Thread: Help with Pulse Settings for Tig

Lou,
The basics are something like this:

Imagine the pulse laid over a graph .The upper horizontal line represents the peak pulse amps , which for arguments sake is the max setting used in an "ordinary" non pulse unit.

On a lower horizontal line are the base amps which the pulse drops back to.

On the vertical lines of our graph is the time line ,laid out in seconds or parts there of.

Using the old formula of an amp per thou lets call it 120 mps peak and 70 amps base current.

Using the control set the pulse time to 1 seconds.ie .5sec to reach 120 amps and.5 sec back to 70 amps.

Dab your filer in at the peak of the pulse-120amps AC and do so at every peak. Don't hang your hat on these figures as they are ballpark and will require tweaking.

I would go about a 2.5 mm tungsten and be careful of the 6061 properties. If its not annealed I would predict hot stress cracking on butt type joint set ups.Argon would be set aroun 10 l/pm.

Thats approximately what I would start at.I have only faffed around with this and would not call it expert by any means. I don't agree with the stack o dimes Yank BS as they seem to be the only ones doing it.
Common sense tells me all the sharp lines in the coarse ripple pattern will induce a crack a bloody site quicker than a finer pattern.To me some one wrote about this and all the wanna bees think its gospel without putting critical thought to it.

Murphys law says you won't have any scrap or spare plate to practice on first won't it? If thats the case try a bit of standard ali before you let rip on the job proper.

Your 3mm elecrtode selection suggests you might be attempting DC straight polarity.Thats a much higher amperage but I have no idea about pulse on DC.

5356 is a good selection as it will offer the ductility needed to avoid cracks in butt welds.

Anyway good luck and hope it helps
Photos please!

Grahame

Thx Grahame

Will be welding in AC 2.4 (or 1.6 which ever runs better) electrode selection i'm going with 2% Lanthanated!

Wont be able to do some pics of actual job (Am doing it onsite) but was able to get my hands on some Ali scrap so i'll try to post a few pics................agree with your sentiments on the 'stack a dimes' look but as you know the customer knows best

Might try to convince him otherwise though n will use your thoughts as a sales pitch!!!

Will try to come up with some settings tomorrow n post some pics as i progress....................luckily no rush @ this stage!!!!

By the way awesome post n thx for your time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards Lou

G'day Lou,

One tip that's stuck in my mind, not sure where it came from... make sure you set your pulsing frequency so that you can match it easily with your rod dabs. If you've set the welder at say 2 pulses per second, but you naturally want to dab your filler 3 times every 2 seconds, then it just wont feel right and you'll get out of sync half way through your weld.

Not sure if you've seen this thread https://www.woodworkforums.com/f160/a...amples-109998/ which is worth a look.

I often weld 2-3mm Ali for bits on my boat. I'd go the 2.4mm electrode, lanthanated's good. About 90amps (not pulsed) would be what I'd start with on 3mm plate, so Grahame's suggestion of 70/120 seems about right. 2.4mm filler wire - the thicker filler seems to almost create the SOD look even if not pulsing. You need to consider the AC balance/cleaning width too... I reckon it can look pretty ugly when the cleaning width is too excessive.

How long will the welds be? One thing I'd personally be nervous about is the length of the weld if trying to maintain a consistent look. Unless you can back off your amps just right (got a foot pedal?) the weld bead is going to start flattening out (or even cracks) after a long run. You could pre-heat before the start of the weld, or use a heat-sink backing or just do short runs if you're confident in getting a good tie in between your welds.

Regards

- Mick

I've generally only run pulse on thin stainless ~ 22 gauge at very high rates, where it seems to have it's uses. One of the guys at Silverwater welding had set up the machine at 2 pps in AC after a service....so seems to affirm what Mick says. Personally, just found it totally annoying and I'd rather modulate it manually - if needed - and 3mm shouldn't present too many problems to get "the look".

Gidday

Yeah it seems learning how to get the most outta pulse settings is a bit of an art unfortunately I haven't had a chance to play round with pulse settings yet .............

After a lot a reading searching and research Im leaning towards jodys tips from welding tips n tricks N will set up the pulse at 1 per second (or there abouts depending on results) its the peak and background currents that im really looking @ getting my head around and looking for a ballpark setting to start from ..............

Will post a few pics once i get some time to play..........................

Great post Mick! the welds arnt too long so hopefully the issues you have raised wont become a factor!

Just outta interests sake will post some pics of my last seat time playing with settings so we can compare the results ...................

Regards Lou