.....It was taken with a cellphone and the picture is good on the phone but sucks on the forum. Sorry about that.. Many cameras (phones) have 'macro' setting, which is used for very close focus. You likely know this already, but just thought I would toss it out there...... I never thought that the ...

We figured it out.

A bad bottle of argon.
What I'm convinced that it's 75/25 that is miss labeled.

I got a new bottle today it works.

Just because I could I swapped my MIG welders 75/25 tank on and it caused the exact same problem.
Thanks for all your help
Thayne

Tomorrow I hope to get a chance to remove the covers on the machine and check for a gas leak.

I tried maxing out the regulator and got about 32 seconds before the tungsten went to he!!

Lots of Sparks and arc that went all over.

Sorry for the lack of information. The picture is of the tungsten on a paper towel. It was taken with a cellphone and the picture is good on the phone but sucks on the forum. Sorry about that. The metal is steel that I have ground to a shine. On a different forum they asked for my location to see if...

Good evening all. To start out I have a Thermal Arc 186. It stick welds great tig not so good. When welding I get a fine shower of Sparks and the tungsten burns and all crappy looking. Pic is of the tungsten after 15 seconds or so of welding. Machine settings are 1 sec pre flow 30 amps hot start 100...

Hello all. I have watched a lot of the you tube videos trying to learn. This looks like a great place to learn like a great place to learn a lot Have just started trying to tig weld. Picked up a used Thermal Arc 186. Stick welds great but I am struggling with tig. That's a different subject though. ...