Kenneth from Pennsylvania asks Joe:

Do you have Weldcraft TIG Torch parts to fit a Miller DB20 water cooled TIG torch? Specifically a gas lens, collet and nozzle for .040? through .125″ diameter tungsten electrodes?

This question brings up a couple of points. First off, did you know that Miller and Weldcraft are related? Both are owned by the Illinois Tool Works (ITW). Currently all Miller TIG torches are sold as Weldcraft, taking advantage of the brand recognition of Weldcraft, a leader in the industry. Some earlier Miller torches were made by another company, but to quality standards.

Which leads me to point number two.

Most TIG torches parts are interchangeable. There are some exceptions, and certainly with some of the cheaper non-name brands you’ll find that the materials are not as good and the tolerances are, well, not tolerable…. But with quality brand names like CK, Diamondback, Lincoln, etc the parts should interchange.

If you google “Tony Welding” you’ll find a link to a cache of videos posted online and the opportunity to “attend” welding classes taught by Tony Marsden, a welding instructor at the Simi Valley Career Institute. Funded by the state of California, the Institute’s welding program is free, however, there is usually a waiting list.

An instructor for over 25 years, Tony has always used videos to supplement his instructions. “It did not occur to me to put them on google video until recently,” he says. There are 54 videos in total, covering everything from equipment and accessories, metal identification, welding symbols, tube bending, fabrication, and structural codes in the areas of Arc Welding, MIG, TIG and Oxy-Acetylene. These videos offer a way for students who can’t get into the program either by limits of space or geography, to learn from an instructor with over 40 years of welding experience and certifications in SMAW, FCAW, GMAW and GTAW.

The son of a general contractor, Tony was introduced to the construction industry and welding at an early age. Over the years he was told many times he would make a great teacher. When he was offered a position to teach part time, he accepted and part time soon led to full time. “I have always enjoyed sharing information,” he says.

Working at the largest and most comprehensive adult school in Ventura County, California has allowed Tony to share a lot of welding information. And place over 3000 students in good jobs over the last 25 years.

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A lot of folks wonder what the difference between inexpensive import TIG Torches you see being sold at a lot of online welding suppliers, and the quality name brand– and yes, more expensive TIG torches such as the ones carried by distributors like Arc-Zone.com.

One of the biggest differences between brand-name and no-name torches is the materials used in manufacturing…

Copper
There is tellurium copper, which is very basic plumbing type copper and then there is leaded nickel copper which is a high conductive, high tensile strength copper alloy. This is important for two reasons, one it’s a better conductor, and two it is more durable, the TIG torch body threads last longer, collets don’t buckle and twist etc.

Silicone Rubber
Weldcraft changed the rules when they introduced the Silicone rubber molded TIG torch. Prior to that all torches were molded in a hard plastic material. Difficult to hold, impossible to bend and very susceptible to arcing out. You would think that silicone rubbers are all the same, but again there is a big difference in the material quality, and how much heat it takes before it begins to breakdown, and how well it is bonded to the copper TIG torch body. Materials and preparation are key here and come back to the basics of production standards
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Mark in Vermont asks:

I am running a Miller syncrowave 250 DX. Frequently welding cast aluminum, it pops and sizzles. I have always been looking for better cleaning techniques or a different tungsten to help get a stronger and prettier weld. There is always alot of black around the weld, and most times holes just “appear” in the weld. Any suggestions or tips to help?

That’s an interesting question — You can try a couple of things and see if it helps.

1. Use a gas lens collet body - this will improve the shield gas coverage, and allow you to run higher amperage while lowering the electrode and front-end parts operating temperature.

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David from Peoria (Arizona!) wrote in and asked:

….about “spray arc transfer MIG.” I tried it with my Miller 8VS and Syncrowave 200 (on CC mode). It sounded like TIG, but I ruined a tip & nozzle. Is this type recommended “at home,” or do you need a bigger multi-processor power source, and what are the advantages?

I quickly replied:
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I got a call today from Eric the maintenance foreman for the American Airlines Engine Repair Shop in Ft. Worth Texas. “Do you have the Monster nozzle in stock?” he asked.

When I said yes, he practically erupted with joy. “Man we have been looking all over for these things. They’re like gold around here.”

He told me they used to get a similar part but the quality was inconsistent, and the availability was too. He said, “We have a job to do, and we use these nozzles to TIG weld our Titanium and other special alloys that need repair.”

He went on to say that as the nozzles became scarce, they started making them in-house from a variety of materials — Phenolic, Ceramic and then settled on a CNC machined aluminum part that was ceramic coated. “The quality was great, but they take time to make and are expensive,” he said.

