pipeline60
Kelly Ellis
Welding
Professionals are pretty easy to spot.GeneT,
In lay mans terms-
From the inception in the mid 50's
The term Heli-Arc used helium as the inert shielding gas.
Using helium will relate to an amperage increase(+20-+30amps) & a pinkish hue of reflected light of the arc,but requires 3X the gas volume as argon.(60-80CFH)
Argon is the inert shielding gas used today 99% of the time due to 1/3 less gas usage & cost compared to using helium.(15-25CFH)
The use of argon will present a blue reflected light.
Other gases to include hydrogen are mixed for specialty welds.
Any firearm TIG welding that I've done in the past 40years hasn't required more then 100amps DCSP.
DCSP-Direct Current Straight Polarity is ground positive/electrode negative w/ rare earth(grey),1%,1.5%,2% Lanthanated(gold) or Thoriated(red) tungsten electrode..
used for any steels,stainless,inconel,monel,titanium.
DCRP-Direct Current Reverse Polarity is ground negative/electrode positive.
used for micro/plasma operations.
grind tungsten point to 2/3 diameter longitudinally,not like sharpening a pencil or arc wander will prevail & piss off the operator in short order.
AC-alternating current w/continuous high frequency to stabilize the arc w/ balled pure tungsten(green).
used for aluminum,magnesium.
Pulse is a pre-programmed or manually adjusted/set lower to higher amperage to reduce heat input into the parent material & also works well filler welding aluminum/magnesium for white boys w/o rhythm who cant/don't dance!!
TIG-Tungsten Inert Gas welding is not a short arc process so there is not any sparks/spatter in the process like SMAW or MIG welding.
Any questions-post/pm/e-mail it !!