Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm pretty excited today. I've been trying to weld aluminum, because I could not find steel without scale. Aluminum goes really fast, so I had limited success. Yesterday I pickled some scaly steel in washing vinegar and got the scale off, and I practice with it today. I figured steel would be much easier after trying to keep up with aluminum. Looks like I was right.

Here is my latest weld. This is two pieces of 1/8" steel. I weld both sides like this, to get multiple welds out of one rectangle. I had a hard time at the end of a weld on the other side, so there is some distortion showing through. Anyway, I think this weld went very well compared to earlier welds. Comments?

I think a lot of my problems with earlier steel efforts were caused by metal that just was not clean enough. Now it's much easier to control the arc.

Here's a problem: I had the welder set on 156 amps, which is pretty high, and it was still a little slow. Is there a common welding problem that causes a welder to act like the amps are set too low?

Also, I have a hell of a time re-starting a weld when I have to stop. I'm learning to tailor the length of the filler rod to the length of the weld, but sometimes I forget and run out in the middle, so I have to start over. When I do, the end of the weld bead refuses to melt. I have to start in front of it and run backward a couple of millimeters once it gets going. Is that normal?

I am very happy with this effort. At least I can control the arc to some extent. Now I can think about other things, like rod-feeding and how to deal with the ends of welds. It's tough, avoiding blowout at the end of a weld, and I also have a hard time starting a weld at the absolute edge of a workpiece. I suppose maybe I should weld left-handed and weld TOWARD it?

Okay, Chips, that's not weldporn by any measure, but that's pretty damn good for as little time as you have.

Yes, one of the things that will make it take a while for your heat to work is too long an arc. GTAW is a "finesse" welding method because of how tightly you have to control arc length without dipping the tungsten. Don't be afraid to camp out on a re-start to get it to melt again. You need it fully melted before you proceed in a restart, or you'll have a lack-of-fusion coming off the stopping point.

Steve

Chips...there is nothing magic about tig welding so please don't think of yourself as a loser if you don't make beautiful welds yet. One day you will fire on all cylinders and tig welding will click in your head and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about. I'm very impressed with your progress and I have to give you props for hanging in there. In no time you'll be advising others so take it easy on yourself

Another thing that can affect how fast it feels like your arc is having effect. Is if your tungsten is getting crapped up. Even if your not dipping it keep an eye on if your tungsten is discoloring. If so it could be from contaminated metal or poor gas coverage. Your definitely making progress.

Thanks. I feel relieved. Finally I can think about improvement instead of just getting the basic skill going.

Poland308 wrote:Another thing that can affect how fast it feels like your arc is having effect. Is if your tungsten is getting crapped up. Even if your not dipping it keep an eye on if your tungsten is discoloring. If so it could be from contaminated metal or poor gas coverage. Your definitely making progress.

I am definitely getting discoloration. I'm using the same tungsten (lanthanated) I used for aluminum. When I was doing the aluminum, the tungsten kept discoloring pretty far back, up into the collet. Today I ground it back, but even after that, there was maybe 1/8" of dark material behind the sharpened part. I think the heat of grinding did that. Will that cut down the current? I still can't figure out why I needed 156 amps.

Chips O'Toole wrote:

Poland308 wrote:Another thing that can affect how fast it feels like your arc is having effect. Is if your tungsten is getting crapped up. Even if your not dipping it keep an eye on if your tungsten is discoloring. If so it could be from contaminated metal or poor gas coverage. Your definitely making progress.

I am definitely getting discoloration. I'm using the same tungsten (lanthanated) I used for aluminum. When I was doing the aluminum, the tungsten kept discoloring pretty far back, up into the collet. Today I ground it back, but even after that, there was maybe 1/8" of dark material behind the sharpened part. I think the heat of grinding did that. Will that cut down the current? I still can't figure out why I needed 156 amps.

Are you using the pedal? Could be your not pressing down all the way and getting all the amperage. Set up and floor your pedal once and see what happens. AL will kinda spit oxidation on your tungsten..kinda smoky looking stuff but when you weld steel, your tungsten should stay nice and shiny if you have a good post flow.

It's not uncommon or a deal breaker. I weld on a lot of systems that have been in service for a long time. Sometimes it's just not possible to get things as clean as you might like. Increasing gas flow rates a little ( depending on what your running already) or increasing post flow ( if that's an option) might help some. You may just need to change your tungsten more often. Nothing wrong with regrinding just to clean off the crap. I keep about 15-20 half sticks of tungsten with points on both ends in my holder. I can just flip them over as long as there's no big globs stuck to them.

Should I avoid using the same piece of tungsten on different metals?

I don't worry about that! Unless it's food grade or medical.

Chips O'Toole wrote:Should I avoid using the same piece of tungsten on different metals?

No. But you might want to touch it up before you switch metals. Grind off the little ball if you were on AC...heck sometimes I forget and weld on DC with a balled tungsten. It's all good.

Chips O'Toole wrote:Should I avoid using the same piece of tungsten on different metals?

I use the same tungsten for everything, and have not had a problem at all. There may be a case some day where they say you have to use a new tungsten , but I haven't seen that yet.

Work on keeping your torch angle as close to perpendicular to the joint as possible and shorten your arc. The tungsten should almost touch when starting and until you start moving and adding filler and then stay as close as possible when moving the torch. If your not puddling within 3 or so seconds after starting the arc, your either too low amp, too long an arc or both. Watch Jody's 3 mistakes in TIG welding for some good tips and try to emulate the technique.