Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi Guys...Help please what am i doing wrong? Im getting the worst attempt to puddle and the tungsten is melting quick.

Base current - 50A
Pulse current - 120A
Pulse width - 50%
Pulse freq is 1hz

Gas is argon and tungsten is white tip 1.6mm pointed tip
material is 3mm ally cleaned with acetone and stainless steel wire brush.

What AC balance and frequenzy are you running at?

What machine?

Start without pulse to have less parameters to worry about.
120 amps wont be too much without pulse on 3 mm.

Also try and adjust AC balance to minimum cleaning ( less positive electrode, EP) to see if tungsten survives.

That is a shielding gas issue. What CFH are you set at? Are you using a gas lens? Check everything from your regs to your torch for leaking gas. You don't need pulse when starting out. Turn it off and learn to use the pedal. You should be at around 15-20 CFH on your reg/flowmeter. Can you hear the gas solenoid click when you hit the pedal? Is your tungsten burning up or graying out? All gas related. Check those things out and let us know what happens...Good luck

Like AndersK said ditch the pulse for now.
Also 1.6mm is too small for 120A AC.
If you have an inverter throw away that zirconiated tungsten, it is by far the worst I have tried.
On second thought, throw it away anyway
Try and get some 2.4mm blue (2% lanthanated) tungsten if you have an inverter or green (pure) is you own a transformer, set your machine at around 60Hz, 60%Negative - 40% Positive and start from there.
Wait until the base metal puddles before trying to add any filler.
Let us know how it goes.

All great suggestions above. What gas settings do you have, especially pre-flow time.
Does the machine have HF start?
The puddle needs to form and give you a mirror bead in about 2-3 seconds, otherwise, you're just forming a high-temperature oxide layer, and you'll never get it to start a bead.

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the replies!
Welder is a Token Tools Alupulse 200 - https://weldingstore.tokentools.com.au/ ... se200.html

AC balance about 30%
7 or 8 LPM of gas so about 15 chfm Gas seems to be flowing (smoke blows away when tungsten burns)
Not using a pedal just trigger on gun (2T)

After this post I tried no pulse, just @ 85Amps I get the same issue but with white soot around the crater.

Ill give it another shot tonight and post up what happens.

Cheers for the help so far guys.

I don't think you have enough argon coverage. Bump it up to 10-11 LPM. Sometimes what actually comes out of the torch is less than what the reg shows. Also you really must check integrity from bottle to cup as above any slight leaks along the way will result in what you've got. Make sure every joint, cap, oring is sealed. Check the solenoid valve connections inside the machine, I've seen those screwed joints loose in the past.

I'm interested in feedback on your Alupulse once your issues are resolved please.

Welcome. Me and Coldman are Aussie's as well.

Does the tungsten melt just at start or disappear all the way up to the colletbody / lens? If you run longer time and its just in the beginning more pre-flow might help.
But do check whole system for leaks first.

Try balance set to max value, some machines define it opposite, so you might run at 70% EP.

Is the torch connected to minus pole?

This is after 500 mm long run with approx same settings as yours, but 100 amps and Arctime tungsten.

Ok so tonight ive spent some time after dinner trying things.

Put gas back to 10lpm and put a balloon on the end, it blew it up and held the amount of gas in the balloon for 10 min. so im guessing no leaks.
Changed to a 2.4mm red band ground to a point.
tried again the same puddle training scenario (create puddle and stop) yet i get craters...
So...
I changed over to the foot pedal...now a change!
I get a solid arc however its very wide so the puddle is about 3mm in diameter. I also get a heap of white smoke and yellow/white powder left on the base material and up in the torch..

I tried to go back to DC and changed the setup back to steel and i get the same 3mm puddle..
I've re ground the tips a few times...maybe im grinding it wrong? and this is causing the wide arc so poor heat concentration??

I'm making progress so i am hopeful!!

Is there any chance you could post a video?
A 3mm puddle is not small by any means.
When you weld steel on DC is everything alright or do you still get the same problems with smoke / powder etc?

Just to make it clear, you are using pure argon and not some mix right?

