Thanks to all that chipped in with advice, root cause was a faulty argon regulator showing incorrect flow, that caused me to swing the balance much too positive in search of a proper arc and further kill my tungsten. if it the stock boc reg they are the pressure type, they are fairly basic. also i'...

Thanks to all that chipped in with advice, root cause was a faulty argon regulator showing incorrect flow, that caused me to swing the balance much too positive in search of a proper arc and further kill my tungsten.

Apologies, it's an inverter, made by BOC gas, which is linde in the US. 185amp AC/DC machine. I made a mistake in my initial post, I actually used between 20-75% AC balance with no change. Even at 80 amps it instantly destroyed the tungsten. Two brand new tungstens, not cut, and just a pretty weak ...

Not for certain, EJ, but I've found that the green stuff doesn't work so well on an inverter machine...kind of fizzle rather than arcs (for me anyway). Also looks like a gas coverage problem...try getting closer to the base metal and maybe a larger cup. Use the smaller one when you get hood time. I...

You've been prompted a couple times for power source and setting information but you're not providing. Are you just playing games? We are just guessing here until we get the INFORMATION !!! Apologies, it's an inverter, made by BOC gas, which is linde in the US. 185amp AC/DC machine. I made a mistak...

This is why I'm confused, I used both extremes of AC balance with the same results.

I might have a gasflow issue however, I just tried some stainless and it came out like there was very little gas, so I'll trace what's going there.

Thanks for the replies, I'll see if I can get these photos to work

As per the title, first time trying TIG A/C with aluminium and it seems like the tungsten instantly spits the moment the arc is made. Info: 3/32 green tungsten, ground to a weak point and flattened off, regular no.5 cup, tried 10-20cfm argon Clean aluminium extrusion (just a practice peice to get th...