TFS: Battle of the Tungsten Colors
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Which color tungsten should I use?
That is one of the most asked questions in welding. Rather than tell you our opinion which one is best, Justin the Fabricator shows you a few pieces of tungsten in this #TIGSimple episode as a follow up to the first tungsten episode.
Tell us what you think in the comments below!
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I weld tig for a living every day and honestly i just go with purple for everything, works perfectly fine. From xray pipes to aluminum tanks and sheet metal work. Awesome video buddy!
I'm learning. I have a guy who I work with that says purple is good for everything. I guess back then there were only 2 colors. Gonna attempt aluminum tomorrow yikes 😆
@@brettservin4395 How did you go? Purple works on Aly just fine, unless you are paying for it - twice the price and lucky if it lasts half as long. It has similar problems if sharpened enough for fine work.
Pink's a little slower to cone than the others, but beyond that (and a bit more adjustment for faster burn-back), it has a Smooooooooth flow (check that cone out!) and does WONDERS for small precise welds where the final product requires high-grade finishes before any rework (if allowed)...it is BY FAR, the best 'small parts / small welds' tungsten you'll get...
What I learned: Doesn't really matter which tungsten is chosen, and it's just a matter of choosing the best performance settings for the particular tungsten that is used.
But the settings will matter for what you're welding. So it's really more about having multiple tungsten choices and picking the right one for the job.
Too my understanding for me learning to weld aluminum the ball end can help
@@brettservin4395 on thicker metal,not so much on thin
So u didn't learn that much. Interesting
Man, your videos are great. This was so light hearted with great comparisons and video editing. I especially liked the slow motion arc starts. Pink and purple killed it!
The pink looked to have had promise. I used gray (2% ceriated ) recently- it was great! The rod didn’t ball up much at all, so I’m able to direct the heat to a very specific spot as the arc wander is at a minimum
Gotta love it when you do a test with the exact same machine i use. But i use blue and purple for my choices. Nice video!
During the one minute run, you could clearly see a difference in the shape of the puddle. It would be interesting to see the shape afterwards in normal light. I think that would also give you an indication of which has the most stability.
I was starting to notice that in the video (noob here) ..but the pink seemed to have a nice shape. would you agree?
I agree. I thought looking at the puddle, pink look the most consistent and concentric. Also, I am definitely no expert.
Just wanted to say thank you for the info on the various Tig electrodes. I am just now starting to learn how to Tig weld buying all my consumables for various metals and such the info is much appreciated 👍.
I'm learning how to tig...thank you for sharing this information...please dont hesitate to add more in your lessons..
Justin, this was an amazing video showing the differences, and was extremely thorough.
It's way beyond me, but was still interesting.
If you ever have spare time to kill, it would be interesting to see how differently they work in different special circumstances.
Thanks for the time it took to make this!
We switched from reds to purples at work a few years ago. Love them. No complaints aside from needing more frequent touch ups. Great arc stability.
Brett T. Purples are garbage.Constantly sharpening them.
Alex Scott I don't particularly care for that either. PITA. They weld nice though. When they're clean.
Brett T. They last about 5mins then they need sharpening again...
Thanks for the video. I've tried several different kinds of tungsten over the years, but as a hobbyist, I don't have a lot of money to see what I like. So, Cody, the godfather of welding on TH-cam, said that blue works for about everything he does and that's good enough for me.
James Gulrich Just about every welding store sells 2packs of tungsten which is cheap. Weldporn sells a multi-pack as well. That saves you some money to try out new stuff. There's nothing wrong with blue... It's all up to preference, but it's worth discovering your preference by trying something new.
Im just getting set up in my shop, im going to try to tig weld or learn to tig weld on a miller 301 G trailblazer. I can Mig and stick. that was from my days of trial and error. i love the video and learned a lot. thank you. o yea Pink🛡
All of the different tungsten in my box is collecting dust except for the blue.
Well........
I like..........to switch out my buddies tungsten with a piece of stainless and sit back and wait for the cussing!!!
Hahahahaha
you monster
a buddy of mine did that to me at welding school I did get a little bit upset but when the teacher told me what happened I just laughed because I thought it was a good prank
Amazing video!!
