r/oddlysatisfying • u/BodegaDad • 2d ago

Beautiful arc shot and welding pattern

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2.1k Upvotes
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97% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

154

u/allursnakes 2d ago

Bro, I would be dipping that tungsten so fast... This is solid work.

32

u/GH057807 2d ago

Is that the little rod? What is its purpose?

73

u/ThrowRAsadheart 2d ago

The tungsten is the glowing rod coming out of the cup that’s making the metal melt. The little rod in the foreground is a metal filler that you add to basically “stitch” two pieces of metal together.

35

u/GH057807 1d ago

So the tungsten is a heating element, and not depositing any material into the weld? The weld itself is made up of the filler rod and original material being welded together?

45

u/curiusgorge 1d ago

Sort of. The tungsten will essentially control where the arc goes. The arc wants to jump from the tip of the tungsten to the metal. When you hold the arc in one spot, it starts to melt the metal, which is that small puddle of metal you see. Then you dip the filler rod into the puddle to add material to the weld

11

u/rowanhenry 1d ago

Welding blows my mind. Turns metal into a liquid in a fraction of a second.

17

u/hecking-doggo 1d ago

Pretty much except it's not the tungsten that's doing the heating, it's the electric arc between the tungsten and the base metal. The tungsten, like the base metal, just ends up getting really fucking hot from the arc.

7

u/GH057807 1d ago

But tungsten don't melt easy.

17

u/hecking-doggo 1d ago

Exactly. Tungsten is used because it has a much higher melting point than the base metal, typically aluminum or steel. You don't want tungsten inclusions in the weld because it can lead to the weld failing.

2

u/Itsnotthateasy808 1d ago

So you’re trying to keep the tungsten close enough to control the arc but not so close that you touch the molten metal and incorporate it into the weld?

2

u/hecking-doggo 1d ago

Yes. These welds are also pretty small. That tungsten is probably 1/16" and is likely about 1/16" from the metal. It's very precise work that's very easy to fuck up.

3

u/Mcc4rthy 2d ago

It passes the butter.

2

u/lemmeseeyourkitties 2d ago

Yeah I also want answers

56

u/-Freddybear480 2d ago

Walking the cup

26

u/Big-Sense8876 2d ago

I didn’t read the title and was confused by what I was seeing.

9

u/nicolauz 1d ago

Same. Thought it was an angler fish getting a lobster.

2

u/FocusMaster 1d ago

My first thought was that it was a guy in a hooded robe lighting a bong. Glad I read the title after.

23

u/mongoderpus 2d ago

That little spec of silica bouncing around trying to distract your focus from the toe lines.. gets me every time

6

u/MrKillface 1d ago

Curious, what is the purpose of the silica?

6

u/mongoderpus 1d ago

It's an alloying element present in most metals.

In filler metals, it increases fluidity of the weld puddle, which helps make things look nice. Scavenges impurites and floats them to the surface before the weld freezes. Mechanically speaking it's got high thermal resistance and low thermal expansion, which also makes it a desirable additive in lots of filler metals.

9

u/Some-Tomatillo-8643 1d ago

Tig welding is not as easy as it looks

22

u/Rubber__Chicken 2d ago

Welding over a weld? How damm big is that weld?

17

u/james_deanswing 2d ago

THICK pipe.

6

u/DaMan11 2d ago

I mean, even sch 10 stainless usually needs 3 passes.

2

u/james_deanswing 2d ago

To me that’s thick af. I’m used to 16-18ga lol

4

u/curiusgorge 1d ago

I think its often recommend when welding thicker than 1/8" depending on the application. Something like motorsports would be good to have a double weld

11

u/RoyalCPT 2d ago

Let's gooooo pipefitters.

2

u/mcfarmer72 1d ago

It’s like a dance.

2

u/LetMePushTheButton 1d ago

How’d they get this shot? Is this a heavy ND filter? Or just taken with a phone through the welding helmet?

2

u/sweaty_middle 1d ago

I used to be a welder and fabricator years ago and loved it, I got immense satisfaction from producing good quality welds and still enjoy watching other peoples work. It just didn't pay enough.

2

u/Signal-Reporter-1391 1d ago

To me this looks like a lamp swinging in the dark.

2

u/Shoot4Teams 2d ago

I assume the sparkle frames are edited out. This is a really neat perspective

21

u/mongoderpus 2d ago

Nope, this is what this process (GTAW, commonly known as TIG) looks like through the hood. Super clean, no sparks or smoke here!

3

u/Shoot4Teams 2d ago

Wow! Thanks for educating me.

1

u/jterwin 1d ago

The bloom on this is so high I can feel my pupils trying to contract bc of it.

1

u/nighthawke75 1d ago

Almost what titanium TiG welding should be like.

0

u/BloodNut69 1d ago

Always loved TIG aluminum