Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi,

I just purchased a brand new Everlast Power TIG 210EXT.with IBGT Inverter...it came with two torches in the box; W9, and W20 Air cooled...also got a gas lens kit from the Weld Monger Store.
I couldnt wait to start playing with the pulse, high freq. square wave etc. functions...I started out modest; just some stringer beads in DCEN mode (No pulse yet) on 11ga cold rolled steel, I thought to myself "man this is going to be fun"......to my surprise its been a frustrating struggle to say the least...
Now, by no means do I consider myself a pro TIG weldor...but I'm no "rook" either....I've had a TIG torch in my hand quite abit, and have cracked out some really decent joints. Also, my back ground was started in Tech school with an acetylene torch for an entire semester just learning how to make a puddle and add filler, they drilled that into us really well before even touching a welding machine. Then advancing up to overhead SMAW.

So, back to the drama... I started off with the W9 and a 3/32 tip (2% Lanth) with a shapr tip, standard collet, and 3/32 70s2 rod.
Settings were: 2T, main amps 70, preflow 2 sec, up slope 0, down slope 0, post flow 4 sec... @ 20 CFH pure Argon.
Struck up an arc and watched my brand new tungsten disappear before my eyes!!!
Checked all connections, and ran some purge for about 1 minute, made a few adjustments, put a new tip on the tungsten, tried er again...wide cone arc which was dancing around and singing like Fred Astaire !!! brown smokey crap and spatter everywhere....looked like (as Jody would say) "Fido's butt"
Made some adjustments to the machine, this time added the foot pedal, ran a wire wheel on the steel and cleaned with acetone, new tip on the tungsten (with 80 grit belt sander, parallel to the rod length) adjusted the gas up to 30 CFH, struck it up...ran kinda good for about 2" of travel then the end of my tungsten turned into a monkey fist!!!
OK, lets try some pulse... Time on 33, Pulse Amps 33, Hz 120.....balled er up again!!!
Changed to the W20, new gas lens, new tungsten (2% lanth), new everything...purged gas, cleaned the steel, made a few inches then spit, spat, sputter, brown smoke, and balled the end of the tungsten.....what the @#$%&%$#
I have tried just about everything I know to try...like I said before, I have done a bit a TIG welding but never with an IGBT Inverter based machine, I'm not sure if this is the difference or not but come on!!!! this is embarrassing!!!!
So, please any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

You might have some contaminated gas. If you have another bottle I would swap it out. Its not unheard of to get a bad fill. A wire wheel will not clean off mill scale and it's very important to have shiny bright metal. That scale will jump onto your tungsten and crap it up and causes alot of headaches trying to weld thru it. Shiny bright metal not shiny scale. 30 cfh is excessive gas flow and you might be drawing in air because of the turbulence. I usually run about 15cfh with a lens. Sometimes too much gas is as bad as not enough. Try starting with around 12 cfh and move up from there. Post some pics of what is happening.

Welcome, Bud! Sorry to hear you're having trouble. Just to check, what polarity are you using? Carbon steel requires DC EN, electrode negative, so your torch lead needs to be in the Negative jack.

Sorry if you knew that already.

Edit: just read the "some stringer beads in DCEN mode " part. Now I'm thinking "contaminated gas" too. Maybe you got some mis-labeled c25...?

Thanks for the replies....
as for the contaminated gas...I guess its worth a try, but seems that would be one heck of a coincidence and I'm sure my buddy that happened to stop by and check out the new rig wouldnt even believe!!! haha... but worth a try.

as for the second reply....the welding machine is configured only to have the torch in the "torch +" plug, and the ground clamp plugged into the "work -" plug... when you "tell" the machine that you want to weld in DC it automatically changes polarity.
(at least this is my take on the whole thing" this is a Chinese unit and the user manual was kind of sketchy....printed black and white on standard printer paper.

Confession time: I made that same mistake on that same machine. The torch is supposed to jack into the negative port.

Is this your machine? If you hover the mouse over the picture it enlarges. On this photo, at least (identical to my machine) it is marked just "pos" and "neg".
http://www.amazon.com/Everlast-PowerTIG ... ds=210+ext

Check out page 32 of the manual, available for download on the Everlast site. (The manuals that come in the box are notorious for being poorly written.)

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/sites ... 2015_0.pdf

HOLY CRAP!!!!! YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!!!
I just downloaded a "real" copy of the owner manual from the web site...as I stated the cheap version that came in the box had nothing like this!
thank you for setting me straight, I guess that forum has served it purpose......I guess I shouldnt assume....you know what happens when we assume!
I cant wait to get home now!!!!
I will defiantly post the results.

