Newbie now with TIG.

[dazza]

What tungstens are you using?

I took hotrodder's advice and tried Multi-strike. Its the only make I use now, regardless of size of tungsten or material been welded

These are grey, all i could get over here.

I can only put it down to a weak HF Daz. It might be leaking down your torch or it may be leaking in the machine or it may just want the spark gap setting up if it works like that. Either way it's not the end of the world I've come across it on many units and I'd say 8 times out of 10 the torch causes the issue so you may be in luck once you get water cooled.
My magicwave wave had a similar issue with the standard fronius torch. I adjusted the HF settings which improved it a good bit but once I swappped over to the speedway it was on another level of striking. It will jump an inch gap with a fully balled electrode now and i wonder if you get similar results. A lot of Torches can leak HF making machines tough strikers.

I enjoyed it this afternoon it wasn't too bad, unlike the other days when prepping the tungsten was cutting off the ball and completely regrinding these just needed a tickle with the grinder and would spark up fine.

We will see what its like with the pedal and new torch. If this does not fix the problem we will look into other solutions.

I did a couple of good runs today but i seem to struggle more with the first run (cold) the runs after when its hot flow nicely. Maybe i need a few more amps on the first run? I started at 125 amps then dropped it to 110.

I need to forget about the filler rod hand and just focus on the torch hand as this is where most of my problems are coming from.

I usually just move and dab with no pause, would it be better for a beginner to pause to add the filler?

That's because it's for stick/mma/smaw welding

I thought it was for AC. as its in the AC section of the machine the DC only machines did not have this. Glad i've turned it off.

 

[Shox Dr]

I'd say the ceriated tungstens are at fault. Get some Multi strikes

 

[Brad93]

Nope tungsten flavour is not causing that. You can use thoriated tungsten on AC, its not pretty, but it works. That is a HF fault or poor earth. Richard has made a good point, I would bet your machine uses an HF gap, which needs adjusting considering the units age.

 

[dazza]

Nope tungsten flavour is not causing that. You can use thoriated tungsten on AC, its not pretty, but it works. That is a HF fault or poor earth. Richard has made a good point, I would bet your machine uses an HF gap, which needs adjusting considering the units age.

The torch looks new the earth lead not so much but the clamp part of it looks fine.

@Jim Davey any thoughts on the HF Gap??

 

[Brad93]

The torch looks new the earth lead not so much but the clamp part of it looks fine.

@Jim Davey any thoughts on the HF Gap??

Dazza you will need to take the cover of the machine to adjust the spark gap.

Did you check all your dinse connections like I said in another post further up ^^^??

 

[dazza]

Dazza you will need to take the cover of the machine to adjust the spark gap.

I took the cover off the other day and gave it a bit of a clean up. Just was worried for a few days that it would stop working.

Did you check all your dinse connections like I said in another post further up ^^^??

I checked the clamp end it looks fine nice fresh strands, and i gave the dinse end a clean up. But it i did not take the dinse apart. Should I?

 

[Richard.]

Nope tungsten flavour is not causing that. You can use thoriated tungsten on AC, its not pretty, but it works. That is a HF fault or poor earth. Richard has made a good point, I would bet your machine uses an HF gap, which needs adjusting considering the units age.

Yep I agree Brad. The likely hood that the actual tungsten is causing the poor striking on a balled electrode is highly remote regardless of the type.
I agree with shox they ain't a flavour I favour for various reasons mainly on DC TBH but they will strike up with a clean ball with no issues if the HF is up to the job.

These are grey, all i could get over here.


I enjoyed it this afternoon it wasn't too bad, unlike the other days when prepping the tungsten was cutting off the ball and completely regrinding these just needed a tickle with the grinder and would spark up fine.

We will see what its like with the pedal and new torch. If this does not fix the problem we will look into other solutions.

I did a couple of good runs today but i seem to struggle more with the first run (cold) the runs after when its hot flow nicely. Maybe i need a few more amps on the first run? I started at 125 amps then dropped it to 110.

I need to forget about the filler rod hand and just focus on the torch hand as this is where most of my problems are coming from.

I usually just move and dab with no pause, would it be better for a beginner to pause to add the filler?


I thought it was for AC. as its in the AC section of the machine the DC only machines did not have this. Glad i've turned it off.

