Welding Tips and Tricks

Am I the only one who can't weld with the wacky AHP pedal?

I have had an AHP for two years, and I got nowhere with it. I made grey welds, I made globs, I kept sticking the tungsten...lots of problems. I figured it had to be me, because they always say a bad workman blames his tools. I finally got a Nova pedal, and I tried it out today. It's a different world. I made some shiny welds. I had more control. I can't believe switching pedals made this much difference.

Now my big problem is keeping the filler rod steady. It seems to be determined to bounce.

one suggestion I heard of the other day is to cut your rod in half. I thought, DUH, thats awesome, less weight out the on the loose end bouncing around....

I don't really think the pedal has much part to play in sticking your tungsten or how shiny the puddle is - I have an early generation AHP with the retarded Chinese toe pedal thing - I hated chasing it around the floor ( but I hate using any pedal except for very thin material especially aluminum ) & put it into a frame that provides a " normal " pedal operation - unless you were very unlucky the original supplied pedal is fairly linear & reliable in operation - it's main downfall is trying to judge how far it's depressed which I would agree a quality replacement one will cure - chances are you just gained enough " seat time " to pick up the necessary skills the new pedal making it slightly easier to gauge how many amps your giving it - after all the pedal has no effect on arc quality or cleaning action or anything else that would account for the change - but I am happy your getting better results & that's all that matters so it was money well spent.

It looks like one big reason the rod was wobbling is that I was using my left arm to prop myself up. I'm used to propping myself up for short MIG welds, so I guess I have a bad habit.

Am I the only one who can't weld with the wacky AHP pedal?

Well since they now come standard with a nova pedal, I think pretty much everyone in the world agreed with you.

It took me a month to get a groove on with the Nova pedal that came with my AHP welder.

My guess would be that it is fairly normal to struggle no matter what foot pedal you have.

What has my curiosity at the moment is the SSC 4 position tig hand controller that sells for $130. It comes with 25’ of cable and half the price as Tig Button and does not require any special adaptors or an outlet.

Looking forward to hearing what folks think about it[emoji106][emoji106]


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