Dear Fellow Orchidians- Today My husband Tim Green, Mary Wong,(of
Trios), and I took a workshop from Kevin Lindsey on Tig Welding. Oh
my word! What a wonderful thing! No solder, no flux, no fire scale.
Just clean welds.
We played with platinum and 18kt yellow gold. I can’t wait to try it
on palladium. We were even able to fill gaps in the platinum in the
blink of an eye. We do a lot of “old school” platinum and 18kt
fabrication in our studio. The tig as far as I can see is going to be
great for the kind of stuff we do.
And the cost?
A WHOLE lot less than a laser. Anywhere from a thousand bucks to
three thousand. We are starting to work more and more in palladium.
Lasers just don’t work that well with palladium. The seams look great
with a laser, but they always fail under any kind of stress. Since
the tig covers the work with an argon atmosphere there are also no
discoloration issues as with conventional torches.
We are still beginners with the tig, but we can sure see just how
really, really useful it can be. I’m looking forward to trying it
some more. And my husband is REALLY looking forward to buying a new
tool that we won’t have to mortgage our house for.
So, if any of my fellow orchidians are thinking about investing in a
laser, or working in palladium especially, I’d recommend that yall
give Kevin Lindsey a holler.
I'm not familiar with a Tig welder. How does it compare with a
PUK?
A PUK is a type of TIG spot or pulse welder. In the one they are
talking about the welder can work over a wide range of time and power
levels from brief pulses to a continuous arc. TIG stands for tungsten
inert gas and it is a type of arc welding where the electrical arc is
struck between a non consumable tungsten electrode and the work. In
effect it is an electrical torch with a very high temperature
“flame”. The TIG welder Kevin uses is the same tool that one might
weld a large stainless steel structure with but he has developed
techniques to apply it to jewelry and is probably the most
accomplished jewelry TIG welder I know of.
Jim
James Binnion @James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
I'm not familiar with a Tig welder. How does it compare with a
PUK?
The PUK units are essentially desktop TIG welders, they use the same
technology and concept. The major difference (after viewing the
online stuff) is that the PUK operates more like a spot (tack) welder
(very similar to how a laser operates), vs. a TIG welder that can
hold a continious arc between the electrode and work piece, achieving
greater penetration and continuity of the weld. Not to mention, you
can do much larger items with a dedicated TIG unit.
Ive just begun my venture into using a TIG welder for my
applications, and have been in communication with Kevin on it (thanks
Kev!). I have a different setup than Kevins, his is a traditional TIG
machine, the unit Im using is a Plasma Arc Welder or PAW. They both
operate on the same principal, creating an arc between the tungeston
electrode and the work piece, but with PAW, there are two gasses
used. The shielding gas is similar to a standard TIG unit, but the
second gas is a gas that flows around the tungsten electorde and the
arc is carried thru that gas, plasmating the gas to carry the arc.
The major advantage of this setup is a highly controlled arc, and
greater penetration, especially on tiny parts, in addition it keeps
the electrode away from the work piece and contamination of the
electrode is next to impossible.
For price difference, TIG is about 1/2 the cost of PAW, and the high
end PUK3 unit, falls in between the two. Fortunately for me, there is
ebay, so it didnt cost me a whole lot to jump in the game…all
things considered.
As stated, I have just gotten my setup running as of today. Learning
how to make this work for my applications is just going to take time,
but Ill be joining Kev with the development reports as they come in.
Hi Pat, I entered the conversation late and cannot find how to
contact Kevin, who is mentioned as the one who is actually using tig
welding for jewelry, I have a Tig and I usually use it in large work
with stainless steel and I always wondered if it would be possible
to adapt it for working on small jewellry work, lets say that at my
latitude (Argentina) would be at least unaffordable to get a Puk
unit. Please be so kind to let me know how can I get more
on this.
I entered the conversation late and cannot find how to contact
Kevin, who is mentioned as the one who is actually using tig
welding for jewelry, I have a Tig and I usually use it in large
work with stainless steel and I always wondered if it would be
possible to adapt it for working on small jewellry work, lets say
that at my latitude (Argentina) would be at least unaffordable to
get a Puk unit. Please be so kind to let me know how can I get more
on this.
Its all going to depend on the capacity your machine, like Kevin
mentioned he is going as high as 300A for some projects. I dont know
how low in amperage he is going with other projects, but IIRC the
equipment he has can go down to 5A, maybe lower. You may have to get
a smaller torch head and electrodes for your setup.
As for more thats going to be tough, definately get in
contact with Kevin…this technique is still new in the jewelry
trade…