Thread: New to tig - progress log

Yea the craters are getting me, really struggling to taper down, arc seems to die before it really drops off. Timing the last add of filler also is tricky - too early and it craters, too late and it won't accept it. Might try setting some down slope and see if the machine handling the slope is better than me with my foot.

Will try some more pre flow, i had been mostly giving the pedal a tap before striking the arc.
One thing i read elsewhere is to try and stay still till post flow has stopped. I had been pausing but only 1 or 2 seconds.

Bought a thin lincoln welding jacket today - got some minor "sunburn" on parts of my arms oops!

Im getting annoyed with weldsmart - bought a bunch of tungstens off there ebay but no shipping message since monday and they won't respond to messages.
Don't really want to order elsewhere but getting to the stage i might have to.

Managed to find a real welding supply shop locally though that has more than the usual tool shops but only open business hours which makes it hard to get to.

Originally Posted by mac_man_luke

Will try some more pre flow, i had been mostly giving the pedal a tap before striking the arc.

That's all you need to do and is all I do. Timed preflow is just a nice to have.

To help with the dipping, I have a few pieces of 1 inch and two inch timber, use them as a slide for your hand and a steady. I was grinding back far too often without it.

Originally Posted by mac_man_luke

Don't really want to order elsewhere but getting to the stage i might have to.

If you need a few to tide you over, yell out.

not a bad idea, been using a block of 90x45 timber but its maybe a bit small, and a bit tall.

Also, I cheated a bit,

I got one of these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/201168513...84.m1423.l2649 small and light as anything, limited power, but I'm not doing heaps that need it.

WP9 touches do seem nice, held one at the shop today but i plan on playing with a lot of 3mm aluminium and think ill kill it (and it will get warm!)

Looking at a CK Trimline 210 flex head with super flex cable, same size as a 17 but will do 200 amps. Under $200 delivered (although once you start looking at a site like weld fabulous it gets dangerous lol!)

Look at the others from that supplier, reason I like them is it is the same as the CK power lead, material woven covering and gas runs in the middle so it's lighter than the normal torches supplied on most home units. Only issue is you need a foot switch to operate.

oops forgot to mention, they have 17 and 26 as well

Few more hours tonight, started with an external corner joints



Started off ok but hit a bit of contamination about half way along then dipped trying to get past it.



Went fairly smoothly, went back to the start as i missed a bit and it just miss behaved.



Not too bad, stuttered a bit with the filler rod which made it a little inconsistent


Inside corner on a T joint on used / unclean, was a bit of a fight and it got a bit hot at times etc



more of the same.

Then i setup the base frame for my welding trolley using 20mm 1.6mm SHS.
Got it cut to side, cleaned up with the grinder and a few fusion tacks on the corners

Still waiting on filler rod and need some more SHS to finish.

From your commentary it's pretty clear you know what's going wrong, so with practice it should come good.
For those outside corner joints it is always good to have a look (and send pics) of what's going on on the inside of the joint. From the photo it looks like you're running a bit cold and not getting the penetration through to the inside of the joint.
Its really hard to recover from any deep contamination without stopping and cutting out the offending crap, so on a real job with aluminium the best policy is to stop right away and deal with it. Sometimes it is obvious what is causing the contamination (i.e. human error) but sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to it (in which case it is sometimes a breeze or your welder fan blowing away your argon shroud). Depending on where the contamination is, a small clean carbide burr can be a useful thing.
Good progress.
- Mick

Yea i need to get some tools to deal with such contamination, got a dremel so might grab a carbide burr for that.

I tried to take photos from the inside, there was evidence of penetration but maybe slightly cold.

First go with steel, straight into a joint no practice lol

80amps on the panel, not using it all with the pedal.






Not perfect, steel had been hanging around the shed for a bit so cleaned it up as best as could but was a bit of rust on the inside of the tubes which in places caused issues.

Seem to start cold and end up a bit hot.

Still better than anything iv ever done with stick

Originally Posted by mac_man_luke

Seem to start cold and end up a bit hot.

Successful welding is partly about heat control; getting the right amount of heat in the part in the right place. As with stick you need to dwell a bit when starting a bead to allow the joint to heat up. At the end of a tig bead everything will be hot and if the bead ends on an end, the heat has no where to go to as well so either back the amps off or feed an increased amount of filler in to use up some of the heat.

Michael

Originally Posted by mac_man_luke

Im getting annoyed with weldsmart - bought a bunch of tungstens off there ebay but no shipping message since monday and they won't respond to messages.

Yeah, I bought some silicon bronze off them last Monday and I'm about 30min drive away. It still hasn't arrived, 10 days later. I wish I'd spent $20 more and I could have picked it up from Hampdon (on ebay and gumtree). Afterwards I looked at their negative and neutral feedback and it's all the same, poor communication and slow shipping.

Originally Posted by mac_man_luke

Looking at a CK Trimline 210 flex head with super flex cable, same size as a 17 but will do 200 amps. Under $200 delivered (although once you start looking at a site like weld fabulous it gets dangerous lol!)

I have that torch and a FL150. The FL150 is much nicer but it gets hot at 150A. Very hot. Hot enough to blister my finger one time, but I often hold it right up on the head. The 210 stays cool even way up near it's limit but it's much heavier and tiring compared to the FL.

Each time I spent way more than $200. More like $500. Torch, leather cover, gas lens kits, tungstens, etc, etc.