Oxford Mig welders top online shopping

Oxford plasma cutter best online shopping: TIG welding is similar to to a MIG welder as it uses an electric arc in the same was as MIG welding does but differs in a few ways. Instead of a continuous spool of consumable wire, a TIG welder uses long tungsten welding rods that are manually slowly fed into the weld puddle to join the metal. TIG welding requires gas, usually argon, to protect and cool the weld puddle from external contamination. TIG welding is more suited to welding thinner materials such as stainless steel and aluminium as you can get the power down lower to reduce the risk of blow through and can even weld two dissimilar metals. Suitable for tricky welds such as S curves but TIG welders are still capable of welding heavier materials depending on the machine. TIG welding takes more practice that MIG welding as the process is much more manual with controlling the torch, welding rod and gas by hand (and foot for the gas) but once mastered will produce the highest quality welds making it the better choice where perfect, precise welds are required but due to the manual process is the least productive.

The power electronics have to work at the mains input voltage which is in excess of 630V on a three phase machine & in excess of 340V for single phase with peak voltages often in excess of 800V. This is not an easy task for any electronic mosfet or IGBT & in most machines there are multiple IGBT’s or mosfets all working together. Then when you add real welding conditions such as damp & dust, voltage fluctuations & spikes it just becomes a matter of time before a failure occurs. Some of the quality US & EU manufacturers have tried to address this by designing machines with separate compartments or wind tunnels to keep critical componants away from dust & damp etc. This has improved reliability in some cases, however by nature all inverter based machines are fairly fragile. Furthermore inverters are increasingly using complex microprocessors, computers are fine on a desk but in a dirty welding machine? More problems! However inverters do you have a place, if you need a machine where portability is the number one priority then consider a quality EU or US made inverter but keep it simple, more complex functions often means more to go wrong! See a few extra details on Oxford Plasma Cutters.

Contact tips can have a significant impact on MIG welding performance since this consumable is responsible for transferring the welding current to the wire as it passes through the bore, creating the arc. The position of the contact tip within the nozzle, referred to as the contact tip recess, is just as important. The correct contact recess position can reduce excessive spatter, porosity, insufficient penetration, and burn-through or warping on thinner materials. While the ideal contact tip recess position varies according to the application, a general rule of thumb is that as the current increases, the recess should also increase.

One of the “cardinal sins” that almost every shop commits is over-welding. This means that if the drawing calls for a 1/4″ fillet weld, most shops will put down a 5/16″ weld. The reasons? Either they don’t have a fillet gauge and are not exactly sure of the size of the weld they are producing or they put in some extra to “cover” themselves and make sure there is enough weld metal in place. But, over-welding leads to tremendous consumable waste. Let’s look again at our example. For a 1/4″ fillet weld, the typical operator will use .129 lbs. per foot of weld metal. The 5/16″ weld requires .201 lbs. per foot of weld metal – a 56 percent increase in weld volume compared to what is really needed. Plus, you must take into account the additional labor necessary to put down a larger weld. Not only is the company paying for extra, wasted consumable material, a weld with more weld metal is more likely to have warpage and distortion because of the added heat input. It is recommended that every operator be given a fillet gauge to accurately produce the weld specified – and nothing more. In addition, changes in wire diameter may be used to eliminate over-welding. Discover more info at https://www.weldingsuppliesdirect.co.uk/.