That hot start thing is for the AC. You calling it a hot start is where the confusion lies because that's MMA terminology. It's afaik an electrode pre heat. So it puts extra DC+ polarity into your tungsten at start up to give you a hot tungsten and increase your chances of striking. It will as you've noticed heavily melt the tungsten if applied too much.
My old caddy tig did the same thing but that never used to blow the tungsten as it was so fast.

 

[dazza]

Even with the "electrode preheat" on 1 it will ball the tungsten completely which is pointless when i seem to be keeping the electrode tidy with it off. Plus it adds a poof of soot to the start of the weld. I bet i've got something set up wrong.

 

[Richard.]

Even with the "electrode preheat" on 1 it will ball the tungsten completely which is pointless when i seem to be keeping the electrode tidy with it off. Plus it adds a poof of soot to the start of the weld. I bet i've got something set up wrong.

It's not working as I would of thought then. Best leave it off if it makes stuff worse.

 

[Brad93]

Dazza throw up a picture of your electrode used. I'm betting you've touched down, the contamination has travelled up the electrode and you haven't cut off/ground away enough to get back to good clean tungsten. That will be the soot on start up. That or there is a gas leak/surge pulling in air.

 

[dazza]

Dazza throw up a picture of your electrode used. I'm betting you've touched down, the contamination has travelled up the electrode and you haven't cut off/ground away enough to get back to good clean tungsten. That will be the soot on start up. That or there is a gas leak/surge pulling in air.

These are the ones i've been using today. I did check for leaks the other day will check again.

 

[Brad93]

Well that's that possibility out of the window they are all fine.

I've had a play tonight at your settings and using a switch and all is fine.

Started off at 140 amps which after the first bead was far too hot. Once heat was in the plate (3mm thick) I was right down to 85 on the machine to stop the pool running away.

Balance was 40% EP, 90Hz frequency. Upslope 5 seconds @ 50% start current. Downslope left at 2 seconds hence the craters. Gas was between 5 & 6lpm
Got a few videos, whether they will help you I'm not sure.

I tried long arcing, extreme torch angle, removing the filler from the gas coverage but I couldn't get any contamination like you are experiencing. I think you need to see someone who knows what they are doing with a good machine you can have a go on to rule out user error. Looking at your beads though I think it's something with the machine not user.

 

[dazza]

Well that's that possibility out of the window they are all fine.

I've had a play tonight at your settings and using a switch and all is fine.

Started off at 140 amps which after the first bead was far too hot. Once heat was in the plate (3mm thick) I was right down to 85 on the machine to stop the pool running away.

Balance was 40% EP, 90Hz frequency. Upslope 5 seconds @ 50% start current. Downslope left at 2 seconds hence the craters. Gas was between 5 & 6lpm
Got a few videos, whether they will help you I'm not sure.

Thanks Brad.

I think i need to have a play with the up slope its only on about 2/3 seconds at the moment and my gas flow is 7/8 lpm with a number 7 cup.

I should be able to get some videos up myself next week, Maybe then someone can understand whats what with the start up. I can see the hf hitting the metal but no arc. The middle tungsten in my pic has not been used should i have a really sharp point? i've been leaving a slight flat on the end.

 

[Brad93]

Thanks Brad.

I think i need to have a play with the up slope its only on about 2/3 seconds at the moment and my gas flow is 7/8 lpm with a number 7 cup.

I should be able to get some videos up myself next week, Maybe then someone can understand whats what with the start up. I can see the hf hitting the metal but no arc. The middle tungsten in my pic has not been used should i have a really sharp point? i've been leaving a slight flat on the end.

I just put like a 60 degree point on mine don't bother with flats. ^ basically just like that nice wide point. Then let it ball however it's gonna ball.

 

[Brad93]

Uploading videos now

 

[dazza]

I think i've sorted a lot of the contamination by switching off the electrode preheat the rest of the contamination on my last set of beads was from dabbing the tungsten before pool was formed, or loosing the arc length.

If i decrease the down slope will this help stop the craters?

 

[Brad93]

They look really good mate

 

[dazza]

They look really good mate

Thanks Brad. I need to work on a lot of things but they are getting better.

 

[Richard.]

I think i've sorted a lot of the contamination by switching off the electrode preheat the rest of the contamination on my last set of beads was from dabbing the tungsten before pool was formed, or loosing the arc length.

If i decrease the down slope will this help stop the craters?

They do look good mate.
Well done!

 

[dazza]

Thanks again for all your help guys.

Any tricks to get more consistent dabs of filler?