We love it when our customers call us…  even if they don’t have such glowing praise– bottom line is we are focused on doing our best for our customers, so we look forward to hearing from you, whether you have a comment on one of our products, something we need to add to our store, or a way to improve our website– let us know, and we will work to make those changes!

But it sure is nice to get compliments, so welcome aboard, Joe!

Which tungsten electrode should I use ?

or even more specifically

What is the best Tungsten for precision TIG welding with AC (alternating current) on Aluminum using an inverter based machine?

A lot of folks in the industry have some very strong opinions on this subject, some based on fact, some based on ego and greed and some– just not having the experience. . .

For sure the answer is NOT Pure tungsten (color code: Green)!  Even though many say you should use pure, and back in the day specifications called out Pure tungsten for AC TIG welding.   But that’s old skool; I never use pure, and I would not recommend even trying it!

We have several industrial customers who purchase tungsten electrodes from us in quantity–  and they have spent a lot of time and money testing different materials.  From precision orbital TIG welding of high-purity stainless steel tubing, to manual TIG welding of yacht towers or special interest auto intake/turbo manifolds and other aluminum fabricated parts where the finished product is the “money.”  In other words, these master fabricators know what they’re talking about when it comes to TIG Welding and tungsten electrodes and hands down, they prefer our ArcTime(TM) Hybrid tungsten electrodes.

Based on my 20+ years in the welding industry, I would say it comes down to two things – the tungsten brand name (who makes it), and the material blend or formula (how it’s manufactured).

Tungsten Brand Name:
Arc-Zone.com sells all the leading brands of high-quality tungsten electrodes: ArcTime, Amplify, CK Worldwide, Multi-Strike, Sylvania, and Weldcraft.  With these trusted brands, you are assured that the material is top-quality and manufactured to the highest specifications and with adherence to International ISO 6848 and AWS A5.12 standards.

Tungsten Blend or Formula:
If you look at our sales from users around the world, ArcTime™ Hybrid (color code: Sky Blue) is the most popular and the 2% Ceriated (color code: Orange) and Lanthanated (color code: Dark Blue) are the second most popular, especially for precision fabricators. Again that is based on our sales and conversations with fabricators and leading power supply manufactures – (Weldcraft will be adding 2% Lanthanated to their product line shortly, and they currently offer a Rare Earth material, which is a generic material designed to compete with ArcTime™, Trimix, and Multistrike).

For the record, we sell Multi-Strike, and we sold Trimix for many years, but those materials are very expensive, and our customers told us the performance did not justify the extra cost.

Also important and often overlooked is the quality of the tungsten material. Like it or not the vast majority of the tungsten electrodes are made in China. The raw material for the most part has always come from there, as they have some of the largest tungsten mines. That said there are many high-quality manufacturers, just as there are poor quality manufacturers. Your best option is to buy a material that has a trusted brand name, from a supplier that offers only carefully selected and tested products from known manufacturers.

Free Tungsten Samples  / Free Pizza:
A local “New York style” pizza joint comes by the shop and offers us free pizza, since we often have pizza on Fridays–to celebrate exceeding our customer experience goals–we ordered one of those free pizzas.  It was terrible.  We threw it out!

Recently they stopped by again, and when our receptionist said “No thank you,” the stooge they hired to pass out the free pizza flyers was floored.

“You guys don’t want a free pizza?  I don’t get it, you don’t eat?” he said.

She told him their pizza was not worth the phone call.

I know that may sound harsh, but it’s true and you know what I am talking about…. you get what you pay for.  We have some “competitors” that offer free tungsten samples.

When we get calls from people asking us for samples we refer them to those free sample guys.  And if they are serious fabricators they try those free samples then call us back and place an order. . .

So, no, we don’t offer free tungsten samples, but what we do offer is the best Brand Name tungsten welding electrodes on the planet, backed by our unsurpassed technical support, and every order ships with material safety data sheets, user guides, how to’s, material specifications with mill runs and lot numbers, a bag of our signature M&M’s, plus the industry’s only unconditional MONEY BACK GUARANTEE and a NO-HASSLE return policy.

Not too long ago we identified an opportunity to innovate the industry by introducing a line of low-impact recyclable diamond grinding wheels for our line up of production tungsten grinding machines and we found a local manufacturer that we thought was going to benefit our customers in terms of price and quality. Unfortunately, when we received the first production run, they were not at all what we expected, and did not match our agreed upon production standards. In business sometimes you need to take the product to market and perfect it based on customer feedback. So we shipped some of the “new style” low-impact recyclable wheels to a select group of customers. And let me tell you, we heard about it straight away. First off the wheels looked completely different and did not have the bright nickle plated finish that they were used to, most people thought they were cheap imports! We even lost a few customers, and it will take some time to get them back.

