Re: Tungsten gap erosion

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Michael,

I am not sure it is a universal standard but the bands on the electrodes
usually mean...

Pure - Green 
Thoriated 2%- Red 
Thoriated 1%- Yellow 
Lanthanated - Black 
Zirconiated - White
Ceriated - blue

The pure and the 2% are by far the most popular.  Many welders are using
the pure these days even though it is a bit harder to weld with than the
thoriated types.  The added metals help the arc strike better and be more
stable.  Even though the radiactivity is "small", many people just don't
want to worry with it...

Cheers,

	Terry


At 12:51 AM 8/12/2001 +0700, you wrote:
>Thanks for this comment.  I live in south east asia and things are
>a little tricky to get or to identify.  I was in our machine shop 
>selecting the tungsten rod I am going to use in my spark gap and
>he showed me some in green and some in red.  The machinist
>didn't know what the difference was nor I.  Now I know which
>one to pick.
>
>> 
>> Hi Michael,
>> 
>> You can easily get the pure tungsten (non-radioactive) variety from any
>> welding shop.  They tend to come in green packages...
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Terry
>
>