Almost ready to start TIG ?

[MAC702]

I may be a step closer to trying out TIG for the first time. If I put an HF box on my Trailblazer or PowCon, I should be able to use some old torches that I've had for a while. I'll have to get them out and look at them again, but they are in good shape. I think at least one of the two is the diamondhandled style that Miller uses?

Anyway, the question is that I know both of them are water-cooled torches. Do I NEED to cool them? If these torches are designed for heavy loads, and I only want to test them out and do some light duty practicing, is it a big deal?

If I really should liquid-cool them, is there a way to improvise? Say, adapt the garden hose to the torch hose and then let it run back into the garden in an open loop? I also have a tile saw water pump. Is that big enough to adapt into a closed loop system? If I go that route, is it good to use car-type coolant mixture, or just water? I'm sure Miller would recommend a Coolmate with their "special coolant."

Next, from your experience, what size tungsten and type should I try until I get proficient with the method? I'll practice on mild steel, mostly .065 wall tubing scraps, until I get the technique down. I have some 1/8" filler, but that seems big for that. Should I snip off some .045 MIG wire and use it, or should I go even smaller? Or is it easier to practice with the 1/8" filler and get some bigger scraps?

I have a bench grinder. I also have a fine (standard HF fare) wheel that hasn't been used yet that I can put on it. Will that do for sharpening the soon-to-be-contaminated-often tungsten?

[Mike W]

If you have a water cooled torch, you don't want to run it dry. I use de-ionized water at work. I have heard of guys using a ......soft drink? pump. Try some 1/16 electrodes. The mig wire will be fine or get some tig filler wire. Your grinder will work.

[Franz]

Mac, since YOU left the drain plug out of the dam, anbd water levels are DOWN, make a cooler. Water is prescious, and all them immigrants to Vegas need green lawns.
It doesn't take a lot of pressure to cool a torch, and a little giant pump does the job very well.
As long as you start with a clean torch, and operate constant circulation, by eliminating the liquid solonoid, you can build a cooler for cheap, using an air conditioner coil, a pump, and a reservoir.