- Thread starter Gizmo.Y
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Richard.
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Elaborate on "green". The ones I use are a turquoise light blue/green. These are hfms tungstens used for both AC and DC they are a great all round flavour and I highly recommend. But the other green which actually is just green is pure tungsten. This was the go to AC tungsten a while back on soft sinuous wave based transformers. It's a good flavour but without any additional agents in the mix it's by far the softest tungsten and balls up very quickly. I've tried them on square wave inverters and they are even worse. As the harsh movement of the wave dose give them a battering. If your using a pure tungsten then there are better flavours for your inverter. Lathanated are great on both AC/DC. (Gold/Blue).
Brad93
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Dark Green is pure tungsten no rare earth metal oxides. Its been superseded now but is still used by many for welding on AC with a transformer machine.
Best for steel, stainless, titanium etc in my opinion is Red - Thoriated tungsten or Lanthanated/Hybrid types such as Huntingdon Fusion Multistrike.
Best for steel, stainless, titanium etc in my opinion is Red - Thoriated tungsten or Lanthanated/Hybrid types such as Huntingdon Fusion Multistrike.
Don't get too caught up with worrying about the different 'posh' flavours of tungsten for now Gizmo... they'll make naff all difference while learning (tagging tungstens regularly) and are about things like tip longevity, ease of striking at very low amperages etc. The Radnor (and Binzel branded) E3 purple things are a mixed flavour similar to the blue Huntingdon Fusion Multistrikes discussed on this site from time to time, the idea is they combine combine the best properties of several different doping oxides. Typically they cost a bit more and are a waste of money until you've developed the muscle memory needed with TIG and rarely contaminate tungstens with filler wire/the weldpool
All i'd worry about for now is that red (2% thoriated) is a DCEN only flavour really; as said for steel/stainless etc. Green (pure) and white (zirconiated, brown colour code outside of Europe) are AC only flavours... thoriated doesn't like melting and tends to split and/or 'grow' several facets leading to arc wander with AC while pure and zirconiated are the opposite- melt cleanly and give a stable AC arc but not very good at holding a sharp tip for DCEN
Ceriated (grey here, orange in some other countries) and lanthanated (black, gold & blue for 1, 1.5 & 2%) all work properly with both AC and DC. Personally i think ceriated are garbage but the reasons why don't apply when learning as most of us had to re-dress tungstens every 5 mins after contaminating them anyway
All i'd worry about for now is that red (2% thoriated) is a DCEN only flavour really; as said for steel/stainless etc. Green (pure) and white (zirconiated, brown colour code outside of Europe) are AC only flavours... thoriated doesn't like melting and tends to split and/or 'grow' several facets leading to arc wander with AC while pure and zirconiated are the opposite- melt cleanly and give a stable AC arc but not very good at holding a sharp tip for DCEN
Ceriated (grey here, orange in some other countries) and lanthanated (black, gold & blue for 1, 1.5 & 2%) all work properly with both AC and DC. Personally i think ceriated are garbage but the reasons why don't apply when learning as most of us had to re-dress tungstens every 5 mins after contaminating them anyway
Brad93
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Hotrodder just nailed it, stick to the basic tungstens whilst learning either get red and white or just lanthanated.
Red tungsten doesn't like being run on AC but it can be done, both on a transformer and an inverter, i have to do it every day sadly.
Red tungsten doesn't like being run on AC but it can be done, both on a transformer and an inverter, i have to do it every day sadly.
Richard.
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2% lanth and Huntington fusions are all I have now. 1 tungsten for all is the best least confusing way to do it when learning IMO. The hfms are quite dear as far as tungstens go and although I prefer them it won't be a learning factor so if I was you just buy a box of blues(2%lanth) and use them for everything. Ciriated(light grey) are not particularly nice on DC at all they go dull so quickly. AC they are ok and as said for learning you probably won't get chance to find the good and the bad. I personally think you got to buy one box of 1.6/2.4 lanth (gold or blue)(1.5%,2%) blue been slightly better but again I doubt you'll notice any difference while mastering the basics.
Brad93
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BOC prices are as follows iirc:
Zirconiated (White Tip): 1.6mm £17.50 + VAT 2.4mm £38 + VAT
Lanthanated (Gold Tip) 1.6mm £17.50 + VAT
Thoriated (Red Tip) 2.4mm £32 + VAT
I probably use two tungstens a week, 9 hours of welding a day. Some days I hardly touch down other days I'll be shaking like mad, or sometimes the part is just awkward. Obviously for home use your tungsten will last you a good amount of time once you get a bit more steady and comfortable.
An important thing with AC if you touch down stop and grind immediately as the contamination travels up the tungsten if you continue welding and means you have to either cut or grnd back durther or you keep introducing contamination to your weld.
Just my experience.
Zirconiated (White Tip): 1.6mm £17.50 + VAT 2.4mm £38 + VAT
Lanthanated (Gold Tip) 1.6mm £17.50 + VAT
Thoriated (Red Tip) 2.4mm £32 + VAT
I probably use two tungstens a week, 9 hours of welding a day. Some days I hardly touch down other days I'll be shaking like mad, or sometimes the part is just awkward. Obviously for home use your tungsten will last you a good amount of time once you get a bit more steady and comfortable.
An important thing with AC if you touch down stop and grind immediately as the contamination travels up the tungsten if you continue welding and means you have to either cut or grnd back durther or you keep introducing contamination to your weld.
Just my experience.
Brad93
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Fit up needs to be good with a lap joint or fillet, and until you get a few tacks on it, it will need to be held or clamped down.
The arc will always favour the upper sheet, but you need to arc up on the bottom sheet and drag the arc into the corner concentrating the tungsten and arc into the bottom sheet, once you get a puddle flowing you'll be laughing but its that initial start.
You will find, depending on the settings your machine has, that you will need a very tight arc and have to oull the arc from one sheet to the other to form a good puddle.
If you have AC frequency control whack it up to around 160Hz that's gonna make your life a lot easier whilst learning. If you ever have to use a transformer though you'll need to get the hang of doing it at 50 or 60hz
The arc will always favour the upper sheet, but you need to arc up on the bottom sheet and drag the arc into the corner concentrating the tungsten and arc into the bottom sheet, once you get a puddle flowing you'll be laughing but its that initial start.
You will find, depending on the settings your machine has, that you will need a very tight arc and have to oull the arc from one sheet to the other to form a good puddle.
If you have AC frequency control whack it up to around 160Hz that's gonna make your life a lot easier whilst learning. If you ever have to use a transformer though you'll need to get the hang of doing it at 50 or 60hz
Richard.
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Gizmo. Seriously don't worry about fillets. You need to get some of the basics sorted out first as there is a lot more going wrong there than a bit of frequency adjustment. Concentrate on controlling the puddle with travel and filling on flat plate. Alu tig is all about puddle control. Keep control over the pool and life becomes much easier, then apply it to complex joints.
C
Chris Stevens
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Why not practice bead on plate, till you have reasonably good control of weld pool, before trying to do any sort of joint?
C
Chris Stevens
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Why not post some pics of your successful bead on plate welds?
