Welding Tips and Tricks

What would cause the ball to stay floating? Thanks in advance.

At risk of stating the obvious - (1) a major leak - but this would have to be so bad I would think you could hear it or even may get almost no flow at the torch ( check all pipework with soapy water ) or (2) most likely - the gas solonoid valve is not closing and you can hear good gas flow at the torch when not welding - if this is the case take the covers off the welder & remove the wires from the gas solonoid valve - if it has no effect the valve is faulty & is a cheap item to replace with a generic one from Ebay - if gas flow stops when wires are removed it would appear to be an electrical issue - some welders have post flow timers that can be set for seeminly un-necessarily long periods so check setting - also some welders have a purge switch that could be faulty - if neither of these seem to be the cause it could be a main control board issue ( hopefully not as your looking for professional or manufacturers help there)
hope that's of some help - difficult to say without knowing the unit in question or the circumstances when the fault started - really a process of elimination. - Good luck.

Hey,

If your pressure is to high it can case the gas solenoid to stay open. I've had this happen with mig.

Asuming it is a solenoid machine. If a gas valve torch, the valve may be damaged and letting gas though even if it is '
"off"

Mick

Thanks for your replies. Should of stated more information. I am a student and have never tig welded before this semester started and I know very little about the process but will be learning more about it when I take the theory class for it. This was a question for my homework and I have no idea how everything quite works yet. I thought it was a little early for this question but he didn't think so. I looked on other sites and couldn't find clear answers. He said there are 4 things that would cause the flow meter to do this but we only have to tell him 3.

Oh - I'd assumed you had a machine that developed this fault or had recently purchased something second hand that was faulty !
if this is just theoretical how about .

1 - gas leak
2 - gas solonoid / machine fault ( including weird post flow timers )
3- ( Welding Mikes ) very high regulator pressure
4 - flow meter damaged by heat / impact / internal contamination - causing it not to drop despite actually no flow present.

That gives you 4reasons - but maybe not the 4 your college dude is looking for !

Good luck with the welding course - but don't sweat the theory stuff too much - just enjoy the " seat time " without having to pay for the argon etc.

What's your postflow set at?
S/F.....Ken M

<<<< student in tech school also just finishing up GTAW on alloys ... i shut my tank down first the hit my power switch on and off a couple times (no more than three) and the ball drops. i dont know the reason why but thats what i have to do and it works.....

Most(all?) machines run the gas solenoid when you turn them on so you can set the flow and so it purges the lines. I always bleed my lines down when shutting off so there's no risk of wearing something(gas diaphram?) out due to extended pressure. No idea if this is relevant or neccesary, but it's what I do and I don't figure it can hurt anything . S/F.....Ken M

Ken, it's the opposite of necessary. When you crank the bottle shut, leave the pressure in the line, and pay attention. If the gauge drops to zero in an hour or less, there's a leak/loss that costs you money, and tells you to investigate.

Steve S

I'll try it, I see what you're saying, but I do auto/truck repair and occasional fab, so welding is intermittant. Some times I'll be doing it everyday, some times the welders will sit for weeks. S/F.....Ken M

I understand your logic for bleeding it down, but it's "lost gas" whether you dump it, or it seeps on it's own. Watching the gauge will tell you how much gas you're wasting when the valve is open. If you close it, and the tank gauge goes to zero in ten minutes, you're wasting gas/money every time you use the welder.

Steve S

I'mstill a newbie to TIG as well, but I shut the valve on my bottle with the machine still on, then press the foot pedal to bleed off the pressure to the gauge. Once at 0 psi, I turn the machine off. I don't like to leave pressure on gauges when not using them.

i have the same problem
5 out of 10 the gas solenoid closes the gas flow. but the other 5 it doesnt
so i pick the gas hose and strangle it for 2seconds then release it , and i hear the valve closing
one of this days i am going to open the welder and take a look inside to solve the problem