Since then, we’ve been working with an established world-class manufacturer right here in the U.S. of A — and we are very happy with them, and the wheels are absolutely the finest available. We’ve also done a lot of research and tested these wheels so that they meet the stringent requirements and the needs of our customers.   In fact, take a few minutes and read the Technical Focus Sheet on Grinding Tungsten Electrodes with Diamond Wheels (.pdf) that I put together. The paper includes information on dry grinding, wet grinding, types of wheels and tips for maximizing your wheel’s life.

Now we are able to supply the highest-quality replacement diamond wheels for all your tungsten grinding machines. It’s great to be able to offer a superior quality product, at a fair price, and best of all they are made in the U.S.A.

Don’t buy the misleading advertising other companies are doing, they charge up to $299.00 per wheel – for a cheap import wheel from China (that they pay $35.00 for) — That’s Ridiculous. At Arc-Zone.com® we supply the highest-quality wheels Made In the USA for a lower price — That’s Ridiculously Awesome!

Wheel Core Exchange™
Arc-Zone.com® now offers a Wheel Core Exchange program for your spent diamond grinding wheels! Return your worn-out diamond grinding wheels to Arc-Zone.com, and we’ll give you a $25.00 discount on a new wheel purchase or a store credit (applies to new wheels $100.00 or more). By returning your used wheels, you’ll reduce the environmental impact of discarded diamond grinding wheels. Better still, you’ll reduce the impact on your wallet!

We stock wheels for all populartungsten electrode grinders – Sharpie™, Turbo Ace, Super Turbo, Turbo-4, Radnor, Weldmark®, OKI, Best Welds, Abicor Binzel®, Diamond Ground Products Piranha II, Piranha III and DGP*, Neutra, Neutrix, Ultima TIG and Black Gold, Weldcraft® (formerly Georg Fisher +GF+ ESG Plus) Pro-Fusion Sharp Shooter, Intercon TIG 10/175, CK Worldwide® TurboSharp V and more! Custom diamond grinding wheels available by request.

For automated TIG and Plasma Arc Welding applications where minimizing variables is imperative, consider Arc-Zone’s Custom Pre-Ground Tungsten Electrode Program. We offer precision pre-ground electrodes prepared to your exact specifications from tip geometry to ground or polished finish. And for high production environments we even offer a blanket purchase order option so we’ll always have your electrodes in stock and ready to ship to you when you need them. Additionally, we offer a RE-grinding service that will save you and your organization valuable time and money!

If you have any questions about which diamond wheel you need, the tungsten grinder that will work best with your budget and your application, or to find out if you would benefit from our pre-ground program, contact an Arc-Zone.com technical expert today!

*Arc-Zone.com®, Inc. is not affiliated with some of the companies referenced. We supply high quality replacement parts manufactured by or for Arc-Zone.com® to demanding specifications. The parts are engineered to be interchangeable with OEM parts, are not OEM parts and are not endorsed by some of our friends listed above.

If you’re like me, you enjoy learning about all kinds of things especially as it relates to welding and metal fabrication.  I recently stumbled across this column over at Salon.com, Blogging the Periodic Table.  It’s a fascinating look at each of the elements in the periodic table–  and each one has a story.  You can read all about Thorium. Though this column doesn’t include information on welding, there some interesting and fun facts sprinkled throughout.

Now if you’ve been TIG welding for a while, you’re all too familiar with the RED tungsten electrodes.  This thoriated blend of tungsten electrode is popular because it is a good general purpose electrode (good for all metals and all machines) has excellent arc behavior and lasts long….  because of the nature of thorium, however, there are some health concerns due to vapors and grinding dust. At Arc-Zone we recommend you only use it if you are contractually required to, especially as there are better alternatives out there.

For more detailed information on health and safety concerns regarding the use of thoriated tungsten electrodes, check out the AWS Safety and Health Fact Sheet: Thoriated Tungsten Electrodes.

We almost always recommend our ArcTime Hybrid Tungsten… it is truly a state-of-the-art improvement over the old thoriated electrodes with excellent ignition properties, low burn off rate and it lasts a long time! I’ll let our spokes model tell you more about it:

To explore other options, check out Arc-Zone.com’s Guide to Selecting Tungsten Electrodes.

