Is TIG actually faster?

General Discussion
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I think it’s mostly due to the nest of small diameter tubes inherent to long tail bike, but I think I spent way more time TIG-ing this rear triangle than I would have if fillet brazing - assuming no finish work on the fillets.

Part of the issue is that I have much more brazing experience than TIG, but I would really like to see how fast a pro could TIG this.
Between all of the adjusting tungsten stickout for the acute angle joints, lots of starts and stops (and tungsten grinding), positioning the frame so I can access and see the weld and get my helmet in there close enough to see without a tube being in the way this took over 5 hours not including the front triangle(s). I think I’m ready to just fillet the next one, but I thought I’d check in to see what others thought.

Back in the early MTB days, I remember some manufacturer (maybe it was Rocky Mountain) that would TIG the front triangle and braze the rear, perhaps for this reason. What I have here is like 4 times as many small diameter tube joints. It makes me realize what absolute wizards they must have in Taiwan knocking out long tails with far more tubes packed in more tightly than this.

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It takes me about an hour to weld out a normal front triangle (which is the biggest piece I do in one go). I usually don’t need to change the tungsten or adjust the stickout more than once or twice. I think most of the time is just moving it around and positioning it. In order to manage the heat I’m doing whatever I can reach at a time on each joint (so up to about 1/4 of the way round maximum) and then moving on to another one.

Keep a stack of a few spare tungstens so you don’t have to stop working to grind them.

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Thanks, yeah I think I could weld a front triangle in an hour. The reason for all of the stickout adjustment is that there are 7 tube joints that meet at 45 degrees. I suppose I could do all of those segments inside the tight acute angles one after another to minimize adjustments.

I do have a stack of tungstens ready to go, I just have to stop dabbing the rod on the tungsten! :angry:

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