[scrapfarm89]

Im new to TIG (3 days of running) and would like some input on how to improve bead quality and maintain consistency.

Running:
lincoln electric square wave TIG 200 ON 220V
100a
2% lanthanated-3/32
308l rod
1/8 stainless plate
100% argon at 7 L/min

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[Louie1961]

First, starting on stainless is a little bit hard in my opinion. Second, you are putting too much heat into the work, likely for a number of reasons: your arc length is too long and you are not holding a consistent arc length, and your amps are too low, causing you to progress too slowly, and allowing the heat to build up. I would also consider moving down to a 1/16th filler rod, your life will become considerably easier if you do. 3/32 tends to freeze in the puddle when you are running 100 amps like that. a 1/16th filler will make dabbing easier.

You need to spend more time practicing and focus on your arc length, and torch angle. Once you get better at that, you need to turn up the amps to about 120-ish. You also need to work on your feed hand dexterity and practice feeding the rod through your fingers without doing any actual welding. you need to build consistency. Consistent arc length, consistent torch angle, consistent torch movement in between dabs, etc. Actually, as strange as it sounds, welding beads on aluminum plate would help you advance your technique the most. You can see what you are doing more clearly with aluminum (it just shows up much brighter through the welding hood than steels do), and because the puddle is much more fluid, you will learn faster. Go for some 1/8 inch aluminum plate and a 3/32 4043 filler rod. (despite what I said above about using a 1/16th rod for steel, you always need a larger rod when switching to aluminum because it flows so fast)