Hmmm I just purchased 10 lbs of ER70S, so is ER80S now the recommended filler?
Thanks All for your input. I'm very tempted to purchase a Mecco Midget and some regulators after reading the discussion here. Searching a seller now.
10 lbs (!) I still have quite a bit left from the pound I bought.
That must have been the minimum they would sell? I wouldn't be afraid of the ER70S, FWIW.
I wouldn't call it annealing,
I would.
One of the hats I used to wear was "Tool hardener" in the Tool Room. Annealing is a fast process of bringing the hardened material up to the temperature needed and quenching in the proper medium.
Basically, normalizing is bringing the steel up to 100 degrees above the austinitic (sp?) temperature, holding it for an hour or so, and then cooling *very* slowly, a period of several hours.
That said, I think it's a good idea to heat arc welded joints to cherry, and slowly waving a torch over it while backing away, but not necessary as long as you are using the proper filler with TIG.
Naturally, since I was always a oxy acetylene guy, I was skeptical about that, so I did some tests by sawing the joints apart. Yes, the TIG welds were harder, but under Rockwell C45.. spring hardness. That is not hard enough to be brittle.
All bets are off with MIG.. I know nothing about that other than some use it.
