TIG "Kink"

[HWooldridge]

I am kind of particular about clean sharp electrodes every time I weld with the TIG. I also will sharpen several pieces and swap them out periodically if I have a long job. I was casting about for a faster way to sharpen the tungsten and chucked one in my 1/4 hand drill then spun the end against the bench grinder wheel. Presto, sharp point in about 3 seconds.

[Ten Hammers]

You know, it would be worth having one of them cheap battery drills at hand and spare pile of globbed tungsten by the belt grinder (or a hand held belt sander or just a fine non-contaminated rock on a side grinder) for this. Good tip, thanks.

PS. Just an afterburner thought. Contamination I would only worry about if I was weldin stainless. I don't have NEAR the experience with TIG as some but the knowledge I DO have tells me to keep stainless stuff clean. Carbon, I'd sharpen on common belt. YMMV

[HWooldridge]

I agree with you on the contamination as I have my old bench grinder set aside with a clean wheel to do nothing but tungsten. I use the belt grinder for everything else.

[grimme]

the only problem i would have with that is the grinding marks and scratches, however fine, are going the wrong way, ie around the point in stead of along it, dont know how much difference it makes, in real terms, but it goes against how i was taught.I just use a very fine wheel, just for this job and holdin the tungsten verticle, spin in in my fingers, only takes 3sec anyway (longer than that and the heats there already)

[HWooldridge]

I posted this on another forum and someone said the same thing about radial marks. I should have been more clear in my explanation - I tip the drill motor vertically toward the wheel so the grinding is done lengthwise on the electrode. Of course, the 'trode is spinning in the drill chuck while the wheel is turning but I haven't detected a difference in arc characteristics. Someone much better and more experienced at TIG than me remarked that he could not tell any difference in grinding direction so I just don't know which is correct.

[plain ol Bill]

I generally use a drill motor and fine wheel for sharpening mine with the grind marks in line w/ the tungsten body. But when humped up back in a tight hole I've often used a 4 1/2" grinder spinning it manually. It works - and you just need a point. Only time I have ever really noticed a difference is when welding really thin material on low amps.

[Rutterbush]

I'm just passing along a little of the technical stuff. A perfectly pointed tungsten is ground with the marks running longitudal to the axis of the tungsten. Toward tthe point. This helps to stabilize the arc so that it won't wander and dance around. These grinding marks will also have a slight twist sort of like the grooves in a rifle barrel. These also help to focus the gas into the weld area. Transverse grinding around the tungsten will work sort of like the terraces a farmer will cut into a hillside to slow the rain water and keep it from washing the dirt away. A perfect tungsten point will be finished with 400 grit grinding/sanding.

The very point of the tungsten should be ground flat to about 1/64" diameter. Doesn't matter what diameter tungsten. This eliminates the tiny wire point and helps stabilize the arc. Think of a tiny spark plug.

A belt sander is a dangerous sharpening devise for tungsten. The connection joint where the belt is spliced can catch the tungsten and push it through a hand (I've seen this) or shatter the tungsten like shrapnel (seen this also). The tungsten has a danger potential when holding the end up to be sharpened. If using a belt sander point the end down so that the connection joint on the belt will slide past and not catch.

Of course, if you stop by the home shop you'll find me doing it my way, but on the job I ask for nothing less than perfection.