I bought an Thermal Arc 185 TSW last year and have been playing around with it off and on since. I'm learning as I go, but I figured I would post up some stuff I have been doing and get some feeback.

Any advice that can be given from the pics is appreciated.
Thanks


Turbo Manifold
This is for the stock turbo and will clear the larger EVO 9 compressor side. I ground all the welds smooth with the intention of ceramic coating it for a nice clean look. The welds weren't perfect, by any means, but the bead was about the same consistency as in the flange picture below. Everything was done with a heavy bevel and a single pass with filler. The runners were welded with argon backfill and the collectors have been port matched. I had to pump the pedal to keep from overheating the material on this project. This thick wall stuff seems to be pretty tricky to get enough heat into for good penetration but not so much that it burns the metal.
Gallery of manifold



Fleebay (Yonaka core) intecooler (complete with spray paint from the factory )
3" IC piping and a 26x12x4 core
Gallery




Just for fun, here is a little shot of the car with 18x9.5 22mm offset 5Zigens and 275/35/18 Nitto NT01 rubber.

 

props for making your own stuff, something i always wanted to try

 

I've always figured that if I spend the same in the end, that buying tools and materials would be the better route then buying bolt-on kits.

I didn't realize how much frustration would come with that mindset but it's been a lot more interesting then simply buying parts and bolting them on. I made my first manifold with a MIG and a crappy $150 bandsaw. I've since got some better tools, but this is my first TIG project that envolved a manifold. I have done a few turbo backs and such but nothing nearly this time consuming. The intercooler is my first aluminum project also.

 

looks pretty good. i would love to do the same

 

So, you can use the same welding machine to weld either steel or aluminum, huh? Nice work!

 

Your a natural!!!!

 

when welding thick gauge metal, go with a argon/helium gas mix.

 

yeap all u need of course is diff weld material and the welder has to be able to get to a hot enough temperature...

 

And to switch the machine from AC to DC

 

aluminum welding looks a bit hot because the welds appear to be very flat to the surface. No big deal, just means you most likely have weld material on the inside. Also, depending on the wall thickness it is best not to grind the welds as you can weaken the joint. When welding stainless use as little heat as possible. For example, when I weld .065" 321SS I try to use around 25amps. Go slow so that you use the gas to properly cool the weld. Also, instead of purging you can use Solar Flux B and it does a great job of creating a barrier on the back side of the weld and is about 90% as effective as purging.

Your welds to the flange look good and these are easy to do as the flange absorbs most of the heat out of the piping.

 

looks good!! can you see the weld from the inside to see if it has good penatration?

 

Looks very very nice man congrats for doing your own work , I like that.

 

Yep I found myself moving pretty fast to keep the heat in check. Lower current would have it a lot more on the surface. It might be a stronger weld even, I don't know, but I didn't really like the look of it so I turned it up a bit and moved quicker. It's my first aluminum project though, next time I'll try to keep it cooler while still aiming for a pretty weld. Heat control owns me so far...

It's schedule 10 316 weld-els. On .065 I set the machine at 35 AMPs and throttle accordingly. Here is a picture of a typical .065 304 fusion weld of mine.


On this stuff, I tried to keep it around 60 AMPs on a heavy bevel for a root pass and then a cap pass at 80 AMPS. Didn't work out so well and I got a lot of gray in the colors. After that, I took it up to 130 AMPS and would do a quick pulse to 100%, dab, then drop the current to just above the point of the puddle completely cooling. Move up a little and then pulse and dab again. Got pretty consistent penetration on the inside and outside with this, but it did seem to be a little too much heat, as I would get darker colors in the HAZ but no grays. Couldn't get the nice bronze color on anything but the begining and the end of each pass. Could have just been how fast I was moving inbetween?


I've been curious about the solar flux. I heard that it gets pretty hard after the heat and would probably do just as much damage to a turbo if it were to flake off? Unless there is a way to clean it off, it seems like argon backfilling is the way to go on a turbo manifold.

Flanges are easy, it was the only welds I didn't grind off though and I was just showing the puddle movement consistency (or inconsistency in my case).

Thanks for the input.

 

Great Job! Way to take things into your own hands. Welds look good for your first fab job. I hope when I do mine down the road it turns out that good.

 

Now THIS is what it is all about! Yes, it's nice to have something great built for you. However, true Zen is building YOURSELF something great... keep up the good work, perfection comes with practice