Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello everybody. Im new to this forum. Been lurking around and watching the videos for a couple months now. So, I decided to join. I work maintenance at a pork processing plant here in NW Missouri. So, that gives me ample oppritunity to hone in on my stainless TIG skills. I weld anything from 18 guage, up to 1/2 inch on a nightly basis there. I may have to sneak in a few pics of my work soon. Anyways, hello. And im looking foward to becoming an active member here.

Ok, here is some 3in sanitary tubing that i cut n welded for a drain on a machine at work. I used a maxstar 200 with the foot pedal pulse method.

Welcome to the forum....
Looks good, what were your settings???

Welcome to the show!

That's slick work, especially for a drain. It's on par with the best I've seen, from welders who have the maintenance contract with Hershey Foods, in PA.

You may find yourself offering more advice than you receive!

As always, we're pleased to add knowledge and skill here. While there are experts here in their particular areas and ranges of experience, the forum as a whole is becoming an "expert welding resource" we're quite proud of. Everyone here, from the guy who just bought his first machine to the retiree, learns a little something from each other in the most polite welding forum I've ever encountered

Steve S

As far as settings, well, that picture is close to a year and a half old. So, i cant remember them exactly. But, id say i was close to 70 on the dial. Using maybe 80% of the pedal. Now, i use a 200 Maxstar that has the pulser feature. To me, thats a night and day difference. I absolutely love those machines. They are perfect for a maintenance type job because of thier small size and portability.
Hopefully, I can be able to give out some good advise. I know that there are some people on this forum that i will need pointers from as well. Im basically a self taught welder that has obsessivly read about stainless steel. And welding in general. Ive been getting paid to weld, mostly heavy dual shield wire fed, for close to 10 years. TIG welding is only 3.5 years for me. So, I know I have a lot to learn.

Your at the right place....
Us guys love to share our experience and tips....
Great to have you aboard!!!!

~John

mallcrawlr,

Welcome to the forum! I also believe you have a lot to share with us. Looks really good.
-Jonathan

Welcome to the forum. You have some great looking welds. I'm just getting started and would like to be able to weld stainless steel like that. I'm waiting to get my metal.

Very Nice, do you mind sharing some settings from the Maxstar? I also use a 200DX and have been playing with the pulse on our sanitary stuff, I work in a food plant as well

Nice tuff above, I to have become obsessed with stainless, a lot of 316 and Tri-Clover fittings in my daily stuff.

Welcome to the forum mallcrawlr.

Rick, I usually set the machine at around 60-70 amps. I pulse with the foot pedal, being careful not to have it maxed out (full power) any longer than it needs to be. Usually just a quarter of a second. Thats just a guess though. I back off the pedal to maybe half. Then move foward a little. I use a 17 series CK flex torch. 1/16 Thoriated tungsten, gas lens, and a #8 cup. Running around 12-15 cfh on my flowmeter.
Fitup is where I get critical. I didnt use filler. Unless i had to. But, there wasnt any gaps anywhere. I tell people all the time that a good TIG welder should almost be like a doctor with a scalpel when using a grinder. All those pieces I cut with a 4.5 inch grinder and a cut off wheel.

Thanks, I was back doing some testing with 1.5" .065" wall 316 on our 350LX Syncrowave tonight, WP20 torch. I was running 42amps 15 on flow meter, 1/16" gas lens, 2% thoriated with a #8 cup and getting good full pen, with just a steady weld. I then turned on the pulse 85 amps, 35% background and 40% peak, 10pps and didn't get through. I'm going to fire up the Maxstar tomorrow and see what I can do. I find the inverter machine and the higher pulse rate to really help.

Your right, fit up is everything when it autogenus....Ill report back with my findings

Hello and welcome along

I like to use slow pulse or walk the cup technique for diameter of over 30 mm stainless pipe. Under that diameter I mostly prefer high speed pulse (around 50 Hz), works well on thin and thick stuff imo.