TIG Weld Better and Faster with a  Turntable and a Cold Wire Feeder

Have you ever needed to tig weld a bunch of round objects and thought to yourself:

“Man, I wish I had a turntable to rotate this thing while I just propped my torch and welded!”

Have you ever used a welding turntable and thought to yourself: “ Man, this is great, but I wish I didn’t have to stop to grab another tig welding rod!”

That’s where a cold wire feeder comes in .

But First things first. You get the welding turntable first. Then to be able to Tig weld faster and better, a cold wire feeder is the next big thing that allows for a quantum leap in quality and efficiency.

Where would you use a Cold Wire Feeder unit? I can think of at least 3 jobs right now off the top of my head where a cold wire feeder would make the job better, easier, and faster.

1. Buildup of several components with damaged aluminum threads on a 6 inch diameter ( took 3 pounds of 3/32” 4043 aluminum rods and a several hours)

2. Welding 30 stainless flanges onto 4 inch stainless tubing

3. Production welding of Concrete cutting saw shrouds. I did a whole bunch of these a few years ago. I used a turntable but fed wire by hand…lots of stubs and lots of stopping and restarting.

If you don’t have a turntable yet, that’s the first thing you want to get.

Trust me on this one. If you weld very many round parts, it just makes sense.

A welding positioner turntable is handier than you ever imagined. Its one of those things that once you have one, you wonder what took you so long.

3 brands of small welding positioners that I have used and can recommend are,

All-Fab Corp

MBC company

Gen Tec

 these three are all economically priced and have proven themselves to me personally.

***one tip if you are in the market for a welding turntable positioned is this….

Get the Spin Loc 3 Jaw Chuck. You will be glad you did. Its so much quicker chucking up parts than a standard 3 jaw chuck.

As far as cold wire feeders go, CK model WF-3 is a really nice one.

This cold wire feeder has all the features you need to set up and fully automated tig welder station.

With the CK WF-3 cold wire feeder, some torch arms and holders from GenTech, a straight pencil torch from WeldTec, a Miller Dynasty 200 DX tig welder, and a timer switch from Grainger, you have the capability of automated welding systems that cost 5 times as much.

Here is how…

By wiring in a timer switch into a remote plug and using the 2t hold feature on a Miller dynasty or 4t on some other tig welders, along with a simple switch control or box amperage control from Miller.

The CK wire feeder has delay, pulse, and retract features just like high dollar automated systems that allow for a semi precision automated tig welding system.

Its more than I can explain on a web page but I have done it and it works.

One area where the CK cold wire feeder really shines is when using a hand held pendant feeder.

For single parts where setup time is better spent welding, just grabbing the hand held feeder along with a tig torch is great. You can start welding in seconds and get the job done.

This is not a toy for your garage though. List price is almost as much as some small tig welders. (but worth every penny)

It is for serious business minded welders who need every edge they can get in a brutal economy.

Can you imagine bidding a job for 500 parts that were 12 inches in diameter? What if the other welding shops who are bidding have turntables and cold wire feeders and you don’t?

You either bid low and don’t make any money, bid high and don’t get the job, or bid right down the pike knowing that with your turntable and cold wire feeder, you can be as competitive as the next guy….

Whoa…someone just leveled the playing field.
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