to learn, as always start on some scrap with the smallest flame you can to melt the rod. I found it was best to concentrate the flame directly on the rod. Oxy acet welding used to be very popular for welding thin metal before Tig became affordable
 
XS750AU said:
Looks like I should invest some time and learn how to oxy weld. The Dillion runs on only 4psi for both the oxy and acetylene, just hope the regulators can be reliable at such low pressure.
Given my current lack of welding skill, I will be getting my mate to tig weld up the headers on the XS896.
I turn the flame down to a very low flow for welding thin wall, regulators seem very capable on normal setups.
 
A decent two stage regulator works at very low pressures but te majority are single stage and somewhat hit or miss when initially setting up for miniature torches. Once set they seem OK though. There is now a Chinese version of te jewelry torch, seems too cheap to work. I managed to get old of mini torch for just less than $100. It's real easy to use on very thin material. One big advantage of gas welding is you can burn off contaminants when doing a lot of projects using old/recycled parts (at least on steel) I've welded broken brass antique pieces together using full size torch and Oxy/DA, all you need is practice (welding every day at the time so it seemed easy)
 
Ryan sorry to hijack your post. ;)
It looks like there are a lot of positive opinions on oxy/acetylene.
The other benefit I see with oxy/acetylene is all the other uses in the shop. Unfreezing rusted bolts, solder, brazing, heat treating alloys, annealing etc.
From your experiences is it easier to learn TIG or oxy welding?
 
XS750AU said:
From your experiences is it easier to learn TIG or oxy welding?

I found TIG to be easier, as you can simply adjust the amperage if you need more/less heat and be done with it. That being said, I had a few pretty decent people to show me the ropes with TIG and not a single good one with oxy. With the processes being rather similar, if you grasped the basic concept of how to TIG, oxy is pretty close, you just don't have amperage to play with, but nozzle sizes and hotter and colder or softer and harder flames.

Cheers,
Greg
 
I've wanted a TIG set up for years but could never justify the cost. Now that I can afford one, I'm so used to use an Oxy/acetylene set up I still always decide to spend the money on parts or projects instead...

I started out with an old torch set I inherited from my dad, and took a class at the local community college/vo-tech to learn how to use it. I still use my dad's set up except I replaced the torch with a Meco Midget right after taking the class. Plus the hoses, when I got the lighter torch I bought lightweight hoses too. And a better set of eyewear/lens. And of course I replaced the tanks when they ran out. And recently I had to replace the regulators. So while I still call it my dad's set the only thing's left of his are the cart and the sparker doohickey.

As torches go I really like the Midget. It was pretty inexpensive and TinmanTech has all the tips and other bits for it. I've used it mainly on thin stuff or for brazing but one of it's most recent uses has been welding up a Model A frame. It worked fine for that. I think they say you can go up to 1/4" thick with it but that's not really where it shines. 1/8" and less seems to be the sweet spot for it to me.

It's already been mentioned but having an O/A set up around for other things is handy. Until this car project I probably used my torch for things other than welding at least as much as I welded with it. Heating kickstart levers to reshape them, brazing up leaky tanks, that sort of thing. Even if I had a TIG I'd still keep the torch around.

I find welding with it to be relaxing even. Get the set up right and there's kind of a zone you get into with the flame and the filler rod. (Sometimes getting the set up right is frustrating though, but thats all part of it, isn't it?) The very little bit of TIG welding I've done is similar I suppose but there's something about working on 80+ year old stuff with a flame that seems right to me.

And having said all of that, the main reason I still want a TIG is to weld up stainless exhaust systems. I STILL shop for a TIG set up a few times a year!
 
DesmoDog said:
I've wanted a TIG set up for years but could never justify the cost. Now that I can afford one, I'm so used to use an Oxy/acetylene set up I still always decide to spend the money on parts or projects instead...


As torches go I really like the Midget. It was pretty inexpensive and TinmanTech has all the tips and other bits for it. I've used it mainly on thin stuff or for brazing but one of it's most recent uses has been welding up a Model A frame. It worked fine for that. I think they say you can go up to 1/4" thick with it but that's not really where it shines. 1/8" and less seems to be the sweet spot for it to me.

It's already been mentioned but having an O/A set up around for other things is handy. Until this car project I probably used my torch for things other than welding at least as much as I welded with it. Heating kickstart levers to reshape them, brazing up leaky tanks, that sort of thing. Even if I had a TIG I'd still keep the torch around.

I find welding with it to be relaxing even. Get the set up right and there's kind of a zone you get into with the flame and the filler rod. (Sometimes getting the set up right is frustrating though, but thats all part of it, isn't it?) The very little bit of TIG welding I've done is similar I suppose but there's something about working on 80+ year old stuff with a flame that seems right to me.

