WHICH GAS FOR TIG LEARNER

[Normanby]

As I have had a Weldsmart TIG 200P Ac/Dc inverter welder sitting around for about a year I decided to start using it. I had intended to try out TIG with it but due to circumstances unable to until now. Set it up earlier this week and used it ok for stick welding. Many of the posts on the welding forums have good info which I will use.

I have stick welded for many years with transformer and inverter welders. Also bought a SIP Migmate Turbo 150A MIG welder 20? years ago which I have used quite a lot but only gasless wire of 0.8 and 0.9 mm. So I decided to get a TIG welder to be able to TIG weld. Have done some oxy welding over the years but now deciding whether to keep rent going.

I have available to use for some time both Argon welding gas and Argoshield universal. Looking at the BOC info it seems argoshield universal should be used for steels and argon for aluminium etc, although argon may be used for almost any TIG welding.

Should I start off tig welding steel before trying aluminium? Is it a waste to use argon on steel if argoshield universal is available? When these gases are used I will only be getting argon but the argoshield universal is available at present. I don't have anything major to build with TIG but maybe this will change when/if I become proficient.

Sorry if this post is a long but I would appreciate your advice.

[Gavin Newman]

Use Argon for all TIG, steel or ally, set the flow between 5 & 10 lpm. Argoshield is for MIG, not TIG.

If you've never used TIG, start learning on steel and get your puddle control, feeds etc sorted out with that before starting on ally.
Good luck, post your progress here if you want help.

[Normanby]

Thanks for your reply Gavin. Just goes to show how much I know about TIG. Looked at the BOC gases site again and I had missed the little colour tags showing what gas for what type of welding.

In the future I will get some solid wire for my MIG and try using the Argoshield on there but concentrate on learning TIG first. Also with TIG steel welding should I buy some steel wires or can I use oxy welding wire provided I remove any surface rust first.

Regards, Normanby.

[Legion]

If you've done a lot of stick welding, you'll pick up tig in no time provided you can independently move your left hand, right hand and feet. I find tig so much easier than stick.

[Karl Robbers]

Thanks for your reply Gavin. Just goes to show how much I know about TIG. Looked at the BOC gases site again and I had missed the little colour tags showing what gas for what type of welding.

In the future I will get some solid wire for my MIG and try using the Argoshield on there but concentrate on learning TIG first. Also with TIG steel welding should I buy some steel wires or can I use oxy welding wire provided I remove any surface rust first.

Regards, Normanby.

You really should use triple deoxidised wire for tig but for learning the movements and so on, if you have some oxy filler wire hanging around, then go for it. If you need to buy filler, then get the correct stuff.

[soundman]

WOT...no coat hangers

cheers

[Karl Robbers]

WOT...no coat hangers

cheers

Coat hangers, fencing wire, all been done before in desperation.

[soundman]

Hell....I've not taken up tig welding, but I have never paid for "proper filler rods" when oxy welding.

There have always been coat hangers......back in the day, we used to go to the dry cleaners and take away all the broken and uggly hangers they had.

So what is the story with TIG.

cheers

[Legion]

TIG likes things to be clean and uncontaminated.

[Karl Robbers]

To expand a little on what Legion said, which is dead correct. Oxy welding has a deoxidising effect from the flame, whereas TIG requires deoxidising of the weld by the chemical action of additives such as silicon and aluminium.
Welds produced by the good old oxy filler wire, fencing wire, coat hangers and underwires from the missus' old bra are prone to porosity among other defects and in the case of anything zinc coated for example, the tungsten electrode is rapidly fouled. The same goes for welding zincseal or galvanised product.

[Normanby]

A few weeks following my first post on this thread I have managed to get around to starting some TIG welding practice.
Started a few days ago with some mild steel plate and sheet with simple runs and some fillets. Set up my Weldmart 200A Ac/Dc Tig and stick welder using the settings in the instructions and all went not too bad. I need more practice but I can see how I can improve from here.

