Welding Tips and Tricks

For some reason my Tig welder will not provide a stable arc. The only differences between now and the last time I welded with it are:
1) My new welding table is on red plastic/rubber wheels. I clamped to my table and the piece being welded, no change.
2) My filler rods got some rust on them from condensation that got into my shop.
I tried cleaning the rods with green scoth brite and acetone but still had issues with splattering and ending up with a rust color stain around the heat mark of the welding area. Are Tig rods pretty much ruined with any rust or are they cleanable? Its about 5lbs of rod, should I just chuck them?

Spattering and rust stain says gas coverage issue to me.

What flow rate, cup size, tungsten stickout, etc ?

Using 100% argon? Mig mix won't work.

Dave,
I was using the same setup I was using the other day. I am welding 2"steel tubing 1/4 wall.
I was doing great with my amps at 230. 100% argon. 20 on the regulator. 5/32 electrode sharpen to a point ( I bought the 5/32 when I bought 1/16 and 3/32 tungstons when I was outfitting my shop and figured I would use them for the 1/4 wall and the extra width actually works good for me ). I'm laying a couple of rods in my gap and kinda doing a weave back and forth. I have been getting a great looking flat weaved/dimed weld. the 230 amps make an instant puddle and off I go. My arc had been very controlled and steady. Now my bottle is down to 1000 psi from 2000 but it is a huge bottle. I have seen black char before when I was dialing things in when I was first learning but this rust color char is new. It scraps right off with a wire brush. As soon as I light off the unsteady arc and splatter start. There is a orange color in the puddle. I use a #8 cup with a gas lens. I switched to a new gas lens to make sure I wasn't clogged up. When I hit the pedal I get a surge of argon but then it gets weaker but the regulator maintains 20. The argon does have to flow through one of those drying filters kinda like the one Jody built. My beads are all blue. I figured it had to be the rust on the rods but I cleaned them. I buff the metal to a shiny state. I did see a tiny arc inside my welder the other day while i bent down to adjust a knob and yesterday when I hit the pedal to see that arc it wasn't there. I would have to ask Everlast about that. I'm using high frequency start. I can't get pics till tomorrow. Maybe the dryer filter is blocking to much argon now that the bottle is half empty. I would have to raise the flow up into the 30's to see if that would make a difference. Watcha think?

Start with the basics to eliminate possible problems.

Flat plate, mill scale ground off - not wire brushed which generally just polishes the mill scale instead of removing it.
No filler, make a bead on the plate. (since you are wondering about your filler as a possible problem).

Adjust flow up and down and see if it matters.

If it works fine, then do another bead, this time while adding filler.

Post results.

Ok. I can't till tomorrow. I'll posts the results. Thanks for the help!

Perhaps get a small pack of new filler just to see if that's it.
-Eldon

Orange dust= shielding gas issue. Which issue is up to you to figure out. Likely a loose connection somewhere from the bottle to the tig torch---it could be anywhere.

Also, don't "buff" the steel shiny, you aren't doing a paint job. You need to GRIND it down to bare metal, not pretty up the millscale to look like bare steel.

The char is not "rust colored"; it is actual rust that is forming instantaneously when white hot iron in the molten steel burns in the presence of oxygen that is not supposed to be there. That's my take in it anyways.

I've checked the line around my regulator and drying filter. I'll get the old soapy water out and check the rest. I misspoke, I grind to shiny bare metal with a flap disc and bevel the edges. Thanks for all the help. Let you all know tomorrow. A leak is definitely better then a machine issue.

No time to check leak yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

Minnesota Dave and Oscar, finally had time to trouble shoot my tig welder. I searched for leaks all outside the machine and nothing. It looked like a huge pain to open my welder so while looking at the end of my torch I decided to change the only piece I hadn't changed yet to get better flow. The piece on the left is the old one and the one on the right is new. The other pic shows the bead before I switched ( top right) then the bead with argon set at 60 ( top left) Bottom left is the bead set at 20 with the new piece. My question is, do those little slots in those piece control argon flow or allow argon flow or did I just get lucky messing with the torch? Those are 5/32 size. The old one has the slots closed on the end if you can see that.

Blaze,
The slots don't control Argon flow per se but if the collet swells out against the sides of the collet body then they restrict the flow. I use the CK wedge collet now almost exclusively because they don't use the slots to grip the tungsten and therefore don't swell and twist when hot. They last almost indefinitely, I've welded almost a year with one and the air cooled torch that it's in has been hot enough that you can't hold more times than you can count. I recommend them to everybody.

Len

Awesome thanks for the advice!

Just what size cup are you running that would merit 60 CFH of argon flow?? That alone could be the culprit as it would likely be very turbulent flow that would draw in oxygen into the weld puddle.

There is a small Oring on the back cap that tightens the Collet; I've had that suck o2 at that point. Caused all kinds of grief.

The O-ring does not tighten the collet. The back cap itself tightens the collet and thus the tungsten. The O-ring seals the back cap to the torch head, nothing else.