Mig like Tig like ZTfab

This weekly video is "Mig like Tig like ZTfab"

If you have ever visited the forum at weldingweb.com, you may have seen a very long thread called "mig like tig".

It centers around a guy with the username ZTfab who has a unique ability to lay down a beautiful stack o dimes mig weld that looks a lot like it was done with a Tig welder.

If you are not a member of the weldingtipsandtricks welding forum yet, I hope you will join now (its free) and post your tips for how to get the stack of dimes look on mig welds.

Now, why would anyone want to lay down a mig weld that looks like a tig weld? 

Well a better question might be ... who wouldnt ???

It may not mean a thing as to how good the weld actually is or what the fatigue properties are etc, but it sure does look good.

A mig weld with distinct ripples that looks as if it were tig welded is what some demanding customers want.

For some reason, who knows how it happened, the general public has come to think that evenly spaced ripples in a mig weld or tig weld indicates a quality weld.

That is dead wrong but it doesnt change what people believe.

In fact, if 2 welds ...one with distinct ripples and one smooth...  were subjected to a battery of tests like fatigue tests, corrosion tests, tensile, charpy v notch, etc. my guess is that a smooth weld with no ripples might actually hold up better.

I still want to learn how to mig like a tig.

I usually take the logical practical and down and dirty approach and dont worry so much about cosmetics but I think its definitely possible to get a good quality weld that has adequate penetration that also looks like a stack of dimes tig weld.

Besides , its a challenge and it will be fun trying.

So in my efforts to mig like a tig, I  tried several different voltage and wire feed settings and welding techniques and arrived at some conclusions.

1. It seems necessary to use lower than normal weld settings to achieve the mig like tig look.

2. the mig welder itself seems to come into play more than I thought at first.  I tried a Millermatic 250 as well as a Hobart 210 mvp for this video and neither one seemed to have the proper preset inductance setting to achieve a stack of dimes look like ZTfab.  He used a Lincoln powermig 200.

Mig welders either have an external inductance setting, a variable inductance feature, or its preset.

Inductance affects how soft and smooth the mig short circuit arc is or how aggressive it is.  And inductance also affects the ripples in the puddle.

when I get this figured out, I will post another video showing how to mig like a tig .

So stay tuned for "Mig like Tig like ZTFab part2"

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