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Originally Posted by Max777
So basically, what you're sayin is that you're just pissed you cant do this and want to bitch about it...
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No, now you're putting words into my mouth.
I'm just being honest - I wouldn't touch trying to TIG cast aluminum, period.
See below for why.
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Welding cast alum is NOTHING like welding cast iron. Welding cast is a bitch and a half. It requires you to preheat the material, keep it there during welding, and then let it cool down over a period of DAYS... oftem involving wrapping it in insulation, and other weird methods.
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Ah, finally someone who actually knows what they are talking about.
I was going to blast whoever said cast iron is basically the same, but I figure I'd be nice about it...
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GTAW is NOT hard, maybe you just need more practice? Of course most people with even a little bit of sense will take a course or two at their community college before investing in an expensive machine like a welder.
I hear so many people bitch about how "They hate TIG welding". It provides the control of Oxy-Acetylene, but is so much more versatile. It's also one of the cleanest, and most relaxing welding processes out there. Every try doing overhead or vertical up SMAW? (Stick)
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I have a friend who does this for me.
Why bother learning it when he's the one with the welder, and he's the one that's good at it?
Currently, it's a waste of my time, as I'm busy taking care of other things that are of higher priority.
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Can you even TIG for 2 min without pausing for readjustment? Most welds dont take over 2 min to do, unless you're doing some crazy thick metal, in which case you would buy a bigger welder. On a car, most metal only goes up to about 1/4 thick, or if thicker, it's normally very little sections of it. For the average hobby guy, a 20% duty cycle ain't that big of a deal, cause the wont even get near it half the time.
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My friend owns an older Miller TIG 180.
It's rated at 40%, and he does work that requires it to be cooled down between welds.
He's already bitching about the 40% duty cycle.
I can't imagine cutting that rating in half would do to his welding work production.
He's already talking about stepping up to 220A or 225A rated TIG, but that's a big step up in price.
BTW, we do a lot of intercooler core installs with custom brackets.
Big IC cores suck up a lot of heat, some amps and duty cycles do count.
Most of our brackets are at least 1/4" thick...
This is getting way off topic now...
You're welcome to PM me if you want to discuss this further.
...or start a new thread.
-Ted