I am attempting to weld two Tungsten bars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

Basically you can't weld tungsten tig rods for a couple of reasons;

andykiroki@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:1171165114.582373.221700@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

I am attempting to weld two Tungsten bars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

Basically you can't weld tungsten tig rods for a couple of reasons;
1. The arc simply isn't hot enough to melt tungsten. Melting point 3410.0 °C
(3683.15 °K, 6170.0 °F)
2. If you could melt it, the resulting frozen melt would be incredibly
brittle. (TIG electrodes are made by diffusion-bonding powder together)
3. Almost all TIG electrodes contain alloying metal oxides. Some of these,
ThO2 in particular, is RADIOACTIVE and breathing the fumes can cause lung
cancer.
4. without shielding gas, the tungsten will oxidise to yellowish-white
tungstic oxide which will vaporise and pollute your environment.

If you just want to stick a couple of rods together, think about
silver-brazing, keeping the heat to an absolute minimum and preferably
doing it outdoors!

By the way, I havetungstenfiller rod (not electrodes, but actual
filler rod for weldingtungsten). I can sell a little bit.

i



On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:46:27 +1100, Potblak <Inva...@Invalid.net> wrote:
andykir...@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:1171165114.582373.221700@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

I am attempting toweldtwoTungstenbars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

Basically you can'tweldtungstentig rods for a couple of reasons;
1. The arc simply isn't hot enough to melttungsten. Melting point 3410.0 °C
(3683.15 °K, 6170.0 °F)
2. If you could melt it, the resulting frozen melt would be incredibly
brittle. (TIG electrodes are made by diffusion-bonding powder together)
3. Almost all TIG electrodes contain alloying metal oxides. Some of these,
ThO2 in particular, is RADIOACTIVE and breathing the fumes can cause lung
cancer.
4. without shielding gas, thetungstenwill oxidise to yellowish-white
tungstic oxide which will vaporise and pollute your environment.

If you just want to stick a couple of rods together, think about
silver-brazing, keeping the heat to an absolute minimum and preferably
doing it outdoors!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Feb 11, 5:04 pm, Ignoramus18738 <ignoramus18...@NOSPAM.
18738.invalid> wrote:
By the way, I havetungstenfiller rod (not electrodes, but actual
filler rod for weldingtungsten). I can sell a little bit.

i



On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:46:27 +1100, Potblak <Inva...@Invalid.net> wrote:
andykir...@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:1171165114.582373.221700@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

I am attempting toweldtwoTungstenbars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

Basically you can'tweldtungstentig rods for a couple of reasons;
1. The arc simply isn't hot enough to melttungsten. Melting point 3410.0 °C
(3683.15 °K, 6170.0 °F)
2. If you could melt it, the resulting frozen melt would be incredibly
brittle. (TIG electrodes are made by diffusion-bonding powder together)
3. Almost all TIG electrodes contain alloying metal oxides. Some of these,
ThO2 in particular, is RADIOACTIVE and breathing the fumes can cause lung
cancer.
4. without shielding gas, thetungstenwill oxidise to yellowish-white
tungstic oxide which will vaporise and pollute your environment.

If you just want to stick a couple of rods together, think about
silver-brazing, keeping the heat to an absolute minimum and preferably
doing it outdoors!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for replies. I guess it is not as simple as I had invisaged!

What temperature does the Tungsten filler rod melt at? The brazing is
out.
I was hopeing to make a cheap, very high temperatue, heating element
by welding together 6 or 10 of the welding electrodes together in a
square coil. I could perhaps look for Tungsten wire (if it exists)
but it would not bend I would imagine. If I could obtain welding
electrodes or W bars that were 12 or 14 inches long I could use them
(individually) as my heating elements. I want to go to about 1700C.
There are elements that will go to that temperature (Moly. DiSilicide)
but I am trying to do it on the cheap. Kanthal elements only! go to
about 1450C.

On 11 Feb 2007 14:09:49 -0800, andykir...@volcanomail.com <andykir...@volcanomail.com> wrote:





On Feb 11, 5:04 pm, Ignoramus18738 <ignoramus18...@NOSPAM.
18738.invalid> wrote:
By the way, I havetungstenfiller rod (not electrodes, but actual
filler rod for weldingtungsten). I can sell a little bit.

i

On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:46:27 +1100, Potblak <Inva...@Invalid.net> wrote:
andykir...@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:1171165114.582373.221700@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

I am attempting toweldtwoTungstenbars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

Basically you can'tweldtungstentig rods for a couple of reasons;
1. The arc simply isn't hot enough to melttungsten. Melting point 3410.0 °C
(3683.15 °K, 6170.0 °F)
2. If you could melt it, the resulting frozen melt would be incredibly
brittle. (TIG electrodes are made by diffusion-bonding powder together)
3. Almost all TIG electrodes contain alloying metal oxides. Some of these,
ThO2 in particular, is RADIOACTIVE and breathing the fumes can cause lung
cancer.
4. without shielding gas, thetungstenwill oxidise to yellowish-white
tungstic oxide which will vaporise and pollute your environment.

