The fabrication thread.

[cronux]

luke, your work is abosultely sick. i wish i had the skills to weld like you. i mean, i can weld, but my consistancy isnt always there. if you were to suggest a cheap TIG welder for someone on a budget, what would you recommend? as i am used to our huge miller tig from my school..

[slw240sx]

The cover on the torch hoses came with my setup, i actually have to order a new one, i have a habit of setting my torch in my lap, i had the hose coiled up in my lap and the tungsten burned through to my coolant hose. i broke the zipper taking it off. now its held on by about 50 zipties every 6 inches lol.

i would suggest picking up a good used unit, a miller econo tig or a Lincoln precision 185, you can get into a nice rig that will let you do most any light work for 1200 or possibly less. we have a production weld shop here in town upgrading equipment word on the street is they are letting their syncrowaves go for 500$ and up.

[blu808]

Well any tig under 3k will most likely be more difficult to weld with than your big machine at school. The bigger the machine (amps, transformer) the more stable it is at lower power levels, and thinner metal. The cheapest machine i could find when i was in the market was the lincoln precision tig 185. or the miller econo tig 180. I chose the lincoln because it had a nicer cart, storage area, a nicer torch (which i have now changed), 5 more amps of power, and a pulser. I also though it looked better. I have both now at work and prefer the lincoln any day. I would stay away from the cheaper Chinese welders since they might be hard to fix or get parts/ service for down the road. I have been using my tig for the last 2 years HEAVILY, with no problems. That is why im glad i paid a little extra for a brand name machine. I might upgrade one day, but I can only see myself doing so if I was welding all day long, everyday.

Hope this helps.

[driftstyre]

Luke + Cronux
Our Linde is pretty good at low amps but the high frequency starting is very old technology so below a certain amperage it takes a few seconds for the arc to start. You can pick these up for ~$700-1500 and they work great. Its easy to setup a coolant system with a small radiator and water pump. There is for sure better techology in newer systems. I have welded with top of the line Miller and Lincoln and they are great. The linde is a great value though and would reccommend it to anyone. Its size is a downside but not a problem for many people.

slw240sx, thats a nice turbo setup, and dash too. damn, and that welder.

[blu808]

Bill/driftstyre

Can you give all of us an idea on what it is like welding on ti and if it is similar to welding on any other material such as stainless?
Also can you tell me which gas, tung, and rod you are using?
I have researched it a bit but would like to know what you use.

[2bad240]

made this for my s14, my radio trim was broke and i had a sheet of carbon fiber so i made this.

not finished with it yet, still needs a little work.

[driftstyre]

Luke,
Ti is no different in process to stainless. Most of the Ti in motorsports is very thin wall so it has a reputation for being hard to weld. I personally find it easier to weld 035 wall Ti than 035 stainless. One thing I find is that the weld pool isn't as fluid as stainless. Filler is expensive and hard to find in small diameters (.035 and smaller). I use the sam.e 2% 1/16 tungsten I use for pretty much everything along with 3/32 Ti/Alloy filler

[blu808]

Thanks which gas do you use?

[driftstyre]

Just straight argon.

[Xracer]

i thought i remember hearing somewhere that Ti has to be completly sheilded in gas to weld it?

[slw240sx]

Originally Posted by driftstyre

Just straight argon.

have you guys ever tried 95% argon 5% hydrogen?

Jon

[blu808]

no what would the effects of that be?

Good or bad.

[slw240sx]

Its supposed to burn hotter and give better penetration with lower amps.

[jobestudios]

You guys will soon see some more pictures of this, getting an S14 SR and doing a properly ducted vmount intercooler
Stripping down


Cutting


Plasma cutting


Cardboard mockups first and then plasma cutting the sheet.


Done


If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'm still unsure if I want to offer it as a service to customers because the R & I will be the time consuming, however if a customer trailered a shell I would go ahead and do it, still have all the measurements and templates too

Car will look totally different soon

[blu808]

nice work on the tubs. What gauge sheet did you go with? 16 or 18?

