Welding Tips and Tricks

I bought a 185 Micro a while back. Anyways, I have not been able to get my welds on it consistent on AC when welding aluminum. It is really started to frustrate me. I've researched a ton, and still can not come up with a conclusion as to why welding AC on this machine sucks. DC was good, had no problems with it.

So here are my issues... my tungsten balls up real bad (thicker than the diameter of the tungsten) and the arc wanders everywhere. Have tried both 2% thoriated, and pure tungsten. 3/32 in size. Using a #6 cup with a regular collet body. Running 100% argon. 20cfh. I've checked for leaks, and there isn't any. I sharpen the tungsten and put a flat top on it. Tungsten sticks out about 3/8" from the cup before it balls.

Pic of the settings I'm using:



I tried welding this together till I got frustrated. Both pieces of aluminum are .090" thick. Welded on 95 amps. When I would get a puddle, the arc would make the rod real crummy, not sure how to describe it.



:sigh: .... any suggestions before I quit aluminum tig welding forever...? Not really. But I feel like that right now.

...check your AC balance.
Is this the machine that you are talking about?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeQrO7ubv8c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fguSYx-gjjg

Hey,

Have you tried some other bits of AL, besides the stuff in the pic? Because it looks like it may be clear anodised AL. That stuff is very hard to weld with out removing the coating or using a super high end machine. Hope this helps. Otherwise ring the Everlast tech support, they're apparently pretty helpful.

Mick

Typically, the more "negative" the arc balance is set, the less the tungsten will ball, as more of the heat goes to the workpiece. I "think" I read somewhere that the arc balance on the everlast works backward (labeled backward?).

I'd burn on some scrap Al with a fresh grind on the tungsten with the balance dial all the way down, and repeat with it all the way up. Whichever way doesn't fry the tunsgten is the side you should be closer to when welding. If there's no difference, it's a machine problem.

Steve S.

I never had too much luck with 2% thoriated..........but 1 1/2 % Lanthinated works wonders for me.


You clean the aluminum and filler rods with acetone???

I'll add, if that 95A is what you'd use for that thickness of steel, DOUBLE IT!

so what ever happened?

Hi
l've not welded with that machine - BUT - I've had a go with a few Chinese Tigs & they are all retarded at marking dials - if the machine had a digital panel you could set any parameter with confidence - it's almost a given most of your trouble is AC balance as suggested by others - looking at the picture you have it around the 2oclock position - based on the markings on other similar machines 50% is about 12oclock so 65% ( which is where you want to start ) will be about 10oclock - I would think you have about 70% the wrong way as set - also increasing the frequency beyond what you need seems to reduce heat input so I'd start on about 100Hz - also as suggested heat is probably too low - the longer you wait for a puddle to form it seems to make arc wander worse - up the amps quite a bit - hit it hard then move at a good pace - the tungsten I had most success with on AC was Jodys favourite 2% Lanthanated - it's the hardest to find in the UK - but I tried 1-1/2 % previously & unless it was a cheap bit or unlucky it was just awefull - I also agree totally with the suggestion of trying another bit of material - the first piece I tried has so far defied all attempts to weld !

Good luck on the next try !

I don't get it! I just checked this thread now. The original poster comes on here with a very detailed post looking for help....and then just vanishes!

..he probably figured out the problem. I would've said gas coverage. That was my problem..

Its funny how silly simple things can be over looked stuff people up real bad including myself.

When some one new to the game of has a new machine they are not familiar with and has a issue getting it to work. People tend to over look some of the big key points and start from the wrong end of the scale when looking for the problem. Like if he has cleaned his tungsten with acetone or is he holding the torch at 15 deg or 17 deg or ac balance at 65% vs 68 % or fresh underpants on. While all the little things are important for a perfect weld When your looking at picture of a pile of melted turd on the table then usually its a much bigger issue that's been overlooked .

