On Sun, 7 Jun 2009 15:10:00 -0700 (PDT), Veeduber
wrote:

On Jun 7, 1:34*pm, bildan wrote:

I love gas welding but if I were to do another welded fuselage, I'd
bite the bullet and buy a TIG welder. *It's much faster and cleaner.
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Not a good idea, in my opinion. Usta be, buy a TIG,er you'd get a CD
with about 800megabytes of arguments as to WHY you did so, which you
would have to read & memorize before you could return to the
internet. Today, you buy a TIG.er you get the CD plus a DVD showing
pitchers of the 'critical heating zone'... which is also the critical
cooling zone, depending on who you're arguing with.

Bottom Line: Use o/a, you'll have the fuselage on its gear by the
time the TIG'er people are still arguing about who shot John, why the
sky is blew and other matters of Dire importance.

Or... you could do your tacking with MIG! MIG doesn't set anything on
fire so's you don't need to cut holes. And you can make a one-sided
tack that's strong enough so you can drag the thing all over the shop
without having anything bust loose. Kinda whippy of course, what with
all the shrinkage on just the one side, but that'll go away when you
use your MIG'er to tack the OTHER side... before you put the thing in
the rotisserie, find your scooter an' get the right tip on your o/a
rig to do all the FINISH welding. (Or Finnish if that's where you come
from.)

Now, ain't you glad you got all us instant Internet experts to give
you all this good advice?

-R.S.Hoover

I'd stick with TIG. or oxyacetylene. or whatever welding technique the
welder is personally best with.

if you can sample test your welded joints to destruction and find that
they are stronger than the parent tube then stick with what you do
best.

it isnt the method that is important; it is the structural strength of
the completed welded joints.

ps dont forget the hole that will allow all the tube seal to work
through and corrosion protect the final job from the inside.

when I couldnt get a hold of any more competent welding service on a
remote airfield I was forced to repair my tailwheel assembly by arc
welding with 2mm rods.
I used a lot of heat treating appreciation to lay the order of the
welds and it has given flawless service for more than 4 years now.

it is the weld strength that is important not the method.

btw my brother in law tells me that welding the joints in a spiral
path around and along the fuselage nose to tail will result in the
least distortion. ...as will a rubber mallett :-)
Stealth Pilot