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Not THAT question AGAIN!

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Mike Armstrong

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
206
Location
near San Diego
Sorry guys but I have been reading everything about this subject thats available on the internet and I am more uncertain now than I was when I started out. The familiar and apparently hotly debated question is...

Which is 'best' for welding 4130 Chro-Mo? TIG, MIG or Gas?!!!

This question is so common and thoroughly debated to the point of confusion it's almost ridiculous. 'Experts' of each method insist on theirs as the 'only' method to ever use. 'Amatures' new to welding just want to know which method to become proficiant at for the 'best' and 'safest' weld and seem to be often told to use O/A gas first but later start using TIG, instead of just learning to TIG in the first place. 'Old timers' who have welded for a living insist on the tried and true O/A gas yet newer (last 10yrs) welders insist TIG is the bugs ear for 4130 and gas is old school. I have read that long time and trusted aircraft manufactures have been using the 'never use it on 4130' MIG method to weld their airframes for decades without a problem while other manufacturers use MIG 'primarily' and TIG only for 'critical' areas. Well respected organizations and builders like Tony Bingelis, the 'Tin Man', and the EAA among others all have their own seperate opinions on the the same subject. Even 'normalizing' or 'stress relieving' the joints aftrerward is debated, some always do, some never have without a problem. It's all VERY confusing.

I plan on building an aircraft using 4130 Chro-Mo for the airframe starting some time next year and I want to start getting proficiant (read- airworthy weld joints) at welding before then. It's my butt I'm risking, so, knowing what metal I'm going to have to weld together I would like to take the right classes (Sportair) and purchase the right equipment and start practicing (along with pounding a thousand rivets till I get that right too).

I know if I just go ahead and sign up for a class whether its TIG or Gas, by the end of it the instructor will probably convince (brainwash) me and the rest of the class that that method is the 'only' one to use.

Can we come to a general (hopefully specific) consensus as to which method to use to weld 4130 that I and the rest of those new to welding should invest their time and money to start to learn? I dont care which method looks the nicest (its gonna be skinned over anyway) or which method is the easiest to learn (I got plenty of time to learn), or which is cheapest (the price of my life is'nt cheap). I want the safest, strongest, 'best' weld for 4130! Maybe I need to take a poll or something I dont know. I'm about to flip a coin! Thanks


Mike
 
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