I remember purchasing my 1st dc tig welder 15 years ago and struggling for 1/2 a day. Thinking to myself why isn't this working like it should. A friend came around who has some tig experience and was struggling to. He mentioned its like your shielding gas isn't working but we could both hear it flowing. Turned out I had the collet in backwards How silly but a easy mistake that could have turned me off tig welding all together.

Fast forward 15 years and I purchase another new welder this time AC/DC machine. Not being accustomed to this particular machine I couldn't get it to work on AC like it should. This time I remembered the silly mistake I made 15 years ago and stood back for a moment and scanned over the simple things. Turned out I forgot to swap the tig power lead over to negative output on the machine for AC welding. Swapped the cable over bang 500% improvement working like it should

A friend of mine last year who had a mig welder for a few years Purchased a little DC Tig and called me up saying he was having issues getting his tig to work well. I went over to his place to see what was wrong. It wasn't until about 30 min later I noticed the words (ARGO SHIELD) on his gas bottle . He was trying to use his gas bottle from his mig welder (He must have missed the meeting about using 100% Argon ) I let him borrow my argon bottle for the weekend and he was doing real well for a beginner.

Anyhow don't overlook the most basic of things as we can all make childish mistakes especially with something we are not familiar with.

Kurt

Three things to mention:
1) The Everlast user manual recommends not using pure tungsten on their inverter machines. They do like the Thoriated. Jody recommends 2% Lanthanated.

2) Looking at your picture, I see your balance is way off. Below the balance knob, is a "-" mark on the left and "+" on the right. So the more you turn it to the left, the more your electrode negative (EN). The more you turn it to the right, the more your electrode positive (EP). Your setting in the picture looks like appx 75% EP.
Can you say, monkey fist? That setting is a real electrode eater. Set this at appx 9-10 o-clock. You want just enough to get a shiny puddle. Less is best because you want the heat going to the metal not your electrode.

3) My Everlast came with a metric flow meter/gauge. I didn't know that at first. For about a tank and a half of argon I realized I was running at twice the amount of argon than what is required. Check your gauge and confirm it says CFM and not Liters. If it says Liters, then adjust flow to half what your cfm is, i.e., 20 cfm= 10 Liters.

Here's a really great video about a/c balance.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/alu ... lding.html

Hey, Lots of users disappear after they get what they want. I tell ya, im starting to feel like a prom date in the morning. If you know what i mean.

Mick

Mick.
And hopefully will return when the need arises.
Alexa

weldin mike 27 wrote:Hey, Lots of users disappear after they get what they want. I tell ya, im starting to feel like a prom date in the morning. If you know what i mean.
Mick

Mate... it happens in real life too. I got a call a fortnight ago "can you help ?? we're in a real bind ! don't know what to do !!! ", so I give them some advice, a way forward, some things to follow up on, etc. I didn't hear anything since. Then today I ran into them and ask "so how'd it go". It turns out they did what I said, got them all sorted, everything's great, but they didn't bother to even let me now what happened or "thanks for your help, we owe you one".

Hey,

Im lucky i dont get the real life problems. I do sometimes go to great lengths and personal output to find info for people here on the forum, because i enjoy helping people, it would be nice to know the end result. Like you say.

Alexa, probably when they want something else....lol

Mick

Well the thing is that personally I've got so much help over the internet that from people I'll probably never meet, so I don't mind helping out (if I can ). I think it's more annoying not to get feedback when it's in person. On the internet, there's so many places to ask for help and sometimes I think people get more help than they can handle - so I can understand the occasional lack of feedback a bit easier in that case.

I have learned over the years to lower my expectations of people. What I would do vs. what they do are two very different things (most the time). Besides, I do enjoy sharing what I've learned, and sometimes feel as a nooby, I should be more seen than heard. But in my defense, there are things I've learned, and when I see a problem my nature is to fix it (male trait). In my life I have done many things and have a myriad of interest, all of which I have collected a broad sense of knowledge from. So now, the challenge is to not sound so much like a Cliff Claven, or do I really care?

A welder does not make a weldor.