[slw240sx]

Damn that makes me want to fix my plasma cutter. Im getting ready to do a set of tubs later today, and im probably going to have to use some electric shears i bought yesterday, at least they cut good.

[driftstyre]

for thick aluminum I mix in 25% hydrogen. It definitely burns hotter for any given amperage.

Titanium welded for ultimate strength or for scientific/medical use should be completely shielded. For exhaust, it doesn't matter.

[fromxtor]

Luke your welding skills are awesome, wish we had ppl like you local. I could use a few things welded and some tips on mounting my PITA origin rear bumper.

[Ghostdrifter]

How exactly do you purge the weld area? I just bought a lincoln precision Tig 225 and I need to weld up a V band DP for my turbo setup. Also how many amps should I use to weld it, it's 16 gauge 409 Stainless. I'm pretty much a noob at Tig welding so any advice or tips would be appreciated

[slw240sx]

Originally Posted by Ghostdrifter

How exactly do you purge the weld area? I just bought a lincoln precision Tig 225 and I need to weld up a V band DP for my turbo setup. Also how many amps should I use to weld it, it's 16 gauge 409 Stainless. I'm pretty much a noob at Tig welding so any advice or tips would be appreciated

for that you can just run a simple backpurge setup. i use a Tee at my tank with dual regulators and a spare gas supply hose and run it into the pipe closing off both ends and having a small hole in the other side to vent out all the air from the pipe. 16Gauge 409 i would run between 35-45amps, using any where from 15-25CFM of gas flow.

[ditch_bound]

Here is a couple things Ive done to my s13


rust repair by strut





Battery box




rear bracing






subframe spacers/bushings

[2bad240]

how did that battery box work out for you?

[Ghostdrifter]

When I use the TIG do I move the torch in a coil or zig-zag pattern like a Mig welder or do I use another pattern.

[tt99ol]

what i learned in a welding class is that zig zag or circles is all personal preference unless there was a big gap then zig zag works better

[Wiisass]

I just finished this one the other day. There's a lot of my other projects on my site if anyone is interested. But I suck at remembering to take pictures a lot of the time, so there's some stuff missing.
http://www.theoryinpracticeengineeri...llery/main.php











And the rest of the pics are here:
http://www.theoryinpracticeengineering.com/gallery/syn/

Tim

[ditch_bound]

Originally Posted by 2bad240

how did that battery box work out for you?

Fine I guess. What do you mean? I actually cut 2" off the bottom of it to keep it away from the wheel since the picture was taken.

I just realized that was you ray.

Originally Posted by Ghostdrifter

When I use the TIG do I move the torch in a coil or zig-zag pattern like a Mig welder or do I use another pattern.

Zig zag or what ever you call it would be sufficient. I wouldnt bother getting too crazy with any "patterns" When I weld small stuff at the shop I personally tend to just dip the filler in the puddle. When I weld pipe at work (3" and up) I walk the cup whenever possible.

[blu808]

Technically you shouldn't need to do any motion with the tig torch unless it is to help join 2 thin pieces. Control the bead with your food control.

[DisEpyon]

Nice welds peeps, im fixing to weld in my brothers roll cage this weekend, ill see if i can take some good pics.

Hey ditch_bound,
is that rear brace on the very back that bolts to the floor help any? i was planning on making one my self.

[ditch_bound]

Originally Posted by blu808

Technically you shouldn't need to do any motion with the tig torch unless it is to help join 2 thin pieces. Control the bead with your food control.

Not every welding machine has a foot control. I agree with you as far as welding small parts but try welding a 30" stainless pipe without moving the torch. I like tig welding but if Im welding a bunch of stuff I would just whip out the mig gun.

[ditch_bound]

Originally Posted by DisEpyon

Nice welds peeps, im fixing to weld in my brothers roll cage this weekend, ill see if i can take some good pics.

Hey ditch_bound,
is that rear brace on the very back that bolts to the floor help any? i was planning on making one my self.

To be honest with you. I bought the car almost a year and a half ago and have never driven it. I used to work in a fab shop that would let me stay and work on my own shit with free material so I just made whatever I could think of.