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  1. #1
    EAA Staff / Moderator Charlie Becker's Avatar
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    TIG Welding a Fuselage-Insight needed

    I've started the finish welding on my fuselage. Here is my setup:
    Lincoln Precision TIG 185
    Set at 48 amps
    20 CFH on the flow meter
    1/16 2% thoriated tungsten
    1/16 welding rod (ER80
    7 seconds postflow
    I'm generally using a gas lens.

    Any tips or tricks for TIG welding the clusters, especially the acute angles.

    If you want to see my project, it is a super cub clone: www.facebook.com/piratecub
    Sonex flight testing complete. Building a Super Cub clone, check it out at www.facebook.com/piratecub

  2. #2
    Aaron Novak's Avatar
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    For the tight corners you may need to break the 1D tungsten stickout rule of thumb and go more like 1.5D. Gas lens is a good idea, if you are going to push more stickout you may want to go to a 3/32 tunsten to help cooling and decrease the flowrate to prevent pulling it atmospheric air. Shut all the doors, dont breathe too hard and remember to always weld with the grain ( i.e. if it was a 90 deg tee you weld from the tee section to the lap section in 4 segments). Dont shortchange the size of the reinforcement and avoid convex welds and dont start and stop 15 times per weld, stray arc scars are great places for crack initiation. I (and every welding engineer and metalurgist I work with ) would temper the critical weldments as well ( engine mount, landing gear, wing and strut attach ). Oh and a blunter ( I know its not a real word) grind angle on the tungsten can help prevent arc wander. Have Fun!!
    -Aaron

    -P.S. if you get into some heavier areas and need a REAL tig welder you can use my Dynasty300 .......(Sorry.....I had to...)

  3. #3
    Chad Jensen's Avatar
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    Excellent info for those of us that are new to (TIG) welding...thanks!
    Chad Jensen
    EAA #755575

  4. #4

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    Welding Tips

    Charlie, this is the best site for welding tips Iv'e seen...
    http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/index.html

  5. #5
    Chad Jensen's Avatar
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    Cool website Jack!
    Chad Jensen
    EAA #755575

  6. #6
    Aaron Novak's Avatar
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    Word of caution, many of those online welding sites are copy and pasted bits and pieces from some highly questionable sources. There are sources of data that are many times biased, uneducated or unexperienced. From my experiences working in engineering, typically they are as follows.

    1-Welding Equipment Suppliers. Remember they survive by selling equipment, many times the testing is biased or non-existent.
    2-Authors. Especially those that never worked in engineering, but like to give hard and fast advise on every aspect of welding ( many times highly opinionated ) or very wild and broad claims.
    3-Welding consultants. Remember , they dont have to deal with the aftermath of their suggestions.

    So who can you trust?? Usually the best source of information is an independent person, not connected with any company that makes a profit by welding equipment sales, that has or is working in a current engineering field. It helps if this person or source is also a hobbyist in the same areas you need advise in. Why? Because they tend to highly educate themselves on the particular subject and have access to information you will NEVER find on google. Engineering texts are a great source of information, however pay attenting to many of the AWS texts as they are not as unbiased as you may think, check the authors. The ASM handbooks are a great start, as are the plethora of doccuments available in the nasa archives.

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