TIG Progress: Almost Welding

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SteveHGraham
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Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:55 pm
Location: Florida

TIG Progress: Almost Welding

Post by SteveHGraham »

Today I cleaned up the underside of my treadmill tubing and made a few flat beads on it. As bad as they are, they represent a big improvement from a few days ago. The stuff at the upper left in the photo is from an earlier session. It's the underside of a piece I practiced on. Guess the amperage was a wee bit high.

The latest beads look a lot like welds. They color is dull, and I read somewhere that this means I'm welding too hot. Perhaps someone can comment.

I learned some stuff. Apparently I'm not supposed to keep adjusting the pedal, because it makes the bead irregular. I was moving it a lot in prior efforts because I thought that was the way to fix it when the arc seemed too weak or two strong.

I'm getting a little cratering at the end. I read that this is because I'm shutting the torch down too fast. Sound right?

I'm also holding the torch more vertically, which is a big change. I'm feeding the wire considerably better.

Managing the duty cycle is a mystery to me. I'm just putting the torch down after 4" or so and letting it rest. Do people use timers? My understanding is that I can weld for 6 out of every 10 minutes at some amperage level which I can't recall. In actual practice, it seems like the torch gets hot after three or four minutes, so the welder itself never gets a chance to strain.

I went back to a 3/32" tungsten, and I'm using the same size filler.

I went from a TIG Finger to a BSX Flak Finger, which is a bigger device with a strap that holds it so it won't fall on the floor. It's fantastic.

Weigh in on my welding artistry. I'm trying to make use of all the tips I get.
04 06 17 TIG welding practice small.jpg
I need to get some metal that doesn't come covered with powdercoating. I don't think I'm getting this metal completely clean.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
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warmstrong1955
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Re: TIG Progress: Almost Welding

Post by warmstrong1955 »

You are improving! Keep at it!

Maybe too hot, or maybe you are lingering at one spot too long.

Watch your puddle, and each move after a dab in the puddle needs to be the same distance. This takes some practice.

As far as rheostat control....start off with more pedal, then once you get a happy puddle, back off a bit. Should stay pretty consistent after that, with an adjustment or two after a few dabs, and then depending on the piece you are welding on and how much it absorbs the heat, you back off a bit as you weld. Watch the puddle.....size & speed.

When you get to the end, back off as far as you can on the pedal, while still maintaining an arc for a moment, to avoid a rapid cool down. This can cause cratering. Then back off the arc, but maintain the gas till the last puddle is fully solid and cooled a bit more. Shutting off the argon can also cause cratering. I'm guessing your welder has a timer on the gas shut off, rather than a microswitch in the pedal, and you may need to adjust the time a bit.

Of all the welding methods, TIG is the most complicated to learn. Like I said before....a lot going on....both hands, and fingers, and your foot must be in sync.
Did I mention....to watch the puddle!
After a while....things start to become instinctive!

:) Great progress!
Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
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SteveHGraham
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Location: Florida

Re: TIG Progress: Almost Welding

Post by SteveHGraham »

Thanks for the help. I really need to get some real metal and save this junk for MIG.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
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