Welding Tips and Tricks

I've been trying to teach myself to TIG weld via YouTubeU, and so far have been happy with my results. However, I have now ran into a wall and I'm hoping someone and point me towards the path to truth and enlightenment.

I am using a Lincoln Electric Square Wave TIG 200. I have some 1/8" angle iron that I have successfully welded sides of ~20 gauge plate to. I am how trying to weld that 1/8" angle to some 16 gauge square tubing.

I have tried different amp settings and different flow rates of the 100% argon. I can run a bead find on the surface of the angle iron and on the square plate. But when I try to weld the two together I have a hard time getting and keeping the puddle. The finished weld looks like a volcano. (See pictures below)

Any guidance will be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you in advance,

Jeremy

Bead on angle iron
Bead on square tubing
Trying to weld the two together

EDIT: Redid the photo links. I attempted to crop the photos so they would so correctly in the forum, but they are still being cropped weird.

Picture links don't work for me?

Since I can't see what the problem is, I'll speculate based upon your description:

IF you are trying to weld the 2 pieces together in a "T" joint, then getting your tungsten close enough to the intersection can be difficult, and you are creating too long an arc. This can cause your filler rod to melt before it gets to the puddle, create too much heat in the surrounding area and disrupt the weld bead, and cause the puddle to "wander".

(Do this without power). The best trick I can offer for this effort is to lay the cup directly on the flat plate. Rotate your cup towards the seam, and slightly ahead. See if the tungsten will touch the metal? If so, reduce the amount of stickout. If not, increase the amount of stickout until the tungsten is the same distance from the metal as the diameter of the filler rod your using. Then, rotate the cup ever-so-slightly more "ahead". This will have you pushing the puddle, and you will be able to see the arc, the leading edge of the puddle, and control the filler as you add it.

Dab, move, pause, dab, move, pause, dab. Pausing when you add filler helps you prevent the tungsten from touching the puddle and keeps you more organized until you achieve the fine motor skill to walk, talk, chew gum, discuss politics, and comb your hair at the same. Or TIG weld. Same things.

In general: If you can rest your torch hand and the torch on a stable surface and slide along you will get better results. Same is true for your filler rod hand. Get comfortable, get stable, and move slowly and steadily. (Check your links too so if others are having the same problem, we can see and better help).

Jeremy, welcome to the forum.

Jeremy, welcome to the forum.

Thank you!

I now have the photos showing up. The forum was cropping out the welds. I tried to crop them at the source, but now they are super-zoomed in.

I am using the number 7 cup that came with the welder. With my vast experience I feel like I'm losing shielding gas because I start to get sparkles. Would a smaller cup size help? It would allow me to get closer both with the shielding gas and the tungsten.

At what point is the cup too small?

Thank you again!

Welcome to the forum. It does look like you are having a shielding gas problem. Too much gas flow will cause air to be sucked into your gas plume, try around 15 to 20 cfh. A bigger cup would be more in line than smaller. If you have a welding store near you, pick up a gas lens, It will make your life easier. It also looks like you may be holding too long of an arc length and that spreads out the heat of the arc and also may draw in air and you have to keep a good torch angle to advance your puddle. It appears you have cleaned your material down to bright shiny metal for the flat bead but hard to tell on the filet. Sparks usually indicate millscale or some other contamination and that millscale loves to jump onto your tungsten and things just go down hill from there. Based on the discoloration band around your flat bead, you may be welding too cold and waiting for a bead. Use 1 amp per thousandth of thickness. Your metal should puddle immediately. If you are waitng for a puddle then you are heat soaking your metal. Just remember...it's not hard, it just takes practice and you have to be doing everything right all at the same time. Watch Jody's videos over and over. He doesn't leave anything out. Good luck

Thank you!

I started at 10 cfh, and each try I increased by 5 up to 30 cfh. I have literally welded, ground, then welded this joint a dozen times.

For the filet, I also ground it to bright shinny metal to start with. But it looks scaled over when I'm done. Much more so than the flat welds. I have even seen soot at the edge of the heat zone, which lead to me to increase the argon flow rate.

Fortunately I have several welding supplier near me. I'll see about getting a gas lens today at lunch. Should I stick with a number 7 or change size while I'm at it?

Thank you again!

jwinder wrote:Thank you!

I started at 10 cfh, and each try I increased by 5 up to 30 cfh. I have literally welded, ground, then welded this joint a dozen times.

For the filet, I also ground it to bright shinny metal to start with. But it looks scaled over when I'm done. Much more so than the flat welds. I have even seen soot at the edge of the heat zone, which lead to me to increase the argon flow rate.

Fortunately I have several welding supplier near me. I'll see about getting a gas lens today at lunch. Should I stick with a number 7 or change size while I'm at it?

Thank you again!

Go with a #8 cup and 15 CFH. What size tungsten are you using? Try a 3/32 2% Lanthanated and keep the arc length as short as you can without dipping. Also, what is the stick out on your tungsten?

Everything you need right here:
https://weldmongerstore.com/collections ... are-bundle

I was using a 3/32 Purple electrode. I don't remember what purple means. My stick out was probably 1/2 inch. Long enough to get into the corner, but no longer. From all of the comments, it should like it may still be too short.