ArcTime™ Brand Hybrid, One Tungsten Blend For All Materials

ArcTime™ Brand Hybrid, One Tungsten Blend For All Materials

State-of-the-Art, Non-Radioactive Tungsten Electrode Formula: For all metals, compatible with all welding machines.

Fabricators from around the world are using ArcTime™ Hybrid tungsten electrodes to improve weld-quality, lower tungsten inventory costs and minimize weld defects.  What started as “cult  product” with a few specialty manufacturers of yatch towers, aerospace parts, mountain bikes and race cars has grown into our most poular tungsten electrode product.

Professional fabricators choose ArcTime™ because of its excellent ignition properties, low burn off rate and tip longevity.  In other words, this stuff lasts!

As an added bonus, ArcTime™ hybrid tungsten electrodes work well with all power sources and all metals from mild steel to titanium. The material is clearly differentiated by it’s Sky Blue™ color code.

The NEW ArcTime™ offers all that, at a price even a hobbyist or small weld shop can afford.

We are so certain that you will benefit from the new ArcTime™ Hybrid, we are offering a Unconditional Money Back Guarantee backed by our industry-leading No-Hassle Return Policy.

“You’ll notice a difference just by striking the first arc– no finer electrode exists anywhere,” says Jim Watson, president and founder of Arc-Zone.com, Inc.

ArcTime™ Hybrid Performance Tungsten Electrodes™ pass Arc-Zone.com’s 5-Point Inspection Program and are delivered complete with Arc-Zone’s popular Guide to Tungsten (pdf), and Material Safety Data Sheet (pdf) .

See What Customers Are Saying:

Amazing TUNGSTEN. I never have to switch it out when I weld something new and the arc always strikes perfectly. I am on this for the rest of my welding days!!

Date Added: 05/14/2009 by Roger Wilcox

Some of the best large tungsten I have ever used. I am a definite believer from now on. And they set me up with a Net account in a couple of minutes. A wonderful experience.

Date Added: 05/25/2009 by Duncan Moore

We started using the ArcTime after we had some major quality issues with our tungsten supply. One of the challenges of being a government entity is the material is supplied for a variety of reasons, and most times quality is not one of them! We were using the 1.5% and 2% Lanthanated material, and it varied in performance and each supplier had a box with a different label on it which did not sit well with our welding shop instructor. We tested the ArcTime material and were very pleased with the look of the material, the supporting documentation and most importantly the performance. We do maintenance welds on Aluminum ship hulls – the ArcTime hybrid tungsten out performs all other materials, and saves us a lot of headaches. Now we can focus on welding!

HT2 Hull Technician Pacific Fleet (sent via email)

Date Added: 06/25/2008 by Arc-Zone Admin

Check out what our very own Roxy Fuel has to say about ArcTime™:

Try it for yourself, then tell us what YOU think!

Three Models to Choose From:

The Sharpie™ DXV “Deluxe Vacuum” model adjusts for a wide range of grind angles and tapers from 15-to-45 degrees (included angle) for virtually any TIG welding application and includes built-in dust collection for dust-free electrode preparation.

Customer Review:

Got this vacuum grinder with the pro kit. Great deal. We have a welder here who is pregnant and the vacuum system really helps with dust collection. Thanks for the candy and the free poster.

Date Added: 05/14/2009 by Roger Wilcox

The Sharpie™ DX “Deluxe” adjusts for a wide range of grind angles and tapers from 15-to-45 degrees (included angle) for virtually any TIG welding application.

Customer Review:

Got this grinder and it worked great even on 1/8 tungsten. Good adjustment angle, used the first side of the wheel then flipped it over and continued to grind. It is a must have for a shop.

Date Added: 03/17/2009 by Hit Hard

The Sharpie™ SD “Standard” has it’s grind angle pre-set at 20 degrees, a good, general-purpose angle for a variety of TIG welding applications, making the Sharpie Standard™ an economical choice.

Customer Review:

I’m a student at the local tech college taking the basic welding course. As you may have guessed, the need to sharpen the tungsten electrode is pretty frequent. The sharpie standard model has been a huge time saver, allowing me more time to learn tig. The price for of the sharpie is fairly steep for a student but well worth the cost in time saved. I would recommend this product to anyone from bigginer to expert. Sincerly, Dave

Date Added: 11/14/2008 by Dave Fasteen

Did you know that Arc-Zone.com carries the industry’s most comprehensive selection of tungsten grinders? In addition to the Sharpie, we’ve got the Turbo Sharp, the Triad, the Neutrix hand held tungsten grinders. We’ve also got the Neutra, the Ultima LTG, the TIG 10/175 and the Turbo 4…. not to mention replacement parts– including diamond grinding wheels for all the industry’s tungsten grinders.!
And if you’re not sure which one is right for you, check out our Tungsten Grinder Selector Guide (pdf).

