Welding Tips and Tricks

I have some experience with Stick and Mig, but only a couple of hours into Tig. I feel that I have been getting better at holding a tight arc, but still working on proper travel speed and bead width. I am wondering if this picture shows whether or not I am putting too much heat into the material. This is 1/8" HR steel, using 3/32 Lanth and 1/16 filler rod. Bead is about
3/16" wide.



Seems I can't get pics to work. Here is a URL to the pic.

https://imgur.com/yAY76z8

EDIT:

Is this heading in the right direction? Hand is a bit shakier, but it looks like I am moving faster and getting less heat into the part.


https://imgur.com/RMBYmTC

Borderline too much heat, probably from long arcing. The bead itself will start to look gray and take on a "crinkled" appearance when you get too much heat.

I see the opposite. Your bead is pretty “round”, indicating too little heat to drive the weld into the plate. Is there a picture of the backside laced in there? If so, there’s no evidence of heat or weld on the backside, so again, not too much heat.

You don’t indicate how much amperage you’re using, nor whether it’s straight amps or some type of pedal or switch control?

cj737 wrote:I see the opposite. Your bead is pretty “round”, indicating too little heat to drive the weld into the plate. Is there a picture of the backside laced in there? If so, there’s no evidence of heat or weld on the backside, so again, not too much heat.

You don’t indicate how much amperage you’re using, nor whether it’s straight amps or some type of pedal or switch control?

I will shoot a pic of the backside. It is not penetrating all the way through (I see a grey outline of the weld bead on the backside, but no protusion or dripping like I see when I linger too long), though I thought that was desired when doing practice runs. At this speed, only the bead is orange when I stop. If I go a bit slower, I tend to see orange larger than just the bead. Is that OK? I am doing this at 120 amps, full pedal; I have been struggling with throttling the pedal; Figure that is an advanced lesson. Being that I am new, it is also possible I am putting too much filler in.

cj737 wrote:I see the opposite. Your bead is pretty “round”, indicating too little heat to drive the weld into the plate. Is there a picture of the backside laced in there? If so, there’s no evidence of heat or weld on the backside, so again, not too much heat.

You don’t indicate how much amperage you’re using, nor whether it’s straight amps or some type of pedal or switch control?

OK. pics of top and bottom side. Last two welds appear decent and have just a bit of full penetration. How do these look? Also, Is 1/2" wide to the blue color ok from a heat input perspective?

https://imgur.com/UVKewJC
https://imgur.com/mFm00Fq

cj737 wrote:I see the opposite. Your bead is pretty “round”, indicating too little heat to drive the weld into the plate. Is there a picture of the backside laced in there? If so, there’s no evidence of heat or weld on the backside, so again, not too much heat.

You don’t indicate how much amperage you’re using, nor whether it’s straight amps or some type of pedal or switch control?

OK. pics of top and bottom side. Last two welds appear decent and have just a bit of full penetration. How do these look? Also, Is 1/2" wide to the blue color ok from a heat input perspective?

https://imgur.com/UVKewJC
https://imgur.com/mFm00Fq

Looking at all of the pics, it kind of looks like you're cycling between too much heat and not quite enough heat on the different welds. Just keep running beads to become better at splitting that difference.

Some of your welds, especially the first pic you posted, do look a little scummy and grey in an odd way. Material looks clean in the pic, so your shielding gas may be a little low. What is your argon set to? Cup size? Is your flowmeter a cheapy from China?

Either long arc, or too little heat making you move too slow.

Spartan wrote:Looking at all of the pics, it kind of looks like you're cycling between too much heat and not quite enough heat on the different welds. Just keep running beads to become better at splitting that difference.

Some of your welds, especially the first pic you posted, do look a little scummy and grey in an odd way. Material looks clean in the pic, so your shielding gas may be a little low. What is your argon set to? Cup size? Is your flowmeter a cheapy from China?

+1

Spartan wrote:Looking at all of the pics, it kind of looks like you're cycling between too much heat and not quite enough heat on the different welds. Just keep running beads to become better at splitting that difference.

Some of your welds, especially the first pic you posted, do look a little scummy and grey in an odd way. Material looks clean in the pic, so your shielding gas may be a little low. What is your argon set to? Cup size? Is your flowmeter a cheapy from China?

#7 cup with gas lens, about 14-15 CFH. Yes, cheap chinese regulator. I will try turning it up a bit. Welds have been only a little bit grey and nice and shiny on the last 1/4 of the bead. All but the last pass on each pic is very grey, as I have been putting a wet towel on each weld to cool it down before the next. I read here that this is best for beginners when practicing laying beads. They look MUCH worse after this type of cooling. I suspect that the wet towel and heavy evaporation rate is causing oxidation.

I had been cheating by not dragging my hand across the table. It was only today that I started that aspect of Tig welding and it really shows in the welds. When I do it the other way, they are MUCH more consistent beads. However, I know that I cannot continue that practice over my learning. I can try one the other way and post a pic to get your input.

Thanks for your guidance.

Poland308 wrote:Either long arc, or too little heat making you move too slow.

I have spent most of my practice up till now focused on keeping a short arc and still spend most of my attention on the arc length. My research indicated that this is the hardest part, hence all of the attention early on. I believe that 90% of the time I am not using too long of an arc. I will try more amps with a faster pace, though I may not yet be coordinated enough to do that yet. May have to hold off on that for several more practice sessions.

lr172 wrote:
#7 cup with gas lens, about 14-15 CFH. Yes, cheap chinese regulator. I will try turning it up a bit. Welds have been only a little bit grey and nice and shiny on the last 1/4 of the bead. All but the last pass on each pic is very grey, as I have been putting a wet towel on each weld to cool it down before the next. I read here that this is best for beginners when practicing laying beads. They look MUCH worse after this type of cooling. I suspect that the wet towel and heavy evaporation rate is causing oxidation.

I had been cheating by not dragging my hand across the table. It was only today that I started that aspect of Tig welding and it really shows in the welds. When I do it the other way, they are MUCH more consistent beads. However, I know that I cannot continue that practice over my learning. I can try one the other way and post a pic to get your input.

Thanks for your guidance.

Mmmhmmm. Don't expect very accurate weld problem diagnosis from pics if you are quenching your welds in that manner.

If you're on day one of TIG welding, then you're doing well so far and are on the right track. My recommendation: Run a hundred or so more beads and correct yourself as you go based on that instant feedback at the end of each weld. Rotate out your coupons and use a fan to cool the ones not in use if you can. Post more pics soon.

Ok. Top 4 four welds in this prc are a bit more representative of my welds and I did not cool them with the towel. Surprisingly, I was able to do these by dragging my torch hand. Also forced myself to hold the torch very lightly. Still a long way to go, but able to do it now without the crazy starts and stops. Suspect it will get better as I practice. Beads are right around 3/16", which I think they are supposed to be with a 3/32 rod. Curious to get some opinions as well as input on the heat zone size. Each time I moved, I waited until the puddle grew to 3/16 then dipped and move. Not that I know any better, but I feel better about these. Just need to know if I am putting more heat into the metal than necessary and if so, what I can do about it.

1/8" steel at 120 amps, full pedal. Will post more after a few more days of practice. Just needed some guidance on whether or not I should be taking proactive steps to get the heat zone size down. I see Jody's videos and the blue line is MUCH closer to the bead than mine.