Alright so tonight was the first time I tried TIG welding (I am an absolute beginner at welding in general) and I have to say it went bad! I understand it's a very steep learning curve and I have also put a lot of research into it.
I have an AMICO MTS-205 that I purchased from Ebay since it does a little bit of everything. Purchased this tungsten rod and this filler metal.
Hooked the tig torch up, made sure to connect the clamp to positive and the torch to negative. Using a #6 cup. Decided to practice running beads on a piece of (I believe) 1/4" mild steel angle bar that I clean the mill scale off of the side I was going to practice on. Set the amps to around 90 (because I've red that 1/16" tungsten can go up to 150).
Tried to scratch start and failed miserably. Decided to strike the filler metal in between the metal and tungsten and I was able to get an arch going for less than a second and then it just stopped. Looked at my tungsten and it was completely melted into the cup. Sharpened it at the grinder and back in the torch it went.
Turned the amps down the 60 and tried it again. EXACT SAME thing happens. Dress it again and this time I drop it down to 20 amps. I strike an arc and this time it stays for a good while, I try to move to tungsten over but the arc just wants to stay at the same spot it started at. The cup starts to turn red and eventually after 7 seconds or so my tungsten melts again.
I have no clue what's wrong. I turned the amps down all the way but still I am getting the same problem. The only thing I can possibly think of is maybe attaching the clamp to a part of the piece that mill scale on it? I honestly have no clue.
- weldin mike 27
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Weldmonger
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Posts:
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Joined:Fri Apr 01, 2011 10:59 pm
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Location:Australia; Victoria
Hi there,
I'm guessing you have your torch hooked up to the positive side of circuit. For tig, you need electrode negative.
I'm guessing you have your torch hooked up to the positive side of circuit. For tig, you need electrode negative.