Gas cup vs. Gas lens

[Ragnar]

Hi,

New to tig, mostly welding mild steel and silicon bronze in bar stock ( art stuff) some S/S in 18 ga. ( .048?) sheet. When do you use each. I can see the advantage of a narrow cup for tight spots, don't know when a lens is appropriate, have read some about the laminar flow effect of the lens. Any thoughts?

Ragnar

[enlpck]

There are few if any times when a plain cup beats a gas lens.

Shop machine has one on all the time. I don't leave it on my portable, primarily because I change the setup so much I tend to damage them, so I only put it on when needed.

[greywynd]

I tend to use a plain cup more, I find I can get it into the tight spots I seem to be working in better than the gas lens. If I'm working 'in the open', doing flat work or butt joints, for example, then I will go to a gas lens.

[river-rat]

I am pretty new to the TIG game myself, but I love the gas lens. I never used one until my ebay tig score came with one (lincoln sq wave 175 pro w/a 340 cf cyl for $800, took it and ran like ****). My work instantly improved and I use less gas. Tight spots aren't such a problem because with the lens on there, you can stick the tung waaaaaay out. The fatter cups seem to give me more opportunity to rest the cup because I suck at free-hand. The cups are more expensive, but it's not like I have to have a whole cabinet full of the things for the stuff I do in the garage. Every thread I see on this topic seems to be about evenly split, so I guess it's just what you're comfortable with and what makes it easiest for you to do your best work.

[Rocky D]

I only use the plain collet body when welding Aluminum, because the Hi Freq tends to eat up the gas lens. I use the largest gas lens for most all my welding.