 Tech Tip: Using The Chop Saw...  Tech Tip: Using The Chop Saw
It can be difficult making straight cuts on smaller sections of tubing because the blade pulls the piece in towards the back of the machine, and the holding device on the cutting surface may not grab enough of the tube to hold it steady. We used some of the straight pieces as a fence to help hold the piece in place. |  The next problem we encountered...  The next problem we encountered frequently while TIG welding was dipping the tip of our torch in the weld puddle. See the blob on the tip of the tungsten electrode in the photo (LEFT)? If you dip your tungsten in the weld puddle or touch it with the filler rod, the molten steel will wick up the tungsten and create an unstable arc making it difficult to aim the torch properly.... |  ...When this happens you must...  ...When this happens you must remove the tungsten from the torch and re-grind the tip. Note that the tungsten is held vertically as it's ground-don't grind your tungsten horizontally, that will cause a funny looking arc, too. The photo (RIGHT) shows a properly ground tungsten electrode.... |
 ...The best advice we can...  ...The best advice we can give to avoid contaminating the tip of the torch is to position the workpiece in such a way that allows you to hold your hand steady as you move the torch across the joint. The smoother your movements are, the better looking your welds will be. Oh, and don't drink too much coffee, either-it can make your hands shake. |  It didn't take too long to...  It didn't take too long to encounter our first fitment problem-namely, how do you weld a tube that runs immediately next to another tube? Well, our first solution turned out to be not so smart. We thought that cutting the tube in half lengthwise would be a cool trick- you can weld it from the inside. |  Not only is this solution...  Not only is this solution labor-intensive, it's just plain dumb. What we failed to take into account is the amount of material that is removed by the grinder itself. We were left with a huge seam to fill. Our exhaust pipes were starting to look more like sewer pipes. |
 We were out of creativity...  We were out of creativity at that point so we tacked in the rest of the pipes and hoped a solution would appear. |  A solution finally came to...  A solution finally came to us. We cut the interfering tubes off at the flange. This way, we could perform unobstructed welds around the perimeters of all our joints,... |  ...and then weld the tubes...  ...and then weld the tubes back onto the flange when we were finished. We also took this opportunity to grind down some of our more offensive-looking welds. |