Tig Welding Copper

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I'm a 3rd year welding student at my local tech center and my instructor wants me to do some welding on thin gauge copper. I'm just wondering if anyone has had any experience welding the stuff. Any help would be much appreciated.
Reply:Here is one old thread on copper TIG.http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ghlight=copperIn general, because of the high thermal conductivity of copper you want very high current to quickly form a puddle and allow you to move very fast, essentially outrunnig the rapidly dispersing heat.  You also need good inert shielding to prevent forming a black oxide.
Reply:the couple times ive welded thin gauge copper, my experience is that you have to be pretty careful because it runs away on you fast.You have to use a lot of amps to get the puddle started but you need to really back off once you get going.  If not, you will pump alot of filler in,  have a nice looking weld on top and the worst underbead you've ever seen.
Reply:Would filler be necessary on lap or outside corner joints or could I get away with just fusing it together? Oh and pulser thanks for the link to the pics pretty neat stuff kinda beyond my experience though Last edited by WV_Welder; 10-05-2010 at 08:00 PM.
Reply:You can fusion weld copper with out filler (autogeneous), thats what the pics are.  Having a clean and really tight fitting joint will help alot to toward getting the inital melt on each edge of the joint to wet together.Looking forward to seeing some pics.
Reply:Yeah I'm looking forward to trying it out myself. I just hope the guy that my instructor is having me do it for isn't too particular about the end result  I'll make sure to get a couple of good pics to put up too.
Reply:BTW, plain bare copper wire works just fine as filler.  Its just a pain to strip long lengths of insulation off of what I have in rolls . . .