by dougm » Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:16 am
Is there anything in particular you are looking for?
I use the Meco midget as well. A few things I can suggest:
1. Make your tubing fit as tightly as you can. While gas is more forgiving of gaps than TIG, a tight fit goes a long way towards minimizing movement of the tubes when you fully weld the joint.
2. Be sure to fully heat your tacks and have them flow into the metal of the tube. If you don't then you'll have a cold lump sitting on top of the tube that isn't really attached. This can easily "pop" off as the tube cools and the stresses change.
3. I generally tack in four places (when possible) @ 90degree intervals. This helps maintain alignment of the tubes. It also keeps things aligned if one of your tacks "pops" or cracks when they cool (see #2).
4. If you tack something and it didn't come out as planned, don't be worried that you are stuck with the result. It is very easy to fix the "problem": heat up the tack(s) and move the tube as needed, heat up the tacks and remove the tube to re-position, grind out the tack, etc.
Hope that helps.
Is there anything in particular you are looking for?
I use the Meco midget as well. A few things I can suggest:
1. Make your tubing fit as tightly as you can. While gas is more forgiving of gaps than TIG, a tight fit goes a long way towards minimizing movement of the tubes when you fully weld the joint.
2. Be sure to fully heat your tacks and have them flow into the metal of the tube. If you don't then you'll have a cold lump sitting on top of the tube that isn't really attached. This can easily "pop" off as the tube cools and the stresses change.
3. I generally tack in four places (when possible) @ 90degree intervals. This helps maintain alignment of the tubes. It also keeps things aligned if one of your tacks "pops" or cracks when they cool (see #2).
4. If you tack something and it didn't come out as planned, don't be worried that you are stuck with the result. It is very easy to fix the "problem": heat up the tack(s) and move the tube as needed, heat up the tacks and remove the tube to re-position, grind out the tack, etc.
Hope that helps.