bildan wrote:

Dunno about that. I took a TIG. I found OA skills generally applied
to TIG so it wasn't hard to learn. The big thing is that TIG is just
a lot faster and produces cleaner welds. I think I can do a 10" bead
with TIG in the time it takes me to do 1" with OA. I get a lot less
warping with TIG.

The showstopper is TIG rigs cost too much.


The old argument _against_ TIG (and I've no experience to back it up)
is that it does not heat up the base metal much beyond the the bead
thereby locking in a lot of stress that an OA weld would show as warp.

Some people suggested (sometimes strongly) that TIG welds on thin wall
4130 should be reheated with OA to relieve those localized stresses.