TIG Beginner - Equipment setup.

[Gizmo.Y]

Finally got round to getting my new TIG out the box.

Having issues (I think...) Arc seems to be a big Odd, cant seem to generate heat to start welding. Im using Pure Argon and the settings as pictured.

Video and pictures







Help?

 

[Pete.]

What material is it? If it's not aluminium set the switch to DC. Hold your torch close to upright and try again.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Its Alloy, i bought a ton of scraps today when i picked up the bottle.

 

[wyn]

As pete said the torch needs to be pretty well upright....The angle it's at in the vid won't be any good.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Ah, thankyou, worked wonders. appear to having some wondering arc issue, but i dont have any didicated grinders as of yet. Seem to be getting on fine with the trigger, but not so much with the Pedal.

 

[Screwdriver]

You need to clean your material more thoroughly with TIG. That can mean taking the skin off alloy first with a quick grind or wire wheel. You'll want to keep a wheel just for that purpose to avoid contamination and you'll want a dedicated electrode grinder too.

Remember the three rules of TIG: clean, clean, clean.

S.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Indeed - have been watching a few "Tutorials" on the youtube and i have picked up some tops and hints from that - including the clean, clean, clean! Have ordered a Gas Lens aswell.

 

[Richard.]

Sorry screwdriver but an abrasive wheel on Alu is about the worse thing you can do. It will likely impregnate the material with contamination. If it needs a little scrub then it's a wire brush and a wipe only. Tbh the cleaning from the AC positive wave does the job most of the time

 

[Richard.]

The clean thing is more aimed at rust and scale associated with steel. Sure you should clean aluminium if it's contaminated with oil, grease, water etc but otherwise it's not needed. Removing the oxide layer isn't essential either. The process will do that for you and even if you do you won't remove it all. Alu is self regenerating of its own oxide layer so with in an hour or so of scrubbing it off it comes back. If you want to be sure a wipe of your materials and filler with acetone won't harm.

 

[hotrodder]

The whole cleaning thing is waaaaaaaaaaaay overdone on the internet. As is utter nonsense about dedicated electrode grinders being essential

Note the complete absence of scratch marks, with new/clean sheet aluminium 99% of the time all that's needed is to peel the plastic protection off it. If wire wheels/brushes aren't stainless steel they WILL contaminate the ally (as well cosmetically ruin it) and scrubbing like mad won't do much good either i.e. more likely to scrub oxides into the soft surface. As said the arc will clean move oxides when the oxide layer is thin enough for the surface to still be shiny. Older/manky ally that's gotten dull obviously needs more attention but most of the attention is needed in areas the arc can't get at... scrapping cut edges, the backside of the joint in the case of butt welds etc

 

[Screwdriver]

I thought I recognised that type of aluminium in the OP which has some sort of coating or hard oxide layer. I have to admit I am a beginner TIG welder but a quick Dremel on that stuff will avoid the contamination you can see above.

S.

 

[Richard.]

All aluminium has an oxide layer and it's because of that we weld it in ac.
Anodising is a completely different coating and looking at the welding it's not there in this case.

 

[Richard.]

There is a technique ive seen used for welding directly on to an anodised finish by hitting the current on and off with a pedal. I can't do it successfully and would always suggest it's better to remove it. If a chemical removal isn't feasible then the best approach would be a mechanical one with a clean file on the area where welding is taking place. Power tools such as sanders, grinders tend to smear the coating and impregnate it with the soft Alu underneath it. Welding directly onto this and you will see little speckles floating around in the pool.
All this aside the Alu shown in the op's pics isn't anodised and looks relatively clean in its normal state for welding. Any issues caused to effect the welding here will be easily addressed with set up and technique.

 

[Screwdriver]

It could be clear anodised. All I know is, I have played with that type of aluminium before and grinding off the surface made a huge difference.

 

[Chris Stevens]

It could be clear anodised. All I know is, I have played with that type of aluminium before and grinding off the surface made a huge difference.

Grinding aluminum before welding will invariably make it more difficult to do, as the grinding embeds whatever it is you are trying to remove into the surface of the material.

 

[Screwdriver]

Well you learn something every day. I'm going to test that out later, pretty sure I have that very same piece of alloy kicking about still.