Welding Tips and Tricks

Got my TIG machine yesterday and haven't been able to run a single proper bead yet. I have spent hours searching for an answer but it's a little hard when you don't know what to search for I have searched for leaks all over the bottle, cleaned the mild steel to the point of gouging it, tried different thicknesses, moved my ground, changed tungsten and amperage, everything I could think of. There is a gas coming out of the torch (I can hear it and it makes waves in water) but I don't know if somewhere along the 100% argon is becoming something else...

Another thing to note, the weld is sputtering so much and the bead erupts leaving little pinholes in the arc effecting area as well as fouling the tungsten without even dipping it, plus the tungsten turns grey after a single use.
If more information is required let me know and I will answer ASAP, I am keen to get back on track to TIG welding properly!!!

Cheers, Cooper.

Gas flow issue.

Post a picture of your assembled torch, and the front of the machine, and your regulators please.

Yup, likely improper gas flow, unless the gas is contaminated in the first place. Rare but does happen at times. Only way to know for sure is to make sure everything else is 100% confirmed perfect.

It definitely could be a gas flow issue, but it could also be contaminated gas (I have had multiple contaminated bottles of 100% argon, from different sources, so i wouldn't consider it as rare as Oscar) but you have to take a step back to sort it out.

As suggested, pictures of the machine and how your torch is assembled will help. Even putting a collet in backwards can cause problems (it will still hold the tungsten and let some gas flow).

Get the metal absolutely clean....much cleaner than what you have. Get any mill scale off and get down to bare, white, shiny metal. Grinding wheels can leave behind pieces of grit that you don't want, so you should follow with something like a flap disc and ideally follow that with a non-woven abrasive wheel and then wipe down with acetone. Sometimes I'll skip the non-woven abrasive and just use a worn flap disc that doesn't really have anything left to leave behind. If the metal isn't absolutely clean you won't be sure it's not part of the problem. You want it as close to a mirror finish as possible.

Set the argon flow rate to roughly double whatever the cup size you're using. For example, you'd want around 15cfh for a #7 cup. You would then vary the flow rate up and down a bit to see if it makes any difference....so something like 10 - 20 cfh would be worth trying.

If the metal is really clean, the torch is assembled properly, and you're still getting those results it pretty much means you've either got a leak or the gas is contaminated.

As noted, it sounds like a gas issue but with words like:

Another thing to note, the weld is sputtering so much and the bead erupts leaving little pinholes in the arc effecting area as well as fouling the tungsten without even dipping it, plus the tungsten turns grey after a single use.

double check the polarity, just in case.

Jack

Thanks for the replies!

cj737 wrote:Gas flow issue.

Post a picture of your assembled torch, and the front of the machine, and your regulators please.

The torch needs to be connected to the negative (-) terminal....can't quite tell which lead is connected to the positive (+) terminal in the pictures.

G-ManBart wrote:The torch needs to be connected to the negative (-) terminal....can't quite tell which lead is connected to the positive (+) terminal in the pictures.

Sorry for the unclear picture, the ground is connected to positive and the torch on this machine can only connect to one port so unless that is the wrong polarity inside the machine it should be good.

I have mostly fixed the previous issue I think by going down a size in cup and increasing gas flow, however now I am facing the issue of buying a cheap machine, the tungsten is still red hot when post flow stops and so I'm still getting the blackened tungsten after a single run. What would you guys suggest I do? Sand and grind the tungsten after every pass?

What is the post-flow preset to?

Oscar wrote:What is the post-flow preset to?

Might be a stupid question but how would I tell? There is no setting on the machine for it but its around 2ish seconds

Sounds like your gunna have to bump the pedal or trigger after your bead to keep the gas flowing.

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Toggatug wrote:Sounds like your gunna have to bump the pedal or trigger after your bead to keep the gas flowing.

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Exactly. If it is set for only 2 seconds you're going to be in for a world of exhaustion with so much tungsten cleaning. If you're dead set on using this machine, replace the torch with one that has a valve so you can just connect it directly to your regulator and you manually open and close the valve. I would be getting tired real fast having to either bump the trigger so many times and/or cleaning the tungsten all the time.

I couldn't find the settings for the particular machine but there is something about "gas after flow". i'd be looking in the sub menu for some type of adjustment...or just keep "bumping" the trigger switch after welding so you can keep the tungsten protected til it cools.

Your original issue could also have been caused by any sort of a slight breeze near your welding area. TIG can be particularly fussy with this, even to the point where a machine's fans can interfere with the weld even if the machine is several feet away from the weld area. Looks like you got it sorted...just keep that in mind if the issue presents itself again.

And it'll suck real bad if your machine is limiting you to 2s of post flow. I'd be surprised if they would design a modern machine to hard limit in this way, but you never know. Hopefully you can find a buried menu setting to adjust this. If not, the previous suggestion of going with a valved torch (i.e., completely bypassing the machine's solenoid) would probably be your best long-term solution, IMO.