Metalwork Questions

[GreigR]

Afternoon all,

Can anyone tell me what this metalwork tool is called, it's used for shaping sheet metal (not folding), it has 2 rolling balls one above and below which the metal is shaped between to get a nice curve.

Another question, whats the difference between an Mig & Tig welder?

Thanks

[Davi]

GreigR said:

Afternoon all,

Can anyone tell me what this metalwork tool is called, it's used for shaping sheet metal (not folding), it has 2 rolling balls one above and below which the metal is shaped between to get a nice curve.

Another question, whats the difference between an Mig & Tig welder?

Thanks

1 - an English Wheel is what it was known as to me!

2 - Mig uses a solid wire, Tig uses a flux cored electrode. In Tig an arc is formed then the filler rod introduced by hand, with Mig the arc is formed by the end of the solid wire which also the filler metal, and is continuously fed through the handle by a motor.

Edited by Davi on Friday 13th February 16:08

[David87M3]

Mig welding uses Gas and TIG doesnt I think.
I bought a welder used it once and pit it away after making a piegon st style mess on a bit of scrap metal

[AndrewW-G]

English wheel / wheeling machine?

does it look like

[Digga]

If you mean cylinders rather than 'balls' then the name of the tool is a set of "bending rolls".

MIG and TIG use different gasses and are suitable for different gauges/thicknesses and materials. IIRC we weld thin stuff with and aluminium with TIG and the thicker stuff with MIG.

[EINSIGN]

tungsten inert gas (TIG) generally using Argon Gas and for high end and non ferrous work, eg welding stainless steel or alumnium type materials.

metal inert gas (MIG) is most commonly used for general mild steel work..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_tungsten_arc_weld...

[bitwrx]

Welding:

MIG, commonly used for mild steel of all thicknesses, but also can be used on stainless and Al. Fast and comparatively easy. Filler wire is used as the electrode. Long coil of wire is fed through the torch to the tip. Most commonly use Argon/CO2 fed into a shroud around the tip to exclude oxygen from the weld area. Different gases for different metals. Can use flux cored wire and no gas.

TIG, commonly used for Stainless and Al. Good for fine work (very thin bits). Can be made to look very good cosmetically. Works differently from MIG in that the electrode is made out of tungsten is not consumed in the welding process. Metal is added from a filler rod held in the other (non torch holding) hand. Think electric replacement for oxy-acetylene welding. Weld is shielded from oxygen by gas shroud similar to MIG.

[MikeyT]

I can MIG weld okay and TIG looks similar except the rod is fed in by hand as has been said - but getting a decent 'pretty' finish using TIG is bloody difficult!

Welding is NOT as easy as it looks!

[Jonny_]

TIG welding is loosely similar to brazing; the difference is that the heat source is an electric arc rather than a flame (allows higher temperatures to be concentrated on a much smaller area) and a shielding gas is used to prevent oxidisation.

I'd love to get my hands on a basic TIG set and give it a go, as in theory it allows you to make extremely neat welds - ideal for car bodywork - although it takes a lot more skill than MIG welding.