I predict a stack of dimes in your future!

Very cool that you started with oxy-acetylene, btw, I've heard it's a quick jump from OA to TIG.

Let us know how it goes!

RTFM
"A lost art"

I was thinking bad gas as well since I have had that problem twice recently with new refill tanks. Getting the polarity reversed is not hard to do if you aren't familiar with Everlast's setup. I came very close to doing the same thing with my 250EX. I was suspicious of the polarity arrangement at first, and I knew the crappy instruction manual was not the good well written one I new existed. I am thankful to have found the real manual on Everlast's website before firing up the first time. My 250EX has been great thus far after about 6 months. I'm slowly expanding my use of all its capabilities. Good Luck.

Thank you all for the great advice on this....yes I agree "RTFM" is a lost art, however! when you receive crap details its kinda hard to follow along, however no excuses! I'll take the hit on this one!!!!
Since the change in polarity the machine is working flawlessly, expect for a random lack of continuity when trying to strike a high freq. arc....and the display shows trouble code 805 "TORCH SWITCH IS STUCK CLOSED/ Turn off welder immediately and check switch"
Not real sure about that but dosent seem to be a huge problem....
I have been running some really (semi) nice beads on both DC EN on steel, and AC on Alum....nothing to write home about, or even post pictures, but I'm getting there!!!
Will post some pics soon!

Thanks again y'all!

budcurrie wrote: I'll take the hit on this one!!!!

No hits to take, and none given: the manuals that come in the box are known to be sketchy, and that's why Everlast takes the time to write and post better manuals. Why don't they direct the factory to just stop putting the faulty manuals in the box, who can say.

I've never seen that code 805, not sure if it's something to be concerned about or not. What I've noticed on my machine is that I don't always get an arc when I press the foot pedal, but if I touch the tungsten to the grounded work piece first I do get the arc.

A question for you- your first post said you get a #9 and a #20 torch in the box. I got a 9 and a 26, both air cooled. Did you get a type 20 (water cooled) torch, or is that a typo in your post?

Anyway, glad you're squared away and welding!

It was a typo....I got the 26 air cooled.

Gotcha. I find myself wishing they'd sent a #17 torch in the box. Haven't tried a water cooled torch yet. I've got all the parts for a DIY water cooler, just haven't assembled them all into the final product yet... not enough hours in the day.

budcurrie wrote:HOLY CRAP!!!!! YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!!!
I just downloaded a "real" copy of the owner manual from the web site...as I stated the cheap version that came in the box had nothing like this!
thank you for setting me straight, I guess that forum has served it purpose......I guess I shouldnt assume....you know what happens when we assume!
I cant wait to get home now!!!!
I will defiantly post the results.

I know the exact look you had on your face. I'm laughing with you as I did the same thing. Amazing how fast that tungsten disappeared up inside the cup.

Artie F. Emm wrote:
...What I've noticed on my machine is that I don't always get an arc when I press the foot pedal, but if I touch the tungsten to the grounded work piece first I do get the arc...

I have the same issue occasionally on a Miller Sychrowave 250DX, a transformer machine. When it won't fire, I let off the pedal, touch the tungsten to ground briefly, and go again. I'm damned if I understand it.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:

Artie F. Emm wrote:
...What I've noticed on my machine is that I don't always get an arc when I press the foot pedal, but if I touch the tungsten to the grounded work piece first I do get the arc...

I have the same issue occasionally on a Miller Sychrowave 250DX, a transformer machine. When it won't fire, I let off the pedal, touch the tungsten to ground briefly, and go again. I'm damned if I understand it.

Steve S

my friend had the same issues with his Dynasty machines. Seems to be a common occurrence.

Otto Nobedder wrote:

Artie F. Emm wrote:
...What I've noticed on my machine is that I don't always get an arc when I press the foot pedal, but if I touch the tungsten to the grounded work piece first I do get the arc...

I have the same issue occasionally on a Miller Sychrowave 250DX, a transformer machine. When it won't fire, I let off the pedal, touch the tungsten to ground briefly, and go again. I'm damned if I understand it.

Steve S

My Airco 300 (miller 330 abp) does the same thing.

Sometimes touching the filler rod to the cup or to the work piece instantly fires it - talk about weird.

I'm a little relieved to hear it's a problem across many machines. i thought it was just me.