I’d love to see this test done with different metals. I can’t imagine each would net the same results as in this test. Would love to see that!
I've been told ceriated is the best for aluminum and lanthinated for stainless. I have not done a comprehensive test though.
Jody likes blue. He's a good instructor too.
I would love to see the CNC welding. Please do it when you have time. Thanks for the great content!
Just like the best power ranger, the only vote is for pink!!!!
Mmm very interesting to see this and from it make your choice.
I wonder how many welders use the tungsten sharpener .
I was taught to grind the tip so that the grain ran straight with the tungsten . The spiralling grind would cause the current to fire around and not straight . One thing l learn is don’t be afraid to try different ways to improve your welding techniques.
And the more you practice the better .
Most welding M/C are different .
And when buying get the best you can afford. I would definitely want one with high frequency start 🤗
my fav to use is 2% thor or e3. On old machines i like pure tungsten dark green on alum.
My 2% Thor sucks on AC. It clumps doesn’t ball and my cone is all over the place. For DC welding it’s amazing tho. But sucks on AC.
Thanks for your videos. just bought a JD2 model 32 bender after watching your videos. You saved me from making the mistake of getting a pipe bender.
I know we all hated when the shop changed to lanthinated from the old red when hi amp roll welding carbon pipe roots. Lanthinated electrodes meant more trips to the grinder because of contamination without touching the puddle. We were running in the 200 to 270 amp range. But for ac aluminum in that test my pic is pink for sure!
I'd like to see this test for DC stainless. We used red at the shop, but I started using blue for my own use there. I was wondering how they would perform against each other. That's for the great video.
I love using blue on stainless
@@fabchild6414 Same. It does so well on delicate items like 18 gauge and thinner.
so excited to read these comments
Rare earth are great(purple and I think your green,) but expensive. I strongly recommend zirconiated (white) for Aly or other AC such as Magnesium (but 50% balance is irrelevant,) Ceriated is the best for thin metal like car bodies, Lanthanated is the go to for all-rounder. Thoriated is also good for DC work and lasts the longest, but can't be used for AC.
Man, i love your videos but honestly, i wish you'd just make a short video about which tungsten you use for what, and thats exactly what i would do. (to get started anyway)
The more videos i watch and the more i read about tungstens, the more confused i get...
Iirc He says it doesnt matter much but he uses purple. he says 3/32 for most. I don’t remember which video.
I'd like to see this test done to compare inverter versus transformer machines.
That's a good question Phil, and I'd like to see the result. A few years ago now, when inverter based machines were just getting established, I can remember being told they worked better with different tungsten to the big old transformer machines.
Thorough enough for me! Another video going more in depth would be good to see weld pattern differences, but I like that this video gave me a breakdown of the main differences in the arc patterns of Tungsten electrodes.
I watched all the way to the end ;P
@thefabricationseries 5 years later, it might be time to amend this one since you're now sending the "chartreuse" LaYzEr tungsten with Weld Metals Online orders. I'm a little surprised you haven't already done a video on it specifically yet.
I've got more Lanthinated tungsten than I'll probably ever go through, let alone push to it's limits, and a lone, unsharpened, layzer hanging around, so I'm curious as to why the push towards the latter?
50/50 balance, I vote pink as it has the best arc start and formed the Best puddle to start welding.
I personally tried blue on aluminum and did awesome! Used purple, red, grey on DC. I have yet to personally weld with chartreuse and pink.
Many people don't know this but on that sharpener if you adjust it the tungsten will ride in a different spot on the diamond wheel and provide much better quality grind. The adjustment is not very well documented in the manuals for it.
I haven't used all of these, so can't offer the strongest of opinions, but I've always liked the E3. You can use it with steel or aluminum as long as you are using an inverter.
Just started using 2% ceriated (grey) was cool to use one tungsten for stainless and then aluminum, and seemed really stable to me, at least compared to pure tungsten lol
I use pink for steel red for stainless and blue for alluminum thanks for your dedication to science
I loved pink tungsten result
At the end of the day red tipped tungsten knocks the socks out of all the others. Every other tungsten I've ever used don't last, can't handle the amps, end up splintering and splitting. When u sharpen most colours apart from the red ones they fall apart.