That powdery smoke is a lack of gas or as Taz suggested the wrong gas. Your gas might also be contaminated. How far are you sticking out your tungsten? When your tungsten burns back, that is always a gas issue. Send us more pics. The black soot in a couple of your welds is from dipping. Do you have the same issues with steel? Are you SURE your on AC? Keep us informed

White and yellow dust makes me think you have zinc involved here. Not that it should matter for burn off ratio, but are you welding magnesium alloy?

Not to disrespect Jeff, but doesnt lack of argon give black soot on ali ( dipping does too, I know that for sure )?

Simple things

Reread the manual, in my case I sometimes have trouble understanding the chinglish translations.
And sometimes just understanding.


Proper secure connections are often overlooked on new machines when a 1st timer is eager to get started.
Some video instructions are very helpful, this site has many
Relax take your time tig welding rewarding and addictive.
This site willing to help
Welcome to site and welding

AndersK wrote:White and yellow dust makes me think you have zinc involved here. Not that it should matter for burn off ratio, but are you welding magnesium alloy?

Not to disrespect Jeff, but doesnt lack of argon give black soot on ali ( dipping does too, I know that for sure )?

I know for sure that powdery smoke happens on steel because I just came in from welding and forgot to turn on my gas and burned up a tungsten. To be quite honest I have never had a gas problem on alum so I am not sure but I think the OP has a gas issue. I don't do much alum so I am out of guesses. Tungsten burns back because of lack of gas or too small for the amps being used . Some alum experts will come along and help him.

...and too much balance to the EP side
...and welding DCEP, even at relatively low current.

Jeff, you were correct. No argon gives white powder on aluminum, I just tried and I was wrong.

30% EP is fine 30% EN is way too little. Some welders are scaled the other way. Be sure you know. I'd like to see how you grind tungsten. Aluminum can contaminate the tungsten a long way from the tip. There is some confusion between CFH and LPM flow rates . I'd start at 13 CFH tweak from there.

AndersK wrote:Jeff, you were correct. No argon gives white powder on aluminum, I just tried and I was wrong.

Anders...no worries my friend...I am not an expert tig welder by no stretch of the imagination. I am a repairman. I repair things no one else will bother with but I love it and try to do the best work I can...What I like about everyone around here is that we all come together to try to help a new guy or someone having problems..thats almost unheard of on todays internet and that is huge in my book. The only reason I know anything is from reading here and trying everything to see what happens. I was always the kid that had to take his toys apart to see how they worked so I try to build on my failures and not make the same mistakes twice...although I was married twice I actually had to try to remember about the powdery smoke on alum so...I still love you and I am glad we are friends

ok thanks once again guys, ive gone backwards tonight...came home resharpened some tungsten, upped the gas to 20lpm i also changed the gas nozzle to a size 8.
After doing that i got a very stable but weak ark that seemed to just burn an oxide layer...no white smoke, no tip burn..but yeah no puddle. Tried re earthing the job itself but yeah...no go..
So i thought to myself maybe the HF points are dirty as the welders been on my garage floor for well over a year with no use..
i got a little 2400 grit and gave them a quick wipe over then a wipe down with acetone. put her all back together and now i have nothing..i get gas flow when i hit the foot pedal but no ark not even an attempt...if i touch the base material i get it stuck and a small spark...

I took the machine all apart and checked it over again but yeah i cant see any issue...i wonder if the HF gap is now to big? Its one that cant be adjusted like some of the ones ive seen on the net.. solid mount into the circut board with 2 prongs coming out with copper points.

Might be time to get it looked at..

Might have been the machine all along. Keep us informed and good luck!

Although I understand that you're going through an elimination process, at 20 lpm you are wasting gas for that size material.

What gap have you got on the HF contacts? I'm estimating that it should only be somewhere in the order of .020" to .060" measured with a feeler gauge (and he machine disconnected from mains power!)

Check for contamination bridging the spark gap too (also dust, carbon, anything on the back of the circuit board)

Also, you should be able to hear the arcing on the contacts when you pull the trigger, perhaps only for a few seconds. With the torch held clear of the job, pull the trigger. Can you hear that arcing? Reduce the gap closer to 0.020" and see if that makes a difference.

I'm really starting to lean to a machine problem here. Any warranty remaining?

Keep us in the loop

Trevor

My old Miller specified I think .004-.008 if I recall.

Too high gas flow can also inhibit arc starts because it messes with the Hf path.