I used to have an AHP Alphatig 201XD. Great machine. The HF pulse on it was fantastic.
I finally bought a house in Cave Country! W00T!!!
- Thread starter The Chairman
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OP
It seems that long, eh? I re-read it several times too. Oxycontin has that effect on a mind. I don't use it often, but sometimes the pain is just overwhelming. I wish I were more a priority for my surgeons. They aren't in pain, so I guess it's OK. [/whine]I am impressed that both you and TIG have been around that long “I bought in August of 1922”
OP
I'm looking forward to trying out that very feature as that's why I bought it. I was so disoriented with pain by the time I thought I had it all ready, that I left it off. Tomorrow's a new day, and it doesn't feel so bad tonight as it did last night. Oxy keeps me up too. I went to bed around 10pm or so, and awoke around 1:30 when Djinni Lu crawled in to snuggle. I had four out of five cats all snuggled in last night, with Olaf the feral being the only hold out. It has to be in the 30s for him to join us. I got another couple hours of sleep around 5am or so. and awoke when hungry kittens wanted food. I found myself dozing off today while sitting at my laptop. Early to bed for me tonight.
I am such a city slicker. I have no idea of any of what you speak. All these tools are way out of my league. 
I tig weld literally every day and I have never even seen a tungsten grinder. I have always used a drill and a flap disc.
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
I did it the old-school way with a flap disk for a long time. Then I got one of those purpose built grinders. They work great, very quick.
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Quick and consistent.
OP
OP
And cheaper every day.
Alas, but learning TIG on your own does not seem as easy as MIG. With the back, it's taking me more time than it should, because it doesn't take long to where I have to head back in for a bit.
Yesterday, I actually tried to strike an arc. I thought I did not have it tightened correctly, as it appeared that the tungsten was blown all the way to the back to the collet. Doing research, I found I had my tip too fine at 20o instead of 30o. The 30 o worked well for almost a half inch of weld, where there was a pop, no arc, and I found the tungsten back down to the collet. More reading, and another realization. All of my tungstens are 3/32", but the thoriated, which is 1/16". 3/32" and 1/8" thoriated will be here Thursday, but ceriated should work, and I have it in the thicker electrode. Maybe later today or tomorrow I'll try to strike an arc. In installing the ceriated, I found that I had welded the collet to the diffuser. It's a pretty weld, but now I have scrap copper.
Here is my setup...Sorry for the backlighting. Anyone see any other problems? Any thoughts, SWAGS, WAGS, or profane utterances? It's on DC, low pulse and set to use the foot pedal. Flow is set at 60 (?).
It's funny, but after I learned how to gas weld, I was hot to learn stick. Stick gave way to Mig and now I want to TIG. I took a class in 1980 on how to stick weld, but everything else has been self-taught. This has been the hardest, partly because of the technology, but mostly because of the pain. It's hard to concentrate, much less problem solve in 5/10 minute increments. The pain is always there, it's just not enough to send me inside to sit in my recliner or lie in bed all of the time. I want my life back.
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