New battle of the tungsten colors
im fairly new to welding but whats worked really well for me to ac weld aluminum is a 3/32" 2% lanth that I sharpen and grind off the sharp point till I have a small flat spot at the end maybe 1/4 at most of the diameter of the electrode
Funny you should day that.......many years ago I worked with a guy who did a lot of Tig work and he ground his tungsten point at a 45 deg angle because he said it delayed the point getting burned off.....and he polished his tungsten on the diamond tool grinder....Is that being super fussy or just him?
@@gangleweed I've never tried the polishing step so I couldn't day, but I use a diamond wheel that came with the sharpening guide for the dremel , definitely works better than when I started using an angle grinder
The multi-mix Pink seems to have the cleanest weld pool by far compared to the rest. Was the gas, type, flow, lens the same? Was the material the same? Had the material been cleaned the same for each electrode test? Moore of an observation than a complaint however with a dirty weld pool, no electrode will be able to maintain a stable arc.
I started TIG welding with a dynasty inverter, using lanthanated. I have tried ceriated a number of times, but i find it pretty awful. Maybe on thinner stuff? I don't know. I have had luck with Thoriated, and i used pure tungsten on a transformer machine in a class i took, i found i could weld well with it. Basically i only use 2% Lanthanated because that's all i need to use. No fears of radiation, better than pure or ceriated on aluminum, lasts long, i can ball it if i want to and it's pretty cheap. If there is a new option that is better than 2% Lanthanated, i'm game.
Also, i cut my tungsten and double end them, so if i had more than one alloy available, i would quickly lose track of it. Another reason i like 2% Lanthanated.
TIG welding, will soon no longer be a dream of mine! TIG welding, reality!!!!!!
Just bought my first TIG machine a few days ago, also excited about what’s to come!
I'd love to see some tests with DC, bonus if you can show which starts easiest with a lift TIG machine.
Thanks for all the testing and info. Very nice to see someone put all this work together for the rest of us to see
I think a 100 percent pure tungsten with a truncated taper would have performed best on aluminum, but it really depends on your application and preference. For example, the pure tends to work well on somewhat flat pieces but it wanders substantially if you are working in any sort of hole, where a rare earth blend keeps it's precision. If you have techniques that blow what other people say out of the water though more power to ya.
Never knew about the pink, awesome video and thank you 👍
Here in Australia I haven't seen the Pink or the Bright Green(Q4) I use Ceriated for AC and the Purple (E3) for DC.
scott carr I've used pink here in Australia. I think you have to order them online because local gas stores like Boc don't sell them.
I LIKED E3. the red ones kept me up at night
Thorium is a radioactive element
Mesmerising creative ideas 👌
Can’t find the “Positive AC balance” setting on my 1970's vintage Lincoln Idealarc 300/300 ac/dc TIG welder!
Going to guess 50/50, as it is just spark gap technology.
Pink, Blue, Purple, Gray, Green. My order. I usually use 2% Lanthanated. Might order some Multi-mix.
Blue seems to be the middle, meaning more consistent, it did( well) all over. Not just one test . Pink,purple, blue roll the dice is what it looked like to me. Any of them would work. ....nice video dude. Ty for the time....
Pink, then purple. Pink displayed more burn back though.
Just starting TIG welding, I am presently trying to get anything to work. Once I gain the skills to know the different, then I will understand the difference. But right now, getting anything to work even a little is my goal... :-)
It's good to see stuff like this. Because I've been welding for years 2% lanthanated and it's worked great but now I will definitely give pink a try
I haven't watch the video, yet. So, I have a question... how does the color of paint on the end of an electrode affect the performance?
It's a way to identify the make up of the tungsten. They all have different elements added to the tungsten so it's just a way to visually identify what is in that specific electrode, as they all look the same it would not be possible to identify it without the color code
@@weld_dat_fakah740 So, when I order tungsten, do I specify by content or color?
Contents
I still use thoriated for stainless but have found that there is not enough difference in the others for aluminium to make much odds so I get whatever is cheapest at the time from my supplier but never pure tungsten. The radioactivity of thorium in the quantities involved are not enough to be worried abbout unless you make a habbit of breathing the grinding dust from sharpening the tungsten's, greater risk of silicosis so wear a dust mask when grinding anything.
