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Cleaning tubing for TIG

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cmeek

New Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
4
Location
Aurora, CO
I am getting ready to weld my fuselage together and am using TIG. I have the welding process down pretty good, but am a little stuck on the cleaning process before actual welding. So I have a couple of questions.

1) I've heard that the tubing should be cleaned down to a nice shiny silver look before welding. And while it is possible to take my practice pieces over to the wire wheel on my bench grinder to get this result, it doesn't seem practical when working with a fuselage. What tools and procedures are the best for cleaning the fuselage tubing before welding? Is it really necessary to get to shiny metal before welding?

2) Most simple tube attachments seem to require four welds. One in each quadrant around the tube being attached. Each of these welds seems to leave a bit of oxidation. Does this oxidation need to be cleaned off before starting the next quadrant of the weld?

Thanks for any tips
Cam Meek
 
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