Welcome, I have the same machine. You mentioned the problem started when welding the square tubing, I've had problems when I've left cutting fluid inside the tubing. Even if you didn't cut it, somebody did, and that oil/fluid can either vaporize or be drawn into the weld by capillary action when it gets hot. So if the problem is occurring near an end of the tubing you might try cleaning the inside of the tube with some kind of solvent or in a parts washer if you have one.
I ditto the comments about changing to gas lens, it's like night and day. You can also bump the pedal right before you're ready to weld without actually striking an arc. Then hold the torch in the weld area for a few seconds before you strike the arc. This will give you a little extra insurance that you're getting plenty of argon coverage at the start of the weld.

I've welded on lots of contaminated pipe. Due to necessity. And that is what it looks like. Might be oil or something else. I usually weld it ( looking like that) grind out the sections that are holy. Weld over that with a little extra heat. And repeat until it welds nice.

I ran around today at lunch and picked up a gas lens and a 6, 7, and 8 cups. I had to stop and three different places to find the 7 and 8 cups. Question about the gas lens and cups, they do not screw all the way up to the white piece of the torch. Is this an issue? Looking at how they are made it doesn't seem like it will be but wanted to verify.

As for the weld. Since so many have mentioned contamination and the likely hood I have some under the surface, I decided to move to the other end of the square tube and use a different angle piece. I ground all of the surfaces shiny, then for extra measure I brushed them with a stainless brush. Below are the results. Not good, but better. I also tried to use a 3/32 filler rod and had the shakes, which is what caused the holes and lack of tie in. I really should have picked up some 1/8 filler while I was there. I just didn't think about it.

As this point I think I'm just going to drag the MIG out tomorrow and chick-crap this project together. I don't weld much better with the MIG either. Oxy-fuel on the other hand, that I can do. I have plenty of up and coming projects that I can practice TIG on. I prefer the TIG because my shop has wood floors and the flux-core splatter + wood floor fills the place with smoke pretty quick.

Thank you again everyone!!

I may have found one issue. During the first welds I was using the filler rods I use with oxy-acetylene. It took some Googling to find out there is a difference between them and the TIG filler rods I purchased today.

For those that are wondering, I guess the gas filler rods have more oxygen still in them then the TIG filler rods. Who knew making metal stick together was so complicated.

You gas lens kit needs a larger white insulator or an additional smaller one that fits against the one you already have.

The cup is supposed to butt up against the insulator.

If it does not, it may screw in until the inside edge of the cup contacts the leading edge of the collet body.

As the cup heats and cools it will snap off at the contact point.

Btw, the students I'm teaching are all using a standard lens setup and have not experienced your porosity problem. The lens is likely not the issue.

jwinder wrote:I ground all of the surfaces shiny, then for extra measure I brushed them with a stainless brush.

That stainless brush is no longer usable on stainless steel. Fine for scuffing aluminum (though I wouldn't use it there either) but the moment you scrub carbon steel with that brush, you will transfer and embed carbon into stainless stock on its next use. The carbon transmitted will rust on the stainless material later. Moral of the story: stainless brushes only for stainless and aluminum. Carbon steel for carbon steel. Ne'er the two shall meet.

I see you realized you were using OA rods. Might try some ER70s2 wire and repeat your welds. Heck, use some MIG wire off your spool, its the same thing, just thinner. If that wire welds properly, take a length of MIG wire, fold it in half, and put the two loose ends in your electric drill. Pinch the "loop" in your fingers, then spin the drill slowly. This winds the 2 lengths into a doubled-up wire and more easily used when a thicker wire is needed, but not on hand.

jwinder wrote:I may have found one issue. During the first welds I was using the filler rods I use with oxy-acetylene. It took some Googling to find out there is a difference between them and the TIG filler rods I purchased today.

For those that are wondering, I guess the gas filler rods have more oxygen still in them then the TIG filler rods. Who knew making metal stick together was so complicated.

Hot gluing metal together isn't hard, it's an aquired skill that anyone can learn but there is more to being a welder than just welding. Having a little knowledge of metallurgy is as important as welding skills are and you just found that out. Anyone can show up at a job welding the same thing the same way every day with no concern as to what they are doing other than the Friday paycheck. It's when you have to make decisions for yourself and learn things through trial and error or listening to others good advice is when it all comes together. The fun thing about welding is there is always more to learn. You'll see as your skills progress. One day you will sit back and wonder what is the hard part of welding. The hardest part is learning the why instead of just the how. Send in some more pics with your gas lens setup now. Bet you find that welding just got a little easier.

jwinder wrote: ...Who knew making metal stick together was so complicated.

Enough people to create forums like this, apparently. If it were easy, why spend the effort we do?



Steve S

If your flux core is filling your shop with smoke quick may I recommend you read the safety precautions on the wire spool, particularly the part that says with flux core you must have forced shield ventilation, filtered air to your shield, really good exhaust system or die alot sooner than you wished.


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Otto Nobedder wrote:

jwinder wrote: ...Who knew making metal stick together was so complicated.

Enough people to create forums like this, apparently. If it were easy, why spend the effort we do?



Steve S

Well there is no challenge in glueing two pieces together. It's just we like to do it up to a standard that doesn't kill people. We make it complicated. We could just throw a sketchy stick weld down and call her good on a trailer project, but we don't because we know some family will end up following us down the interstate going to church and we don't need the trailer to fall apart (nor does the insurance company want that either.)