And having said all of that, the main reason I still want a TIG is to weld up stainless exhaust systems. I STILL shop for a TIG set up a few times a year!


One thing no one has mentioned about Oxy/DA is you really 'should' make sure everything is clean but it's dead easy to weld dirty oily steel and 'float out' contaminants if needed.Te learning curve welding steel isn't very steep, hardest part is deciding on nozzle size and flame set up. You can even 'melt the rod then use the 'blob' into surrounding steel (as someone mentioned) Even though it's 'wrong' it can still work,just run torch over everything to flow material. Oxy is OK down to 0.020" if you have 0 tip. With a mini/jewelers torch you could weld feeler gauges together (I haven't had enough practice to go less than 0.010" though) When I was welding every day I could (and did) use 'stick' to weld up a Honda mudguards and equally thin stuff (have to move real fast so you don't burn through using 1/16" rod at 20Amps)
 
Tu put it into a nutshell...
26b320e3df3f0fa56d40616fb5fb32ea.jpg


Sent from my SM-A310F using DO THE TON mobile app
 
The oxy welding is all wrong - I would have thought they would not have much hair left!!!!! ;D
Probably would look more like this. :eek:
 

Attachments

  • yul-brynner---the-king-and-i.jpg
    yul-brynner---the-king-and-i.jpg
    5.2 KB · Views: 625
I lost an awesome beard to an oxy acetylene torch once =/

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
I've gotten a of a lot of belligerent people to leave the premises with an oxy torch ;D
CB750 fork leg also works ;)
 
I think that when it comes to welding, especially on things like tanks and body work there is nothing really that critical. A lot of good info in this thread but maybe a little overwhelming. Just buy yourself a TIG and get welding practice is really the only way! Watch some YouTube videos and ask loads of question. R-Tech do good welders based in the uk.
PS before I get loads of grief I'm a coded welder with codings in stick, MIG, TIG, on aluminium, stainless and mild


Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
 
I have an old tank I'm repairing. All welds with oxy-acetylene, here's a pic
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1176.JPG
    IMG_1176.JPG
    789.4 KB · Views: 293
So guys I have great news!
I think I found a machine I´m going to buy!

Had a "lecture" last weekend, where I was able to weld stock and TIG.
It was amazing!
What a difference it is between these two techniques...
The lecturer advised me to buy his machine which is a "Stahlwerk 200 WIG", which is capable of AC/DC welding, pulse, foot pedal...not a pro machine but definitely enough to get me started (200 Amps).

http://www.stahlwerk-schweissgeraete.de/de/acdc-wig-200-puls-s/stahlwerk-acdc-wig-200-puls-s.html
 
Ryan Stecken said:
So guys I have great news!
I think I found a machine I´m going to buy!

Had a "lecture" last weekend, where I was able to weld stock and TIG.
It was amazing!
What a difference it is between these two techniques...
The lecturer advised me to buy his machine which is a "Stahlwerk 200 WIG", which is capable of AC/DC welding, pulse, foot pedal...not a pro machine but definitely enough to get me started (200 Amps).

http://www.stahlwerk-schweissgeraete.de/de/acdc-wig-200-puls-s/stahlwerk-acdc-wig-200-puls-s.html

AC/DC with a pedal is a great thing. Sounds like your getting the ideal machine. May not last forever, but for what your doing it should be great!
 
It will be around 700 Euroish with all the stuff I need and a 20l argon gas bottle.

Would you guys recommend pure argon?Just checked out a video and did not recommended mix...

The guy that held the lecture showed some welded gas tanks and even a crazy aluminum seat piece he built and welded with that welder, so I guess for a starter I should be good.

What fillers would you guys recommend for mild steel, aluminium and stainless?

Cheers!
 
yes pure argon. If you run out of power and need a little more penetration into some thicker aluminum, pipe in a bit of helium.

ER70S-6 for steel. you can use this to weld anything from mild 1018 crs to A36 hrs to chromoly.

Usually 5183 for Aluminum (but varies depending on grade to be welded)

and 308L is a good all around for stainless, but again varies depending on base metal
 
TIG is only done with pure Argon, unless you go with Helium, which is a nice way of cheating to get more heat into aluminium, but can't be used for normal* TIG-welding. (IIRC it only works with AC...)

With regards to filler: I use ER70 for stainless, ER302 (IIRC) for mild steel and now comes the tricky part, there's no generic filler for aluminium, so you have to know which one you use, but generally a 4000-series does 80 percent of the work for me. As you asked me about welding brass, I've checked some old notes form college and nope, never tried it.

*Normal means steel for me.

Cheers,
Greg
 
Back
Top Bottom