Welding Tips and Tricks

When welding on dcen with argon, synchro 250,CKW 18, gas lens. I am getting a build up of "crud" on the tip of my tungsten (2% Thor.) it doesn't take very long to build up, and screws up the arc. I saw a video where Jody made an argon dryer. I've seen a lot of posts that dismiss the dryer as useless. Any body have same trouble? Any solutions? Thank you

T-bone,
First off, welcome to the forum.

If someone dismisses having dryer Argon, then you need to dismiss their opinion. Dryer is better with any cover gas, period. An inline moisture filter works even if it's the cheapo Harbor Freight one.

There's a simple test that you can do to see if you're in fact having a gas issue. Set your post flow to about 10 seconds and light up on a shiny clean piece of steel and let off without moving the torch until the post flow has stopped. If the tungsten and the metal both stay clean, then your problem lies elsewhere.

Judging by the pictures of your tungsten, I would guess that you either have a low pressure leak in your system or you have bad gas. Sometimes it has even been found that the cylinder is mismarked. There are plenty of post here that end in the problem being bad gas, but most cases it leads to a leak in the Argon circuit. There are posts here with procedures for leak checking your system.

Couple of quick questions. Did you recently switch cylinders? Have you welded with this exact set up before this without issues? Is there anything on the metal surface, including the back side that can cause fumes to be introduced to the cover gas? What amperage are you running, this can happen from too high amperage breaking down the tungsten also?

Len

In-line Dryer----I use these
http://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Pneumatic-P ... B003BJN0UO

A couple of plastic/brass fittings to adapt to hose with good clamps
Changes color if/when wet

Thanks for taking your time to help me. Great feedback. I'll try your suggestions

Checked for leaks with rubber glove taped to cup and soapy water-nothing. I changed torches and problem went away. What could be wrong with my torch(CK-TL-18). I have tried both collet body and gas lens, have checked all fittings and hoses with soapy water. When I had a rubber glove taped onto the cup and inflated it with argon, the only time I could get any minute leak was if I squeezed the glove and increased the pressure. This caused a few bubbles where the white insulator meets the torch. Any suggestions?

THANKS

you could very easily have the wrong teflon insulator cup (or lack there-of) installed on that torch. We can't see it, so we can't tell for sure, which is why pics are great.

Thanks,here is a torch pic

T-bone,
Slide your handle back onto the hose and make sure it not leaking in the neck area. That looks like a flex head torch and after enough flexing they sometimes develop a leak there.

Len