Pink then purple imo
I’m new to tig welding and have only used grey.
Per my welding teacher: "Grey will do all of it, just none of it well."
sometimes you can find variety packs of tungsten. I definitely recommend seeing what else is out there just to find your groove. You will find each type has a slightly different feel to it. When I first made the move to tig getting away from the grey was the best thing I did. I almost exclusively use blue for everything DC and most stuff AC, and sometimes change it up to purple for some AC. But you need to find what feels best for you.
Looks like I now need to get some new tungsten! I've had a hell of a time with 2% on my AHP, could tell the arc wanted to wander like crazy.
@Dennis Young lanthenated / blue.
why im I watching this? i don't even own a tig welder xD
Once you tig you will forever
The lord knows you need TIG welding in your life. That is why.
Same here
I bought one, but it came without any tungstens (or heat shields), so I'm waiting for some to be delivered. In the meantime I need to swap my argon/CO2/O2 mix for pure argon. If I need to go back to mig I can always use pure CO2.
Not that I'm bragging (but I am) I also have propane for preheating and oxy/ace for welding, brazing and burning! Oh, and a couple of small propane torches.
It's nice to have options when welding. Stick/mig/tig. Each has their purpose.
4G64 FTW!! Is that one of your projects? I did a DOHC conversion with a KIA head on mine, poor man's EVO engine. Before I even did that though I did a very cheap easy (utilizing junkyard ignition coils) coil over plug conversion to get rid of the two coils. It made the car feel much better. And that's after having my 500 dollar COP setup die, never again wasting money on that junk.
Awesome videos bro once again. Pink and purple killed it. Before this video all my friends swore 2% lanthanated was the best for sst and alumni. I'm sold on pink and purple lol
Pink looks most stable at the end but hey I've never even tig welded .. but 8 got a little cheap tig machine other day .. just gotta get some argon 😃
Like watching paint dry. I suddenly feel the urge to put my head through a wall hahaha
I got all the colors and just starting to learn to tig weld ,hope I can figure it out lol
It is human nature to be bias, all of us no exceptions! Could also tell you lean pink and the whole video have got a print of that all over it, so sure yes YT people will say this or that, of course they will count on a challenge from all kinds of corners hehe..
But on the flip side, I have yet to try one of those pink Tungsten's so just give me all the more drive to go do just that, imho there are so many aspects to getting it all right according to our own preferences, materials, Tungsten, the whole machine itself and gas/gasflow, my own technique, etc.. This create almost infinitive combinations and trying to sort out what work the best can be a long term job, when I think I have it dialed it and whops something enter the scene and tear me down again, start building back.
It's all good, search for perfection is an adventure for life and we will not even reach the goal haha
I use 2% Thoriated - Red for most stuff still..
Ya that's dangerous when you grind it, thorium's radioactive enough to make you sick
Ocean House no it isn’t the type of radiation that the tungsten holds and amount will rarely get you sick. I love how people won’t even talk about it in videos
@@starwars910 the main thing is to not inhale it, once enough of it gets inside your body the radiation becomes a problem has been proven to cause issues, thats why they have been producing e3 and q4, but i agree 2% thorium seems to be the best overall still, with all the toxic stuff we encounter as welders thorium is one that is easy to avoid....
Ocean House lol well said
Multi-Mix seems best. Now the Question. If you have to grind, what is best RESPIRATOR SETUP AND WHAT KIND, HELMUT OR MASKS ETC?
Why didn’t you test red 2% thoriated? The most common tungsten.
Pink kicks butt
What would be interesting would be pick one or two colours but different brands, cheapest to most expensive
Amazing editing in this video--great job!
Ceriated for us. Where i work, 99% of the time it's all DC welding. Carbon, stainless, duplex, chrome, and the odd bit of inconel and monel every now and then
Excellent informational video, great example for all other youtubers!!!
I have to agree with David Fowler, red thoriated on DC,,,,, green pure tungsten on AC. I too have found all the others to contaminate the weld with tungsten. This is not so much a problem on steel as it is on Aluminum and Titanium.