“multiprogram science and technology laboratory managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by UT-Battelle, LLC. Scientists and engineers at ORNL conduct basic and applied research and development to create scientific knowledge and technological solutions that strengthen the nation’s leadership in key areas of science; increase the availability of clean, abundant energy; restore and protect the environment; and contribute to national security.

ORNL also performs other work for the Department of Energy, including isotope production, information management, and technical program management, and provides research and technical assistance to other organizations.”

One can only guess what they’re welding up there!

I’m pretty sure they contacted us because Arc-Zone.com offers the widest variety of tungsten electrodes for TIG and Plasma Arc Welding applications. We offer quality brand names like ArcTime™ , Amplify™ MultiStrike™, SYLVANIA and Weldcraft® and all the popular blends like 2% Ceriated, 1.5% Lanthanated, 2% Thoriated, Pure Tungsten, Zirconiated Tungsten, Rare Earth blends and the new ArcTime Hybrid™ Electrodes.

We also stock (ready for immediate delivery) the most common diameters for welding from .040″ to 1/8″ Other diameters up to 1/4″ are usually available to ship in a couple of days.

But 1/2″ diameter tungsten electrodes– that’s a different story. For a request like that, we would need to quote a special run of 1/2″ diameter….

If you want to learn more about tungsten, check out the newest addition to the Arc-Zone.com family, TungstenElectrodesOnline.com, a comprehensive resource website for information about tungsten, tungsten production, the properties of tungsten and specifically the use of tungsten electrodes in TIG and Plasma Arc Welding. And if you have special need for tungsten electrodes, use the handy Request A Quote form.

….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:

Thanks for your question…. the spray arc transfer process is mostly used for thicker metals, and you definitely need higher voltage and current… that said, we currently (no pun intended) don’t have a lot of products and resources for MIG welding. I would highly recommend a call to Miller directly (Phone: 920-734-9821). They’ll be able to guide you better given the machine you have.

I also recommended a couple of articles, one from Miller and one from Lincoln:

http://www.millerwelds.com/education/articles/articles10.html
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/migweldss.asp

Dave may have felt bad that we couldn’t directly answer his question (we can usually offer a referral if there’s something we can’t answer) so he sent in this follow up via email:

Thanks for your reply. Yeah, Miller doesn’t recommend spray arc with the Syncrowave 200. Not enough output. They suggest an inverter unit like the 350 XMT, or compatible 3-phase multi-processor. I do have a question that you can answer.

As you may know, the Miller Syncrowave 200 is a somewhat advanced square wave machine. It features pulse, background adjustments for proper cleaning (AC aluminum), and a few other perks. It’s still, however, a transformer, rectifier machine. What tungsten do you, the professional, recommend for these types of machines. I’ve had good results on mild steel with 2% Thoriated, and fairly good results with pure tungsten on aluminum. Remember, it’s not an inverter machine, so I cannot adjust the “frequency” (Hz are 60 cycles) unlike the Dynasty 200 DX.

Of course a tungsten question is right up our alley. In fact, we just introduced a new, improved version of our ArcTime™ Hybrid All Purpose Tungsten, which we highly recommend for all metals and all welding machines.

Good Luck Dave, and thanks for stopping by– your t-shirt is on its way!

Weldcraft® has added a new double decker kit to the options available for the grinder — and it’s a well made precision machined set-up. Check it out (at the left) and read the press release from Weldcraft here…

And by the way if you want to try any of our tungsten electrode grinders — we offer a 7-Day trial — to make sure you get the best machine for your welding application. Restrictions apply — Purchase order or credit card at time of order!

That’s a tough question because there are many variables based on the type of front-end parts being used on the torch — and — the welding application. As we all know high-quality, consistently good looking and strong TIG welds are a combination of art and science.

With this new tungsten electrode stick-out tool you can reduce some of the variables by accurately measuring the tungsten stick-out by 1/16″ (1.6mm) increments up to 1″ (25.4mm).

It’s constructed of CNC machined brass with knurled locking sleeve and includes a key ring holder with nylon strap and spring type aluminum hook loop… and is available online at Arc-Zone.com!