If you just want to stick a couple of rods together, think about
silver-brazing, keeping the heat to an absolute minimum and preferably
doing it outdoors!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for replies. I guess it is not as simple as I had invisaged!

What temperature does theTungstenfiller rod melt at? The brazing is
out.
I was hopeing to make a cheap, very high temperatue, heating element
by welding together 6 or 10 of the welding electrodes together in a
square coil. I could perhaps look forTungstenwire (if it exists)
but it would not bend I would imagine. If I could obtain welding
electrodes or W bars that were 12 or 14 inches long I could use them
(individually) as my heating elements. I want to go to about 1700C.
There are elements that will go to that temperature (Moly. DiSilicide)
but I am trying to do it on the cheap. Kanthal elements only! go to
about 1450C.

How big is the coil you are trying to make (diameter). Mytungsten
filler rods are 36 inch in length. If you can figure out how to bend
them, you would be golden. 36=9x4. You would get a circle about 10" in
diameter if you bent them to circular shape (a lot easier, I
suppose).

i- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sounds just what I want. I only need about 3 inches dia.

What temperature in air can the rods be heated to?

I am attempting to weld two Tungsten bars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

TIA.

Andy

On Feb 10, 7:38 pm, andykir...@volcanomail.com wrote:

I am attempting toweldtwoTungstenbars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

TIA.

Andy

Couldn't you get some graphite- surplus scrap from EDM is
available cheap and takes high temps since it is a crystalline carbon-
and build a stack of rods with graphite blocks at the corners for
electrical continuity? And use ceramic tiles to separate the blocks?
(Full size tiles work better, I have melted too many to take them for
granted)
Brian

On 11 Feb 2007 17:37:13 -0800, andykiroki@volcanomail.com
andykiroki@volcanomail.com> wrote:
Sounds just what I want. I only need about 3 inches dia.

What temperature in air can the rods be heated to?


I have no idea. My rods are 3/32" thick and 3' long, that's all I
know. I can offer them for $2 apiece to make this worthwhile.

When I had TIG welding gaffes such as welding without inert gas, not
much happened to the tungstens. So I suppose that you can get it
pretty hot in the air, not that I speak from depths of knowledge.

I would think that you can bend them using an O/A torch.

i

IGGY,

Is your offer to sell some filler open to anyone?

b
"Ignoramus18738" <ignoramus18738@NOSPAM.18738.invalid> wrote in message
news:gPSdnYuZRbU0W1LYnZ2dnUVZ_revnZ2d@giganews.com...
On 11 Feb 2007 17:37:13 -0800, andykiroki@volcanomail.com
andykiroki@volcanomail.com> wrote:
Sounds just what I want. I only need about 3 inches dia.

What temperature in air can the rods be heated to?


I have no idea. My rods are 3/32" thick and 3' long, that's all I
know. I can offer them for $2 apiece to make this worthwhile.

When I had TIG welding gaffes such as welding without inert gas, not
much happened to the tungstens. So I suppose that you can get it
pretty hot in the air, not that I speak from depths of knowledge.

I would think that you can bend them using an O/A torch.

i

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:59:22 GMT, buffalo <jbleaux@gmail.com> wrote:
IGGY,

Is your offer to sell some filler open to anyone?

yes... $2 per rod plus shipping... I have about 20 rods, I can sell
about 8 or so, and will want to keep the rest just in case.

i

b
"Ignoramus18738" <ignoramus18738@NOSPAM.18738.invalid> wrote in message
news:gPSdnYuZRbU0W1LYnZ2dnUVZ_revnZ2d@giganews.com...
On 11 Feb 2007 17:37:13 -0800, andykiroki@volcanomail.com
andykiroki@volcanomail.com> wrote:
Sounds just what I want. I only need about 3 inches dia.

What temperature in air can the rods be heated to?


I have no idea. My rods are 3/32" thick and 3' long, that's all I
know. I can offer them for $2 apiece to make this worthwhile.

When I had TIG welding gaffes such as welding without inert gas, not
much happened to the tungstens. So I suppose that you can get it
pretty hot in the air, not that I speak from depths of knowledge.

I would think that you can bend them using an O/A torch.

i

On Feb 12, 9:09 am, "brian458666" <brian458...@genext.net> wrote:
On Feb 10, 7:38 pm, andykir...@volcanomail.com wrote:

I am attempting toweldtwoTungstenbars together. They are two TIG
electrodes. I have a
ordinary manual metal arc welder (ac).
The rods will not stick together. Do I need an inert shield of gas.
What flux could I use? as I don't have access to inert gas.

TIA.

Andy

Couldn't you get some graphite- surplus scrap from EDM is
available cheap and takes high temps since it is a crystalline carbon-
and build a stack of rods with graphite blocks at the corners for
electrical continuity? And use ceramic tiles to separate the blocks?
(Full size tiles work better, I have melted too many to take them for
granted)
Brian

I think Graphite oxides too rapidly above 1500C. I could always try
it. What temperatutes have you gotton to using Graphite rods as
heating elements. If you use CO as a protective atmosphere I believe
you can get to 3000C.

Would a fuel gas like Propane do as a protective atmosphere do you
know. I have lots of Graphite rods and blocks for the corners.

Thanks,

Andy