Green won't work on inverted machines...
Let's compare thorium to q4 e3 and multi I liked e3 and multi mix for best overall arc quality, makes me wonder if thorium's is still king
What is balance? Maybe a video on setting up a TIG welder where you explain all the terms and settings. Thanks
As a weekend warrior my choice would be 2% Lanthanated Tungsten Electrode but I am sure if you only weld Aluminum you may like something else, I've heard that many new inverter welders don't recommend pure Tungsten but I really never tried it.
I still like the old red just because the EPA says its harmful and un safe if swallowed
Scott Lundy It's not the EPA. Thorium is radioactive.
Red is my second favorite. You probly would have to ingest the equivalent of a rod a day for a thousand years to put you in stage 4 cancer.
Gary Todd Right, because cancer just appears as stage 4 all of a sudden.
Don't be a dildo. It's not dangerous. If it was they could never sell it. Too many lawsuits.
I use it as a toothpick after a nice steak lol.
gonna have to grab some of that multi mix that was really clean after the reset
Chris Irish Definitely! I have a link to the stuff I used in the description.
The pink but I mix is the best arc!
Thanks for the good video. I been using blue for a while and am happy with it. Been wanting to try one of the new ones out lately. Thanks to your video I think I am going to go with pink
it's nice to learn some new Cantonese words now and again
Yep pink & purple
multi pink stableized its cone the fastest even the it had a late start actually was the most stable the whole last run so theres my vote
Coming up on a Big Alum job. Best of everything Alum.
i only use 2% thoriated red for DC neg and 100% green for ac the reason is. i have tested with all these other tungsten brands and colors and they all leave tungsten in the weld. or so the x ray man says . they give us this other shaty toungten if the weld doesn't get RT on weld docs but they can come back and shoot the welds later so might as well use the good stuff .....
david fowler i dont fine the green to hold up at any setting on the balance on the newer machines. It only worked for me on the dinosaurs. Like the max star.
Torio is carcinogenic ..
@@sermecanic so is sunlight
In my opinion tbe Multy Mix Pink looks to be the best.
We still use red. Only thing I noticed was my baby's we're born bald and toothless . And airport scanners get made when I walk in.
Ac on the Miller is simple. I don't really know how to ball on the purple color.
I use a transformer hybrid machine (synchrowave 350) and I just go with ol' reliable. 2% thoriated. Besides, it's handy to have around as a radioactive source
9:08 i'd say multi mix pink
i always weld gold colored tungsten at work cause that is the one they provide, would be nice to see a comparison with the gold color tungsten.
but i used to always run grey for steel and stainless and purple for aluminium and it have worked good enough for my applications.
Wonderful video as ever and useful information too help us all ....something u may consider when u visit this next time is th arc stability is affected buy th amout of oxides in th weld puddle causing th arc to flutter buy moving th torch or work piece so th arc has fresh oxides u may get a different set of results.. as u talked about using your cnc to see how they weld may be th answer... thank u for doing these tests for u all to see arc shots are brilliant u can actually see th arc switching from ep to en going from th point of the electrode to th sides of th point brilliant camera work .. thanks again...... Ian UK
I seem to recall that the dust from the 2% lanthanated is much less toxic than from the thoriated, and now there is a multistrike that you didn't test that is zero toxic. This seems to me to be a much more important topic. Shouldn't your your health and your life be of greater concern than peak weld perfection?
I used blue in school but use pink now. I like the arc on it
E3 Purple put on quite a show
I like to use 2% lanthanated (blue) and sometimes thoriated (red). But again, my opnion even if there wasnt red electrode here
I have some 2% thoriated tungsten that I bought a little more than 30 years ago. It still gives off .4 mrem of ionizing radiation. That is pretty low level but you wouldn't want to breathe in the grinding dust over your whole career.
I just got 2 packs of the red ones. Good stuff.
Always like some of the pink.
I’m old ways and use pure for AC, 2% for DC. I tried 1/8 blue on AC on 1/2” aluminum and the arc was all over the place went back to green
Thank you very much for great instruction. Excellent.
The pink is the winner