The Arc-Zone.com Monster nozzle will be a great replacement for them… and they can get on with the business they are in, welding specialized aerospace materials– not tools.

This is true of a lot of the quality purge gas accessories we sell at Arc-Zone. As a master fabricator you know you can build your own trail shield, or auxiliary gas welding nozzle…. but when you’re looking for consistency, and want to focus on your core business, it’s nice to have a supplier that can offer tools so you can Weld Like A Pro™.

Our marketing guru just shot me a link to the new Miller video — Advances in MIG/GMAW Pipe Welding Techniques (and five other videos) for me to review and comment.

Miller says “You can take your pipe welding to a whole new level, and discover advances in MIG/GMAW pipe welding along with the benefits of the patented RMD Pro™ and Pro-Pulse™ weld processes”.

Pipe welding is very technical and the process is “growing” as we ramp up more refining of various fuels, chemicals, gases and water! I didn’t see anything new here, and they are definitely pushing their new power supply features as the way to improve your pipe welding. A couple of things did catch my eye — on one of the videos they used a very basic technique for measuring the root gap — using 1/8″ welding wire. I would strongly suggest if you are engaged in fabricating pipe you need to invest in some high-quality pipe clamps. That way you can set the gap, align the pipe and lock it into position ensuring a consistent weld every time.

Another thing of interest was the New Bernard Centerfire MIG gun parts. Now that is a real innovation and I can’t wait till we start selling those parts in our new MIG gun parts section under development. It’s nice to see a well designed and very useful product featured in the video!

I think the videos are helpful and gives fabricators a good look at what it takes to do quality pipe welding, the only question I have is, is this the only technology, or do Lincoln, ESAB, Thermal Arc and other welding power supply manufacturers have a similar process? Let me know what your experience is with some of the machines listed, and if you know of others — let us know so we can get that info out in the workplace!

Hey, we have a handy new tool that can help improve your welding operation– the Shield Gas Flow Tester.

Now you can accurately and conveniently measure the actual shield gas flow rates at the torch. This easy to use device will take the guesswork out of optimizing your welds, and save on shield gas cost.

For production applications the benefits of documenting flow rates – at the torch – will pay off with reduced weld variations and lower gas usage.

The Unit Measures Argon and Co2 Flow Rates up to 25 LPM (52 CFH)

Measures in Liters Per Minute. To Convert to CFH Divide - LPM/.472=CFH

Lisa in Alameda emailed Arc-Zone.com with the following question:

I have a Miller Dialarc welder with a Weldcraft water cooled torch. I have been hooked up to city water and it’s worked fine for years. But I am moving my business to Klamath Falls, Oregon and my shop will get below freezing at night so I’ll need a self contained unit to cool my torch. Could you send me more information on just the cooling system/cool kit without the torch kit included as I have that….

Since Lisa already has the water-cooled torch, getting her set up with a water cooler should be pretty simple; all she’ll need is the cooler itself.

The water cooler that comes with the Cool Kit is our Tig-er cooler. It retails for about $500 plus shipping. It is a nice little cooler that runs 2 gallons. It’s solid and compact and would be a great addition to a small weld shop.

Lisa may need a water hose, and AW-431 fittings. She’ll also need the coolant which you can get from us, or from your local welding supply shop.

Those of you of a certain age will remember that 70s era jingle from Burger King. At Arc-Zone.com we get special requests fairly often. And we’re pretty good at getting our customers what they want.

Case in point, Armando in Texas writes:

I need a TIG torch Package WP-26, but needs to be 75′ long, include a torch and hand-held amperage control and a cable cover to be used on a Miller Synchrowave 250.

Please quote and time of delivery

Although the WP-26 TIG Torch package from Weldcraft does not come with a 75′ Cable, and you can cobble together 75′ worth of cable, a better solution is our custom-length cables. Turnaround time is generally 5-7 days. You’ll still have to put together two cable covers, but that won’t affect performance in the least.

The Miller Synchrowave 250 has a threaded stud connection for the TIG torch, rather than the DINSE style plugs more common in newer machines so we recommended an upgrade. With a 45V62 Power Cable Adapter, he could adapt his machine to accept a TIG Torch with a DINSE connector. The benefit being that you can easily switch out one TIG Torch for another. Also, you can standardize all your machines and torches to one connector so that any torch you have can go on any machine– a great benefit for a company that needs be as flexible as possible.

But before we could put together a realistic quote for Armando we needed to know which hand held amperage control he wanted– at Arc-Zone.com we offer two different styles of hand held amperage controls: one with a side-to-side (east-west) dial, and one with an in-line (north-south) rotary motion control.

Once we clarified exactly what he needed, we were able to put together a quote, with a realistic delivery date… special orders really don’t upset us.