Tungsten grinders

[matteh99]

I chuck them into a cordless drill and let it do the twisting for me, I'll sharpen ten to fifteen at a whack and keep them in my jacket for quick changes

How much difference does the drill make? I just spin them in my fingers. It seems to work pretty well.

[weldingtwopotatoes]

Using a drill to sharpen Tungsten makes all the difference for me, I just can't seem to get that great point without using a drill. I've seen people who have no problem getting a nice point just using their fingers so I guess it depends if you can spin the Tungsten consistently, I can't it ends up all lopsided.

[KHK]

Some people have it, some don't I have to use a drill to do the sharping

[Gadget]

Hmm, this thread has me thinking there is a project in there somewhere. I looked at the HF grinder mentioned and noticed it had a flex cable grinder on the other end of the shaft. A small gear reduction and it could be used to power a rotating collet mounted at the right angle for a good point. With the proper collet mounting you could change collets for the different electrode sizes.
Just put the electrode in the collet turn the machine on and feed the electrode into the wheel.

[matteh99]

Maybe next time I sharpen my tungstens I will try a drill. They seemed to work fine the way they were but who knows maybe they will be a better with a drill. If I don't notice a difference I will go back to my fingers because it is easier.

[Ascinder]

I bought the 8" wet/6" dry harbor freight grinder specifically for doing my tungstens. The 6" wheel spins at 3450 RPM and is a little coarse in my opinion but seemed to work well. The 8" which I ran dry instead of wet spins SLOOOOWWW. I used it to clean up the tungstens when I was finished. It is smooth and puts a really nice finish on them. I don't use a drill, I just rotate them by hand. Just knocked out 20-10 1/16ths and 10 3/32. I also use the 1.5% and 2% Lanthanated electrodes. After seeing a review of how they welded both steel and aluminum side by side with pure, thoriated, and ceriated,the lanthanated outperformed all of them by leaps and bounds.

[Gadget]

I bought the 8" wet/6" dry harbor freight grinder specifically for doing my tungstens. The 6" wheel spins at 3450 RPM and is a little coarse in my opinion but seemed to work well. The 8" which I ran dry instead of wet spins SLOOOOWWW. I used it to clean up the tungstens when I was finished. It is smooth and puts a really nice finish on them. I don't use a drill, I just rotate them by hand. Just knocked out 20-10 1/16ths and 10 3/32. I also use the 1.5% and 2% Lanthanated electrodes. After seeing a review of how they welded both steel and aluminum side by side with pure, thoriated, and ceriated,the lanthanated outperformed all of them by leaps and bounds.

Hi Ascinder and welcome to the forum. We like pictures here so be sure to include some showing your work. Also, check out for the contest here. The odds of winning a great new Longevity machine are very good. Please post a bit about yourself in the introduce yourself section so we can get to know you.
Thank too for your informative post.
Dan

[SICFabrications]

as for tungsten, i use a simple side by side grinder with a smooth cutting stone, i turn them by hand... but if ya really wanna know (and gadget can verify) i take em straight outta the box and chuck em in the torch... square edge n all and can run them on DC without any problems... when i pull em straight out on AC, i spin the balance up a lil and let em ball up real nice for me... on transformer based machines, you CAN NOT replace the green band tungstens for arc characterisics albeit they dont last as long as the red or brown band. my favorite color for inverter based machines are the grey ones and am a firm, firm believer in them after the trade show. using the grey banded tungstens at the trade show and letting just about any tom larry and harry step up and "dip the wick" (touch the tungsten to the puddle) they held up extremely well! and go from a balled end on AC, flip the switch straight over to DC and move along making pretty welds without even touching a grinder... after them getting dipped a few too many times i did have to have them ground a lil tho...

[Gadget]

I spent quite a bit of time touching up the electrodes at the trade show. The welding students were great at dipping the wick.
I had an older lifetime veteran welder talking to me when the students were welding. The gentleman was listening to the welder while talking and he would stop talking and look at me and say, he's about to dip it!! and sure enough within a few seconds wham. He poked me and said see I told you with a big grin. He knew his stuff.

[Ascinder]

Hi Ascinder and welcome to the forum. We like pictures here so be sure to include some showing your work. Also, check out for the contest here. The odds of winning a great new Longevity machine are very good. Please post a bit about yourself in the introduce yourself section so we can get to know you.
Thank too for your informative post.
Dan

Gotcha, I went ahead and posted in the new members section with pictures of my first welds the my 200PI.

I also wanted to find out what people who have the tiny Harbor Freight grinder with the flexible "dremel" grinder thought of it. I have a coupon for one for around $20, but I already have the grinder I mentioned before and a normal bench grinder for general work. I am really just looking at the little one to mount to my welding cart for portability.