diamond tungsten sharpener $20

admin

saw duallies  thread on the professional grade grinders...have been using a diamond cutting wheel designed for ceramic tile- width of actual working surface 5/16".. with tung held as shown at 3 oclock all particles are directed away..can score through the rod to get rid of a booger in 5 seconds, resharpen in about 30 more..obviously  no angle gauge no repeatability ..opinions? Attached Images
Reply:Hard to tell from the pictures, but the finish looks a bit coarse to me.
Reply:At first I thought the finish was rough, too - till I took a close-up pic of one I sharpened and compared.  When you zoom in that close the roughness gets exaggerated.  However - I would reject all of them for DC use because they aren't sharp enough.  Those are some pretty dull tips.  I tend to go with a pretty small included angle (longer taper) but here is what mine look like:They need to go to a point like a needle on the very tip or you'll get an erratic arc...
Reply:Interesting.  I haven't had any arc wandering issues with any blunt tip within reason.  In fact, I intentionally knock the very tip off of every tungsten I use, as a needle point in anything other than very low amperage applications will melt off and spit a small tungsten deposit into the weld pool.  Needle points sure do make for nice HF starts though!
Reply:I can make nicer points more consistantly on a regular bench grinder than that.  But to each his own.Have we all gone mad?
Reply:The book sez .020 up to a .045" flat on the tip depending on the size tungsten. I just touch the end to the bench grinder for a small flat.My machine has touch start, or some kind of capacitor discharge start, not regular High Freq, so starts are never a problem.  The spark is more like a car coil spark than Hi Freq.  It will go an inch.  I keep my foot OFF the pedal when changing electrodes.  It only took once to learn.  To each his own.  DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:i   ground a batch with a longer angle..the  two  1/16's   on the right are from the old batch with a shorter more truncated angle.. Attached Images