MIG or TIG welds
- Thread starter elvis3006
- Start date
Alberta Woodsman
CGN Regular
- Location
- In a holler some wheres
Tig all the way! A lot more precise than a mig.
mildcustom2
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Surrey, B.C.
TIG all the way.
Its amazing the kind of sanitary welds that can be done with TIG welding. The first machine I learned on was a Miller Maxstar 150 with high frequency start. It had thumb wheel control which I found great when I was welding on a piece of equipment in a space that didn't allow the use of a foot pedal.
Its amazing the kind of sanitary welds that can be done with TIG welding. The first machine I learned on was a Miller Maxstar 150 with high frequency start. It had thumb wheel control which I found great when I was welding on a piece of equipment in a space that didn't allow the use of a foot pedal.
Tig, although its important to properly watch heat input and proper post flow, and things have to be really clean.
Tig has a very high heat input to deposited metal ratio, far from the low temp weld people often think it is, but often its one of the only ways to get it done, mostly for smaller stuff or odd alloys, I tig in the 200-350amp range often enough, and done lots at 5amps too.
Regarding post heat treatment, it all depends on the alloy, stress, location of the weld and if it has any effect on the structural integrity, in many cases there's no need.
Essentially, if you weld a handle on the back end of a bolt, it shouldn't affect the lugs which is what matters most, but if you HT the whole thing you might well eff up the whole bolt.
Tig has a very high heat input to deposited metal ratio, far from the low temp weld people often think it is, but often its one of the only ways to get it done, mostly for smaller stuff or odd alloys, I tig in the 200-350amp range often enough, and done lots at 5amps too.
Regarding post heat treatment, it all depends on the alloy, stress, location of the weld and if it has any effect on the structural integrity, in many cases there's no need.
Essentially, if you weld a handle on the back end of a bolt, it shouldn't affect the lugs which is what matters most, but if you HT the whole thing you might well eff up the whole bolt.
Turkinator
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Onterrible
Tig is much neater than mig, tho when welding with straight polarity (tig) you put 3 times as much heat into the parent metal so be careful.
Boilermakerr
Member
- Location
- Sudbury, Ont.
Tig is what any competent smith would use. Gun parts are generally too small to make mig a practical choice. Not to mention that finding a compatible roll of (mig) wire for your gun part is not that easy. Mild steel (most commonly used in welding shops) is not the same as high carbon or stainless steel that you find in gun parts. Mig is for high production rates. Tig is for precision. Tig also requires a welder who knows what he's doing. Screwups happen quick and can get really ugly. Mig is easy, screwups happen quick and usually get REALLY ugly.
A competent smith would use what he had and do a decent job of it.
Torch weldiing (Oxygen-Acetylene) was available in about every shop, has the added benefit of being useful for light duty heat treatment and silver soldering needs as well. And it was far more affordable than a TIG welder used to be.
The new small DC TIG machines though, are coming down in price, and are far more available than they used to be. Worth looking at too. There is a real learning curve to get past, no matter what welder you use. TIG and O-A welding use a lot of the same hand skills, make a puddle, feed the filler, move along.
I have seen a bunch of good welds done on bolt knobs and such with MIG. Once cleaned up, and finished, nobody could tell you how it was welded.
It pretty much boils down to operator competency and willingness to put in the time learning to make the machine work for you. Same as pretty much any skill. You won't buy that, by buying the bestest gee-whiz machine out there. All you will get that route is expensive frustration!
Cheers
Trev
Torch weldiing (Oxygen-Acetylene) was available in about every shop, has the added benefit of being useful for light duty heat treatment and silver soldering needs as well. And it was far more affordable than a TIG welder used to be.
The new small DC TIG machines though, are coming down in price, and are far more available than they used to be. Worth looking at too. There is a real learning curve to get past, no matter what welder you use. TIG and O-A welding use a lot of the same hand skills, make a puddle, feed the filler, move along.
I have seen a bunch of good welds done on bolt knobs and such with MIG. Once cleaned up, and finished, nobody could tell you how it was welded.
It pretty much boils down to operator competency and willingness to put in the time learning to make the machine work for you. Same as pretty much any skill. You won't buy that, by buying the bestest gee-whiz machine out there. All you will get that route is expensive frustration!
Cheers
Trev
x2 with the .023 wire, you can use your mig to weld both bandsaw blades and hacksaw blades together .. just abit of practice
you should also consider what you'll be doing with the welder in the future... if you gonna weld one or two bolts and thats it... then use it to weld up a bunch of skidoo trailers ... lol ... then i'd go for the Mig by far.. Tig is alway talked up to much .. it F-ing tediously slow
if its only for fine work, then tig is a great welder... i've been waiting to get a dynasty (great machine )
you should also consider what you'll be doing with the welder in the future... if you gonna weld one or two bolts and thats it... then use it to weld up a bunch of skidoo trailers ... lol ... then i'd go for the Mig by far.. Tig is alway talked up to much .. it F-ing tediously slow
if its only for fine work, then tig is a great welder... i've been waiting to get a dynasty (great machine )
Miles of pipeline have been done with tig.It is a well rounded out welding process.If you don't know squat about welding and you want to repair a gun as your first project or as you are beginning to learn.A welding coarse is what you need or a qualified welder to work with you and then you will still have a steep learning curve.In general the cost of the setup will be the limiting factor and expense of added features..Can a gun repaired with a mig yes it can but ask an accomplished welder what his choice would be and very few would say mig first.Go into an auto body repair shop and you will have a difficult time to locate a tig in house as it doesn't lend itself to the fast pace that a repair shop needs to send a finished job out the door and make a profit.The control with a mig really doesn't lend itself to small gun parts.Tig you can weld with no sparks or spatter in your shop try that with mig.Go to an aircraft repair center and see what they use for in house repairs.Visit a welding shop and look around.Asking your question on a forum is normal but some answers given will be from members who don't even own a welder,easy to discover when you weld yourself.I hope this helps you in your quest to discover welding of gun components in general. Google can be your friend here also.
R
R
+1 to everything boilermaker said.
Most guns are HEAT TREATED. Unless you have an oven that can heat your piece up to, I don't know, 1200F, and the know-how to use it, any welding will have to be in a non-critical area (e.g. bolt handle, screw hole away from the chamber) and done with a heat sink and one small bite at a time.
TIG is a beautiful thing when done by someone with skill, but just as ugly as MIG on a bad day when not. If you want to weld on a gun, go weld 100 other things first. And if you're welding stainless steel, make sure you back-purge...
B
Most guns are HEAT TREATED. Unless you have an oven that can heat your piece up to, I don't know, 1200F, and the know-how to use it, any welding will have to be in a non-critical area (e.g. bolt handle, screw hole away from the chamber) and done with a heat sink and one small bite at a time.
TIG is a beautiful thing when done by someone with skill, but just as ugly as MIG on a bad day when not. If you want to weld on a gun, go weld 100 other things first. And if you're welding stainless steel, make sure you back-purge...
B
Not that I have done enough welding to even consider welding on a critical gun part, but I would vote for a TIG as well. Both processes have their advantages and downsides; there is no ideal welding process. Besides, I've heard the entry-level (typically flux-core wire) welders referred to as "hot glue guns"....
Stan
Stan
Nicely said Trev,
Don't forget the Oxygen / Acetylene, if you can write your name on a piece of metal with a brazing rod, that you can do the same with a tig, most times, a little better. Mig for fast one-shot hits or spot welds .
