Welding Tips and Tricks

Bad gas? Or leak I can't find? Not to sure, anytime I try to run a bead I start with a clean electrode, sharped parallel to the tungsten rod. I was going to buy 2% lanthanated but they didn't have it so I bought 2% ceriated 3/32". The machine is a brand new Everlast250 and everything I'm using comes in the box. New 80cu/ft bottle of Argon. I have stayed away from foot pedal so far. Torch is in (-).
Metal has been mild steel 3/16" square tube, just running beads on one side, sometimes with filler. Filler is er70s2.
I have the tried gas from 5-40cu/ft/hr all with similar results. HF start works good almost always. I'm holding the torch about 3/16" from surface, and at about 15-20deg angle. I hear the purge of gas when I light off. I've put soapy water around line connections that I can see and no bubbling. I clean the tungsten and the metal ground off shiney with acetone.
So for now I'm lost. Mostly I've been trying in the 80-100amp range. I had some thinner plate I tried at 60Amps, all looks the same.
I've also tried some 3/16" aluminum plate on AC and it was pretty much worse then the mild steel. I couldn't even get filler to add to the crappy puddle.
Any thoughts?

My only somewhat decent bead. Still horrible

Most look like this


Heres the tungsten before a spot test

Here it is dirty after a 5sec light up and 10sec post flow.

Heres some spot test, one on the left I had it lit for 10 seconds.

Looks to me like you are using too much tungsten stick-out for such a small cup.

3/16" arc length is also too long.

Both these issues look to be causing a lack of proper shielding gas coverage.
(Cup ends up too far away from the weld)

Also, 3/16" steel is much easier to weld 150+ amps. I like 180-195 amps for a fillet weld depending how big the piece is.

That looks like a very small cup. Maybe try a #6 or #7 . Pull out the pedal, start using that . Looks like maybe you stayed in the same place, moving too slow and it got too hot ??? Keep watching Jody's vids on whatever material you are doing.
It is difficult until you start getting the knack . Your arc length should be 1/8" or less ...watch when adding rod that the rod doesn't touch the tungsten ...or tungsten doesn't touche the puddle . Sometimes you get away with it on steel ...sometimes not ...then ya get contaminated welds . Your title says "newbie" ... I made a lot of messes the first few days tig welding . Keep at it, don't get discouraged . Good luck

Rod,
First off, ditch the tiny ceramic cup and save it for Aluminum, as stated, go to a 6-8 and for steel I would suggest a gas lens in those sizes or larger. Your 3/32 ceriated works very well in a 250EX so don't worry that you don't have Lanthanated. With that small cup and that large of a stick out you would have to hold a very tight arc to get near enough gas coverage for steel. With that set up your torch angle becomes very important also, near vertical is required.

Your welds are more than likely going to be dull gray and flakey until you get the hang of things so don't get excited it's just from moving too slow and heating up the base metal too much. Your practice should be aimed at getting muscle memory and timing, these other things will come with seat time. Watch a lot of video and keep notes when you make changes, make changes one at a time and note it's results. You need to become a student of the weld itself, paying attention to what happens when you find yourself doing something different, like torch angle, arc gap, flow rate and things like that.

Len

I do better with gas lens. I usually do #8 cup & around 17-18 cfh. With a gas lens I can stick out far enough to see the tungsten. Prop well to steady the hand, and hold a tight arc.

Thanks for all the tips. I'll make a couple small changes and practice practice practice. I didn't know you needed arc lengths so short. I'm going to need a maginifying glass to see that..lol.
I only used a 100amps because I was only running beads and not connecting material, seemed to hot already, but I guess I'm just moving to slow.

Your cup inside diameter should be wider than your bead. 100 amps should be plenty if your just running beads.

Judging from your photos I think you have an issue with your shielding gas. I don't think it is pure argon. What makes me think so? That grey weld line and the brown scum around the edges. I've seen that during my welding class when some of the students accidently hooked up their TIG welders to bottles of MIG shielding gas. Check out this video (around 8:50 minutes in) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZsbSRdz55g

will some one tell me how to post a question.

wish i could weld wrote:will some one tell me how to post a question.

I think you just did!

Seriously, go to the area you wish to post under and hit the 'New Topic' button. From there it's very straightforward.


Kym

Hi just reading and looking at ur post. As others have stated the "cup" could be too small. I personally love small cups.. Maybe you could try a 10/12 + . The picture portrays the weld amps etc as being hot for the material used ... Have you tried using "pulse" . A bit of mucking around setting up but it works ok. We all start somewhere . I love the procedure.My version on material thickness would be to use a 1.6mm electrode and roughly about 70/80amps . A little slow probably but for starters and once confidence is up u can experiment with speed and a little higher amps. Gas also can be in the vicinity of about 10/12 ltrs . Experiment a while . You will get the jist of it .....

Nick1947 wrote:Hi just reading and looking at ur post. As others have stated the "cup" could be too small. I personally love small cups.. Maybe you could try a 10/12 + . The picture portrays the weld amps etc as being hot for the material used ... Have you tried using "pulse" . A bit of mucking around setting up but it works ok. We all start somewhere . I love the procedure.My version on material thickness would be to use a 1.6mm electrode and roughly about 70/80amps . A little slow probably but for starters and once confidence is up u can experiment with speed and a little higher amps. Gas also can be in the vicinity of about 10/12 ltrs . Experiment a while . You will get the jist of it .....

Good advice from...another South Australian! It really is a small weld after all.


Kym

I have been so busy with work that I hadn't had a chance to try anything new until a few days ago. I bought a gas lense and a couple more cups, a 7 and 8. I'm not having anymore soot like material showing up on the welds but on mild steel I'm still having some issues with adding filler and getting the right amps. I'm going to guess its just a practice practice practice thing that will make my welds better. I forgot to get pics on the steel, but heres a couple I ran on aluminum with similar setup but with AC, frequency at 100 and A/C balance at 70%. Pretty decent welds compared to those pot holes before in top part of the pic. This is all at 15cu/ft at regulator. I'm using half the stick out of my previous pics, but I still have a hard time judging where the tip is relative to the surface, Arc hides some. I'm not getting splatter back on the tungsten like before. On mild steel the tip is staying sharp and clean, on aluminum I got a tiny ball on the end almost immediately but it stayed that size throughout these beads.