Thread: MIG vs TIG Let's get ready to Rumble!

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

I went to the thumb control, too. Still put the foot pedal on for bench welding, but I use the thumb control for out of position welding....

It's a matter of preference as to thumb or foot pedals. My experience has been the same as yours...foot pedal for bench and thumb for out of position. When I learned to TIG I had neither, it was set your amperage and go

Originally Posted by 53fatfndr

It's a matter of preference as to thumb or foot pedals. My experience has been the same as yours...foot pedal for bench and thumb for out of position. When I learned to TIG I had neither, it was set your amperage and go

yep had a snap on that was like that .then had a old murtrain welder like a big old miller that was foot pedal not good for over head under a car try running the pedal with the side of your foot or prop it up with a heavy jack stand fun the new welder has thumb silde i just do not care of the pedal at all now .a friend talk me into the thumb control he build air frames took some time but like it even when sitting and welding on the welding table i block up my arms use a C clamp block of wood any thing that helps for them long welds that are up off the table like headder tubs

personally i like tig better, much stronger and can control your weld much better, also tig in some cases no filler metal is needed , also a good tig rig you can weld virtually any metal, also on tig if it has to hold any kind of pressure you must tig it, mig does not seal very well, always a leak if you mig. but mig is wayyyyyyyy faster

bottom line is this. 70,80,90k tensile strength in the filler applied under the correct parameter conditions does not change in respect to which process you use. This is why in the "old days" they got away with brazing and gas welding. 90,000 does not change if it is by stick, mig, tig or torch. the key is in the filler and how careful you are to get near perfect conditions.
angle, arc length, machine settings, metal prep, grinding tacks, buffing off slag between passes and tie ins etc.

I used both when I built my chassis. I used the mig to weld in the boxing plates. This was much faster than using the tig, and the mig allowed me to use 18 gauge shims to create a gap to fill with weld before grinding the weld. I use tig for all crossmembers and brackets because of the nice neat appearance of the weld. The tig is excellent for this type of welding where appearance is important. The tig also has great weld penetration when used correctly. The tig welding process is by far the most difficult to master. Barry Lobeck's welder and Carl Fjiastadt of the Deuce Frame Company are great examples of what quality welds are possible with tig. They are truly artist at tig welding!

every thing has a place i use tig now more then any thing but i still use mig but not much .i can run ac/dc arc welding rod with my tig welding machine and i run more arc rod in the last year then the mig for iron welding and did a brick mold that had much wear and was over 2 thick wear steel that had to be filled with wear filler rod run 1/4 rod and filled it up so knowing what works the best for the job. it is nice to have options .as for tig being hard i think it is easy to use not hard at all if you ever gas welded you can tig that is all we did alot of in school

Originally Posted by threearmsinjune

bottom line is this. 70,80,90k tensile strength in the filler applied under the correct parameter conditions does not change in respect to which process you use. This is why in the "old days" they got away with brazing and gas welding. 90,000 does not change if it is by stick, mig, tig or torch. the key is in the filler and how careful you are to get near perfect conditions.
angle, arc length, machine settings, metal prep, grinding tacks, buffing off slag between passes and tie ins etc.

those workds usually come either from a pipefitter, boilermaker or an ironworker, which is it june?

those workds usually come either from a pipefitter, boilermaker or an ironworker, which is it june?

Maybe a pipe fitter -

But my guess is none of the above, a pipe welder or inspector would mention grinding tacks . . . in order to get a 100% penetration root pass.

Since he said 'they' - I'm leaning towards inspector.