From: none@none.com99   
      
   Some of you might recall my years long failure to learn to MIG weld.  I   
   could get things to come out okay with aluminum with my spool gun, and I   
   learned to be okay with gasless flux core, but I couldn't make a MIG   
   weld to save my life. I even bought a decent name brand machine (Miller   
   212).  Everybody kept telling me how easy it was, and I just kept   
   failing.  It turned out to be the gas manifold inside the MIG gun.  It   
   had no holes.  Since then I use MIG (GMAW) and Flux Core (FCAW)   
   interchangeably as needed for the application.   
      
   A few (several maybe) years ago I picked up an AHP TIG201 AC/DC   
   TIG/stick welder.  I don't have a lot of applications where I, "have   
   to," use TIG so I don't.  Everybody told me it was much harder to learn   
   than the methods I already used, and that was my experience.  My welds   
   sucked, I couldn't see anything while welding, and my tungstens pretty   
   much turned to blobs.  I did get one "good" weld sorta kinda for a   
   customer job making some t-handle 304 stainless core pins for a   
   commercial fishing net sinker mold.  It looked more like I had torch   
   welded it, but to be honest I think I could have O/A torch welded it   
   better.   
      
   A couple days ago I again was trying to make some t-handle core pins and   
   I ruined enough stock to make 20 pins to barely scab together 6.  They   
   looked scabbed.  Where it didn't look like a scab on a nasty wound it   
   looked like a volcano shit on it.   
      
   I get that TIG is a harder skill, but this was terrible.  Nothign was   
   looking like I thought it should during any part of the process and my   
   tungsten electrodes (even when I didn't dip them) were coming out   
   looking like a crunchy Q-tip.  Most of you probably already know the   
   problem, but this machine welded poorly like this from day one brand new   
   out of the crate.  This machine was as new as it could be whne I bought   
   it.  The container was still on a ship from China.   
      
   AHP has a decent reputation for the price. Basically if the machine   
   doesn't smoke in the first hour it will last for years.   
      
   Yesterday I decided to do what I did with the Miller that wouldn't MIG   
   weld for me.  I walked out in the shop and started checking everything   
   starting at the torch.  I was going to find the problem or destroy the   
   machine trying.  Pulled the trigger (finger switch rather than foot   
   pedal) and I saw the flow ball jump to where I had it set.  I could hear   
   the gas flowing.  I couldn't feel anything at the torch.   
      
   It had a hose leak where the quick couple plugs into the machine for the   
   gas.  That was easy to fix, but then there was another leak inside the   
   cover for the DINS connector.  The main hose was leaking right there.   
   Its was kind of a strange setup, and wasn't repairable any practical way   
   I could think of due to how the hose clamps on over where the cable is   
   crimped on.   
      
   I bought a Harbor Freight Vulcan TIG kit/assembly.  It was maybe $10   
   more than a replacemnt from AHP, but no freight, I could pick it up   
   today (yesterday) and it came with some extra consumables.  Cups, gas   
   manifolds, collets, and even a few ceriated tungsten electrodes.  The   
   only thing I had to change was the gas connector on the adapter cable   
   that comes with it.  I used the old one from the AHP hose/torch assembly.   
      
   When I fired it up it was like somebody flipped a switch.  No I don't   
   mean the finger switch zip tied to the torch.  I mean I could see.   
   EVERYTHING.  I could see the arc.  I could see the puddle.  I could see   
   the electrode.  It was almost like the arc shots WeldTubers post in   
   their YouTube videos.  Then I promptly melted the part I was testing on.   
     LOL  It took my 5 or 6 tries and a couple dipped and reground   
   tungstens, but I finally made some welds that looked like they were TIG   
   welded instead sprayed with the north end of a south bound chicken with   
   diarrhea.  I made a few touchy autogenous tack welds between a 9mm 304   
   rod and a 3/32 (2.4mm) "18-8" washer and they looked better than   
   anything I'd ever done before with a TIG torch.   
      
   Okay, you can blame me for not doing a basic check for a gas leak long   
   ago, but I didn't expect the hoses to be bad out of the box.  Sure after   
   it sat in my shop a few years not working right the hoses could have   
   failed, but I never even thought to check that specifically because it   
   was like that from day one, and I was told TIG welding is much harder to   
   learn.   
      
   They say its a poor trades/crafts person who blames their tools, but I   
   need to stop doubting myself.  This is not the first time I kept butting   
   my head up against a welding problem to finally realize it was the   
   machine.  With my AC cracker box, I finally realized I was doing jobs   
   that were hitting and exceeding the duty cycle.  With both of my   
   portable flux only machines the duty cycle was so short as to make it   
   hard to tell I wasn't welding all that badly until I hit the duty cycle.   
     I improved those by cutting giant holes in the cases and mounting   
   cooling fans on them.  The Miller came with a defective gas manifold,   
   and the AHP came with bad hoses.  If I had not automatically assumed I   
   was the problem I would have probably figured out the real problem and   
   found an improvement or solution much sooner.  In some cases years sooner.   
      
   FYI:  The Harbor Freight Vulcan comes with two different sizes of DINS   
   connectors for gas through DINS machines, and an adapter cable with a   
   side hose for use with a larger DINS and a separate gas port on the   
   machine.  The torch also has a gas flow/shutoff valve for machines that   
   do not have an automatic gas solenoid.  The torch is rigid and feels a   
   little larger and clunkier than the AHP torch, but it looks like it has   
   the same type of connector under some heat shrink inside the handle as   
   the AHP torch.  The AHP torch that came with my machine is a flex head   
   and the Vulcan is a rigid head.  I may switch torches.  I can think of   
   several positions that might have made the job I was doing easier with a   
   flex head.  The Vulcon also feels a lot heavier because it has heavier   
   thicker rubber hose and cable attached to it.  Both torches are industry   
   standard type 17 interchangeable for components.  For $99 US, I think   
   the Vulcan TIG torch kit is a good deal.  I would buy one again knowing   
   what I know now, but I do wish it was a flex head.   
      
   P.S.  I have had decent luck with Vulcan welding equipment.  Well as   
   little as I have.  I have a Vulcan, Lincoln Viking, and a Miller auto   
   dark welding hood.  They are all very good, and I actually use them all,   
   but I like the Vulcan the best of the three.  Until recently when the   
      
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