G-ManBart wrote:hotspoons wrote:
FYI I was able to get a puddle going on 1/8" with 50 amps no problem (after 3 or 4 seconds of initial heating with the arc), so either the inverter control for the machine I have is insanely miscalibrated, or y'all with high dynamic range pedals back off more than you think.
50 amps isn't even in the ballpark of being correct for 1/8" thick aluminum, and you really need to get a puddle going in 1-2 seconds max. Every instant that the arc is up without a puddle you're simply dumping wasted heat into the part. Wasted heat makes it harder to freeze the puddle when you add filler to get a quality bead...it forces you to move faster and add filler faster, which isn't something most newbies can do well.
I certainly can't speak to your machine, but I've run dozens of different TIG welders and can say with 100% certainty that if I set a machine for 125A, 60-120hz, and 20-30% cleaning I'm going to use 100% of the pedal to get the puddle started on 1/8" thick aluminum, back off a bit initially, slowly back off the longer the bead goes, and then really back off when adding the last couple of dabs at the end to avoid a crater. Maybe the running amps might be 50 or so after a while, but that really doesn't matter much...the results will show whether right or wrong. Maybe you can get a puddle started using only 50A and holding it there for four seconds, but I think that's a bad technique.
My guess is the machine is putting out more amperage than is indicated. Like I said the pedal doesn't have much of a dynamic range, it is really hard to modulate between full amperage and off, so I have a lot of trouble backing off 100% - I will reach out to the manufacturer and see if I can get a new pedal.
I will keep trying with different amperage settings and see if I can get it going with higher amps. With my initial tests where I blew through the metal, I am pretty sure I had way too long an arc which would heat a much wider area.
Good feedback, thank you!
tweake wrote:hotspoons wrote:
I made large strides since I posted this through trial and error, and I made it a lot further than I thought I would after applying critical thinking to my initial problem, which was heat management. I picked up an offshore-brand inverter-based AC/DC TIG welder (LOTOS, should have done more research but at this point I threw away the box and I am committed) and the pedal is more of an on/off switch than a potentiometer, which makes me think everyone suggesting to throw 150 amps at the problem is out of their minds.
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good to see your still here.
have the hassle may be the machine. not uncommon for cheap machines to have big differences in what they say they output and what they actually do. at least its cheap enough to be disposable.
don't worry to much at what the amps setting says, if it works its fine.
the common beginner problem is typically waiting around to long for a puddle to form, due to low amps, which heat soaks the material. then you notice your puddle gets bigger and bigger until it all drops out.
the faster your travel speed the less heat soak you get. so yeah 150 amps is not huge amounts with fast enough travel speed.
I wouldn't be surprised if the machine is putting out more amperage than indicated, though I don't have a reliable way to test this (maybe I'll pick up a kill-a-watt? Not sure if that would work on a 220V outlet).
I'll keep tweaking until I can a puddle to form quickly, then go from there. Thank you!
BugHunter wrote:hotspoons wrote:BugHunter wrote:Looks to me like you're on DC... Yea, I know you said all that about AC and balance...
Haha that's what I thought too, but it wasn't the case.
So if it wasn't on DC, please set to AC and replicate what you did...
I can set my welder to 210A and won't make a melted part with the oxide layer 100% undisturbed if I'm on AC. You're missing something. That's fine, but that wasn't done with 100% argon on AC 150A and AC balance set to anything remotely normal.
Hmm, no, this was someone who got all their brand new 42nd birthday present to themself shit setup for the first time expecting disaster and who got a totally unexpected kind of disaster. But I assure you I'm not trolling, maybe some of this is welding 101 (but with a title like I had, wouldn't you expect it?), and in my experience asking for help while clearly labeled as such normally gets most of what I got above, a bit of this, and more of what I see below, but its all in good fun. Cheers.
It's all cool if you're not trolling. It's not hard to imagine that's what it looked like.
hotspoons wrote:Hey BugHunter, why don't you go join Oscar?
I'm good, thanks!
I'm sure I am still missing a lot, but I'll keep plugging away, lots of good feedback here.