As the price of welding equipment becomes more popular and less expensive, more people are taking interest. The problem is that they don't want to invest in an education. This would be similar to giving a kid, the keys to the car and saying have fun and be home by eight. The result is frustration and sometimes embarrassment when they realize that they have made simple mistakes. The few people who ask for help and then disappear from the forum could very easily have given up on their new toy, or are too embarrassed to tell us what happened. Welding, like any other activity, requires time, skill and education. The people who lurk on this website and never say a word, are learning. There's a lot of very useful information here. Each person who contributes information to the website is doing it for the greater good. Education is the key to success.

That's right, the welding machine does not make the weldor.

Teach people to weld aluminum on balanced AC welding with pure tungsten and full time HF, you would see nicer welds than what we see with many of these machines that give too many choices.

One thing you notice these days with these new machines, is people playing with the settings a lot, with conditions that do not exist with the older tech. Settings designed to address things that are not present with most every day aluminum alloys. I use pure tungsten in a Miller Dynasty but I have it set to emulate straight AC and you cannot tell the difference in the welds.

After using an inverter machine for a number of years now, the only benefit to me welding aluminum is that it's more portable and makes more efficient use of electricity. Outside of that, the other settings just sit there inside the machine. My welds cannot get any better, faster, or cost effective outside what I am doing, welding anodized, cast and other typical alloys. In some ways, I even have to do more work to adapt the new tech for every day work. Including, extra inventory of consumables, a tungsten sharpening operation added in, where I wasn't even having to use a copper plate to ball my pure before, along with the loss of the lasting flashlight of the balled tungsten after you let off the puddle.

We've been thru it. We had a new guy weld with us for a couple years that praised all the benefits of the new tech ( this is how we ended up with the Dynasty) and he was always messing with the settings for every different op. One preset for overhead, one for anodized, one for mill finish and when you went to use the machine, he would say, don't change #2 or #3, I have those set for something. Mine, all you had to do is move the amperage setting, sometimes.

Funnier yet is when you hear other weldors claim that "my" machine is the best one in the shop, as if it has been blessed by some freak stroke of good luck where all the stars must have been aligned at the factory the day it was born. Truth is, it was the bastard machine that the new guy got stuck with. All I did was clean/adjust the HF points and adjust the AC balance. What makes my machine so good is, you can't mess it up. It predictably welds aluminum each and every time, regardless of the alloy, the position, or how you hold your mouth. It also does a really nice job of typical Stainless as well.

Very true Jeff I own both a syncrowave and a dynasty and have welded in shops with both and really it's up to the welder to make the weld. I guess the biggest advantage of the inverter to me is the adjustable frequency it does make certain things easier mostly on really thin t joints.

That and they are more health friendly with lower radiation tungsten and for people who don't have access to semi-industrial electrical hookup. I would have one at my home but upgrading my service wasn't a big deal and I like having the extra power for other machinery.

I just remember in welding school. You got Hobart books and maybe a few videos. In the book was the basic settings for different materials and that's what everyone struck their first arc on TIG with and it at least started out right. You tuned it after that to something more personally fitting. No real mystery, just likely either too hot or too cold.

Not knocking the modern machines, they work well, obviously, but I just remember it being easier 'learning' when it was only one or two of a few things that could be wrong. I agree about small parts and thin metal. I have just had rare instance of welding ultra thin metal, or thinner than thin wall tubing at least. You can weld pretty darn small with 1/16 green, even balled. A novice welder is going to find it difficult welding thin, even with the best tech. You probably know as well as I do, that you could talk even an amateur thru getting some good passes in a short time if they have gotten past striking an arc with TIG. When it comes to the newer machines, it's hard to really say what is going on with a lot of the problems mentioned, and given the many possibilities with the settings.

TamJeff wrote:That's right, the welding machine does not make the weldor.

True.

You rarely get the 50 option brand-spanking-new tech when you test for a job... You get the worn-out turd the last guy failed with.

The results are up to the man (or woman!), not the machine.

Steve S

Zirtung electrodes make me look like a welding god... and I know I'm not one.