However yesterday I then set up the welder to try some aluminium welding. First problem with the instructions is how to work out what they mean. I decided I did not need pulse welding or pedal control right now. I found instructions for a similar machine (BOC smootharc 200A ac/dc) which has more info so printed these out. Not much in the way of alloy scrap so took a nissan tappet cover, casting 3mm thick approx, off an engine sitting outside for some time. Brushed the oxide coating off with a SS brush and set up the machine as well as I could with the instructions. Set to TIG and AC on the switches with earth clamp positive. AC balance and AC frequency instructions not clear but tried some variations. Torch fitted with 2.4mm 2% thoriated electrode with 10mm ceramic. welding amps 130A, post flow dial half way, argon flow 7-8 l/m.
First welds were just runs on the flat outside of the tappet cover. melted a couple of holes but filled them without any problems. adjusted amps to 120, tried a fillet weld with a scrap piece of 10mm H X 3mm thick aluminium clamped to the tappet cover. managed to get some rough fillet welds done and some more straight runs.
Noticed the welding arc is very noisy, much louder than tig steel welding, is this normal?
Used 2.4mm ER 4043 filler, only size I have but also have some ER 5356 and ER 4047 fillers in this size. What is the best to use?
Finding it hard to keep the filler rod up to the weld pool, do I need to use less amps? final settings were AC freq 140?, AC balance 35? What should I be using? Should I be setting the Start Amps above minimum? 2T/4T switch set on 2T, instructions vague on when which setting should be used, suggestions?
As you can see I have a lot of questions so any feedback and comments from experienced TIG welders appreciated.
I will probably do some more practice this weekend but would like to know more about what I should be trying. May get some photos of results then.
Thank you.

[soundman]

I'm not a TIG expert, But my mate arround the corner who s a TIG god has commented in the past that aluminium that has been in long term contact with oil can be a bit problematic..as aluminium is a bit pourous and can be come impregnated with oil.

maybe a trip to the scrappers for some clean ally might be a good idea.

cheers

[Karl Robbers]

I'm not a TIG expert, But my mate arround the corner who s a TIG god has commented in the past that aluminium that has been in long term contact with oil can be a bit problematic..as aluminium is a bit pourous and can be come impregnated with oil.

maybe a trip to the scrappers for some clean ally might be a good idea.

cheers

Dead on. Aluminium castings also vary widely in quality and weldability.
You will also find that trying to wekd a 10mm strip of aluminium will complicate the process until you get more experience.
A good source of information can be the welding tips and rricks youtube channel.

[Legion]

Noticed the welding arc is very noisy, much louder than tig steel welding, is this normal?

Mine is. Because it's switching things very fast, so it makes a loud high frequency noise. So does pure DC high frequency pulse.

Finding it hard to keep the filler rod up to the weld pool, do I need to use less amps? final settings were AC freq 140?, AC balance 35? What should I be using? Should I be setting the Start Amps above minimum? 2T/4T switch set on 2T, instructions vague on when which setting should be used, suggestions?

It's all up to you. My auto-settings are pretty good. I use a pedal, so sort of 2T. If I used a trigger I might use 2T or 4T but I've got a choice of about 4 or 5 programs. Each is useful in different situations. More frequency directs the arc more but a smaller puddle so not as good for filling. Balance should be "enough". It's material specific. Some require lots of cleaning, some less. A dirty old boat repair might require lots, a brand new piece of clean shelf stock not as much.

... would like to know more about what I should be trying.

Find a medium/large non-critical project and get stuck into it. Learn on the job. A utility cart for your welder would be a good idea. I built one with four levels, hooks for leads/hoses, holders for filler rods, drawers for consumables and hardware etc.

[Normanby]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

Re utube or other videos. My internet service is a satellite broadband? and I find I am able to watch small videos early mornings but after 0800 to 0930 or so the download speed is so slow it could take 10 minutes or much more to download a 2 minute video. This is why I usually log on about 0430 each morning so I can get better speed before service goes bad. However I will try and watch some utube TIG welding videos as suggested.

I realize I need to get some good aluminium to practice on so I will search around for some. I found a couple of good pieces of angle but I didn't want to ruin them but may have to use them.

Will keep going, just wish I had better understanding of the machines instructions.