Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello Group,
I am new here, been watching the videos, great stuff. Been welding TIG for a long time, mostly steel, recent projects have brought me to Aluminum.
I hope someone can help me with this Arc Start issue I have been having. Info - Dynasty 200DX, AC, HF start, remote foot pedal, 30% positive, 100-150Hz, pure Tungsten. Welding Aluminum with proper prep / cleaning. With newly sharpened Tungsten, I get a fairly quick and clean Arc Start. But the Arc Starts after that first one are very very difficult and erratic. Even with a clean electrode. If I replace the tunsten with a fresh sharpened one, I get a good start. So I keep several fresh tungsten handy.
Why are my 2nd Arc Starts so diffcult?
I have checked eventhing, grounds cables, connections, gas flow, everthing is clean. I can actually see the HF starting arc, but it won't kick over to the main welding arc.
When I weld steel with DC negative, everything work perfect. Problem is only on AC.

Hello Group,
I am new here, been watching the videos, great stuff. Been welding TIG for a long time, mostly steel, recent projects have brought me to Aluminum.
I hope someone can help me with this Arc Start issue I have been having. Info - Dynasty 200DX, AC, HF start, remote foot pedal, 30% positive, 100-150Hz, pure Tungsten. Welding Aluminum with proper prep / cleaning. With newly sharpened Tungsten, I get a fairly quick and clean Arc Start. But the Arc Starts after that first one are very very difficult and erratic. Even with a clean electrode. If I replace the tunsten with a fresh sharpened one, I get a good start. So I keep several fresh tungsten handy.
Why are my 2nd Arc Starts so diffcult?
I have checked eventhing, grounds cables, connections, gas flow, everthing is clean. I can actually see the HF starting arc, but it won't kick over to the main welding arc.
When I weld steel with DC negative, everything work perfect. Problem is only on AC.

Firstly, if your machine has HF continuous, be sure its set to that and not just start. I dont know if the Dynasty's have continuous or not cause I never used one, but I think they do. Secondly, get some lanthanated tungsten instead of pure. Like Jody says, Pure Tungsten is Pure Crap See if that helsp.

Read your manual pure tungsten is not used with an inverter welder. Thoriated or others not pure.Sharpen to a point and weld on I have a dynasty 200dx welds alum great no problems.