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New welder

choppinczech

Well-Known Member
Been playing with my new PrimeWeld TIG225X.

Oh man I wish I'd gotten this years ago. My headers, brackets and fuel tank would have been so much easier.

The pulse setting is really nice for aluminum.

And with my new Optrel helmet I can finally see what I'm doing.
 
Been playing with my new PrimeWeld TIG225X.

choppinczech, Is this a inverter type of machine? I looked for a spec sheet and could not find one on their site. There are a number of these types of TIG welders on the market and they all seem to be imports. I'm curious as to the duty cycle. I do see they use the CK World air cooled torch and as far as I'm concerned CK sets the standard for the industry. Have used their WP-20 water cooled torches for the last 18 years. Just bought a new Rigid Head Air Cooled 150 amp air cooled with the super flex 25ft cable. I have two old Lincoln 300-300 amp AC-DC TIG machines and I really like them. However they are about 900 lbs ea. One has a noisy humming transformer that wears me out. Both have lost use of the high frequency unit there by eliminating any aluminum welding. So it's getting close to new welding machine time. Been doing a little research as time and energy permit but will get serious this summer. Keep up posted on your new machine. And yes, those old Lincoln's can weld beer cans together. Have Fun!
George
 
Yes. Here's a shot of the owner's manual. THE most useful and informative manual I've ever seen. With clear descriptions of every knob and function.

specs.jpeg

And there's lots of videos of too.

 
Nice, I had a lightning strike last summer, which among numerous other things, took out my big MiG welder, which I had left plugged in... I was considering buying a new multi purpose machine but couldn’t let old faithful go, lol... I have a new, bigger shop in mind if material prices ever return to normal. Perhaps then.
 
Just made up this jig for grinding tungsten.

1.jpeg

I got fed up with these.

This diamond wheel had about an 1/8" of runout.

2.jpeg

And this goofy thing that attaches to a Dremel has short sloppy guides that might as well not even be there.

3.jpeg

So I got this 6" diamond wheel from McMaster Carr. It runs true and I've heard of welding schools getting 5000+ grinds out of them.

The guides are 1" long vented socket head cap screws. The 1/4-20 size already has a 1/16" hole, so I drilled out the others to 3/32" and 1/8".

4.jpeg

This thing works really well. It's adjustable left to right and to any angle I need.

5.jpeg
 
Excellent !!!
 
Just made up this jig for grinding tungsten.

View attachment 20934

I got fed up with these.

This diamond wheel had about an 1/8" of runout.

View attachment 20935

And this goofy thing that attaches to a Dremel has short sloppy guides that might as well not even be there.

View attachment 20936

So I got this 6" diamond wheel from McMaster Carr. It runs true and I've heard of welding schools getting 5000+ grinds out of them.

The guides are 1" long vented socket head cap screws. The 1/4-20 size already has a 1/16" hole, so I drilled out the others to 3/32" and 1/8".

View attachment 20937

This thing works really well. It's adjustable left to right and to any angle I need.

View attachment 20938
Very nice.
 
Glad to know the Dremel attachment is sloppy. I was about to buy one!
 
Glad to know the Dremel attachment is sloppy. I was about to buy one!

Plus, you're never left with a linear grind because the wheel is so small. It leaves semi spiral grooves that make your arc go all over the place.

It also takes several tries to get the wheel set at the correct height. You can't adjust it with the shroud mounted. So you have to take it all apart, loosen the chuck, and raise or lower the wheel.
 
I’m using the Dremel unit and have to frequently need to resharpen my tungsten. Could that be the my problem? I’m new at TIG that is bugging me.
 
I’m using the Dremel unit and have to frequently need to resharpen my tungsten. Could that be the my problem? I’m new at TIG that is bugging me.

An inline grind makes a huge difference in the arc behaving.

A spiral will make it dance all over the place.
grinds.jpg
 
I lost faith in Dremel gadgets after attempting to use a chain saw blade sharpener, a rotary file with guide. The first try and the file grabbed the aluminum guide which threw it severely out of balance, which broke the file off at the shank where it meets the chuck... of course it managed to mangle two fingers in the process, which lasted all of about two seconds. I like rotary tools for many things, but I think they try to do more than the tool is capable of doing...well. You definitely want to use a dedicated wheel for your tungsten. No mower blade sharpening, lol... contamination is not your friend.
 

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