Welding Tips and Tricks

I've been having issues with tungsten discoloration. This spans two machines (currently HTP 221), various types of tungsten, various materials, various methods of sharpening, brand new tungsten, used but cleaned tungsten, and today I got a new gas bottle because I thought it was the last thing it could be.. no dice. Preflow 2 seconds, post 4, anywhere from 12 to 25 cfh. The discoloration happens immediately after running only .5 or so regardless if using filler or not, regardless of material thickness.

So only constant are CK Gas Savers. Sometimes the tungsten gets blue/purple the whole length *except* where it exits the pyrex.. there will be a perfect line around it, and the projecting tungsten will be shiny silver. It's like the flow is so laminar it leaves and inner core of oxygen around the tungsten and it doesn't get agitated out.. regardless of cfh. I tested shaking the torch while running pre flow, and sure enough, the tungsten stays clean the while length. I tried both a used Gas Saver setup and a brand new out of the bag Gas Saver with identical results.

Anyone seen this?

And what is the hot ticket for gas lenses... I'd prefer not to have to shake the torch or blow into it lol.

What size cup are you using?

Those CK Gas Savers should be fine, make sure you're not sucking air.

Are you using ALL geniune CK parts? Or did you mix-n-match stuff?

Anyone else think the 4 seconds of post flow is very short ? unless your using small diameter tungsten at low amps try longer post flow.

P.S. welcome to the forum.

noddybrian wrote:Anyone else think the 4 seconds of post flow is very short ? unless your using small diameter tungsten at low amps try longer post flow.

P.S. welcome to the forum.

Yea 4 seconds isn't all that much if you're over say 70-80A.

noddybrian wrote:Anyone else think the 4 seconds of post flow is very short ? unless your using small diameter tungsten at low amps try longer post flow.

Probably a bit short, but I don't think we should distract the crux of the problem, which 4 seconds of postflow is not causing, IMO.

I've used 4 seconds of post flow in the past and had decent results. Sure, there are a lot of factors, the type of steel being used, etc...but we shouldn't get too distracted and confuse the OP, IMO, that seems to happen all too often on public forums.

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

noddybrian wrote:Anyone else think the 4 seconds of post flow is very short ? unless your using small diameter tungsten at low amps try longer post flow.

Probably a bit short, but I don't think we should distract the crux of the problem, which 4 seconds of postflow is not causing, IMO.

I've used 4 seconds of post flow in the past and had decent results. Sure, there are a lot of factors, the type of steel being used, etc...but we shouldn't get too distracted and confuse the OP, IMO, that seems to happen all too often on public forums.

In which case, just try cranking up the post flow................

He'll get an answer in less than 30 secs max, fixed or not, and it won't have taken 1 GB of bandwidth getting there.