I talked to the good folks over at Eastwood and placed my order for the Eastwood TIG200 AC/DC welder, the Eastwood Tungsten Grinder because I knew that if fouling the tungsten is a problem for beginners I would be needing either this or a grinding wheel, but with it’s rod mitering slots and double sided diamond grinding wheel, the grinder would take having pointy tungsten out of the learning process. I also ordered the Eastwood Panoramic Welding Helmet. Probably too much helmet for what I need but not very expensive, so I went for it.
Tag: tig welder
How To Bend Metal With A TIG Welder
Bending metal can be pretty simple with basic hand tools if you’re doing thin materials, but once you get past sheet metal and into thicker materials over 1/8″ it can be difficult to make sharp bends in metal without extreme force. In the past heating metal with an Oxy-Acetylene torch was one of the few ways you could bend thicker materials with ordinary shop tools. This method was common when every garage had a set of torches on hand. In today’s world a gas torch is less common as most use a plasma cutter or electric welder to cut and weld metal. In this tutorial we show how you can turn your TIG welder into a heating device and bend thick gauge metals with your TIG welder at home.
How to Make Door Jambs From Scratch- Eastwood Elite Shrinker Stretcher
In this tech article we’re working on a Model T roadster project that started out as a pile of parts. With any type of project like this you’re going to run into areas where there’s just no metal at all and we need to make it from scratch so we’re going to be making a door sill and door jamb area on this vehicle.
5 Reasons you need an Inverter Welder
Technology is great, it helps us do things more easily and saves us time. I love old “stuff” and oldschool traditions, but one antique I don’t want is a welder. The welder you use can definitely change the quality of the work you’re doing. In recent years transformer welders have taken a back seat to inverter welders. What makes one better? We decided to put together our top 5 reasons why we chose an inverter welder first.
What welder is best for Off-Road Fabrication?
What you need to first start with is what, when, and where you’ll be using your welder. Unfortunately there’s downsides to every type of welder out there, it’s just finding one that checks as many boxes as possible for you. I put together some pros and cons on each type of welding in regards to off-road and 4×4 vehicles below. Hopefully it helps you choose a welder that fits your needs the best.
How to Make A Free Tuck Shrinking Fork
You may not realize it, but many of our Eastwood tools are dreamt up and prototyped the same way you build things at home. We have a problem or see a need for a tool to help do a job right and we build something ourselves. I recently needed to shrink the edge of a panel that was on a vehicle and I couldn’t get a shrinker stretcher on it to shrink. An alternative method is to “Tuck-Shrink” the area and use a hammer and dolly to shrink the metal into itself. I decided to make my own homemade tuck shrink tool from some old tools for free I had laying around and show you the process.
C-10 / C-20 Trailing Arm, Coil Spring Perch Rebuild
The rusty trailing arms on my 1963 C-20 were about as bad as they come, so much so I could reach my hand through some of the rust holes. About a year ago I stenciled out 3/16″ plate and welded them on both sides of the arms in order to regain structural rigidity so I could drive it safely. As you’ll see in later pictures I have yet to weld in one of the plates but it is already cut and will be welded in soon.
How to Build Simple Engine Mounts for a Hot Rod
To me building a hot rod or custom car is all about building with what you’ve got, using some ingenuity, and making things from scratch. Sure you can point and click with your mouse and buy a “hot rod in a box” from online vendors, but I think that those cars lose the soul that makes a hot rod so dang cool. Recently I built a chassis for a 1930 Ford Model A coupe I’m putting together and I needed to make some simple motor mounts to attach the Flathead to the chassis. I know you can buy some, but where’s the fun in that?! I decided to show a simple way to make some mounts from scratch.
How to Convert your TIG Torch to a Gas Lens
In the quest of perfectly colored stacks of dime TIG welds there are a few ways you can give yourself an advantage. One of them is to get optimal gas coverage and the ability to see the weld puddle better.