Any tig welders in here? (1 Viewer)

[dbbowen]

Hey all, im about a month and a half or so in on TIG, been mig welding for years. Looking for any tips on improving consistency or just general imput on tig welds. Im finding that aluminum is a bit easier to get consistent welds and stainless is much more difficult.

Stainless tig. Cant seem to get the beads to consistently be the same. Is this a tempo and dab timing issue? Also, do the beads look a little cold?

 

[PIP]

Hey all, im about a month and a half or so in on TIG, been mig welding for years. Looking for any tips on improving consistency or just general imput on tig welds. Im finding that aluminum is a bit easier to get consistent welds and stainless is much more difficult.

Stainless tig. Cant seem to get the beads to consistently be the same. Is this a tempo and dab timing issue? Also, do the beads look a little cold?

I've done a lot of aluminum, not much ferrous. To me, your welds look good from the outside, maybe a bit of a pronounced stack of dimes look going on. Prettier than I could do probably. WRT heat what does the backside look like? Are you penetrating through the material? If penetration is good then I'd say you're just fine. If penetration is lacking then more heat.

 

[dbbowen]

I’m backpurging at about 8cfh and getting halfway decent penetration on the other side. Some spots better than other. I’m definitely stronger at aluminum myself. Seems much easier to see the puddle and control.

 

[Pin_Head]

It looks pretty good. No obvious sugaring on the inside. It looks like a some beads have a lot of stops and starts between short beads and you might want to dip more often.

 

[dbbowen]

It looks pretty good. No obvious sugaring on the inside. It looks like a some beads have a lot of stops and starts between short beads and you might want to dip more often.

Thanks for the tips man! I’ll try getting more dips on the next practice. The short like 3 inch beads are because if I go too far the welds start to turn grey where I started. I can’t seem to keep them from greying on longer beads. I’m using a Furick BBW cup and 35 cfh too. Always seems to escape the gas coverage on the longer strings

 

[Pin_Head]

35 CFH sounds like a lot. You might try Solar Flux if you get tired of back purging. I have never used it, but some people love it.

 

[dbbowen]

35 CFH sounds like a lot. You might try Solar Flux if you get tired of back purging. I have never used it, but some people love it.

Ill give that a shot. My gas bill is super high with back purging! haha

 

[cruisermatt]

Honestly it looks like you are already there and just need to turn it into muscle memory. I would say step down to like 25cfh, make sure your tungsten is razer sharp, long taper (use a belt sander and drill), and keep it as close as possibly can to the puddle. What filler size are you using?

 

[dbbowen]

Honestly it looks like you are already there and just need to turn it into muscle memory. I would say step down to like 25cfh, make sure your tungsten is razer sharp, long taper (use a belt sander and drill), and keep it as close as possibly can to the puddle. What filler size are you using?

The pic is with .035 I can consistently get about that quality. Sometimes less consistent, but i cant seem to get any better than that so far. :/

 

[ntsqd]

I've long thought that I should get a metronome for the welding bench. I figured that would help immensely with my puddle spacing and dwell time.

Modern welding machines have settings for this. My '83 Miller does not.

 

[Pin_Head]

It may also help practicing advancing the filler with one hand. There are YouTube videos showing this. You grip the filler in two places with one hand: The rear between your thumb and the hand and the front between your index and middle finger. This allows you to grip the filler closer to the end so that you have more control and also quickly advance the filler to keep up with the stack of dimes.

 

[BurntToast]

What home-fiddler TIGs are you guys using? I used to MIG plenty but always at a shop, but figure i should learn myself some TIG

 

[ntsqd]

My Miller SunchroWave 250 is archaic and ginormous. It's a great machine, but were I buying today I'd be looking at the ~175 amp range inverter machines made by Miller or Lincoln. I'm sure that there are other comparable brands these days, but I'm not familiar with them.

I would go with a liquid cooled torch, not "air" cooled. Even if the budget won't stand for a chiller I'd still go liquid cooled and run it constant loss from a garden hose. That will make some cringe, but it works and the shop that I know of doing that (a starter/gen/alt shop, NOT a welding shop!) has yet to have a problem with it. They do blow the lines clear with air after every use.

 

[cruisermatt]

I've long thought that I should get a metronome for the welding bench. I figured that would help immensely with my puddle spacing and dwell time.

Modern welding machines have settings for this. My '83 Miller does not.

Put the tunes on. Find your tempo, there's websites that will give you a playlist of songs with the same tempo.

 

[dbbowen]

What home-fiddler TIGs are you guys using? I used to MIG plenty but always at a shop, but figure i should learn myself some TIG

Im using a Everlast 185 DV with upgraded torch and lead with their upgraded pedal. It has done everything i need it to. Im not doing any structural though. Just exhaust and aluminum repairs. Its very cost effective

 

[dbbowen]

My Miller SunchroWave 250 is archaic and ginormous. It's a great machine, but were I buying today I'd be looking at the ~175 amp range inverter machines made by Miller or Lincoln. I'm sure that there are other comparable brands these days, but I'm not familiar with them.

I would go with a liquid cooled torch, not "air" cooled. Even if the budget won't stand for a chiller I'd still go liquid cooled and run it constant loss from a garden hose. That will make some cringe, but it works and the shop that I know of doing that (a starter/gen/alt shop, NOT a welding shop!) has yet to have a problem with it. They do blow the lines clear with air after every use.

after 3 jobs of cast aluminum repair, liquid cooled is one thing i wish i would have invested in. That thing gets hot!

 

[CruisinGA]

What home-fiddler TIGs are you guys using? I used to MIG plenty but always at a shop, but figure i should learn myself some TIG

I have a Lincoln Tig200, I made a liquid cooled setup using a soda fountain carbonator pump. I did not bother with a radiator and fan as I am the occasional home hobbyist.
I find stainless and steel very straightforward but not aluminum. Recently bought a spoolgun for my mig to do aluminum over 1/8" thick to speed the work up.

 

[dbbowen]

I have a Lincoln Tig200, I made a liquid cooled setup using a soda fountain carbonator pump. I did not bother with a radiator and fan as I am the occasional home hobbyist.
I find stainless and steel very straightforward but not aluminum. Recently bought a spoolgun for my mig to do aluminum over 1/8" thick to speed the work up.

Did you just kinda make this up as you went or did you find a how to somewhere on the water cooler? That’s kinda genius

 

[CruisinGA]

I read somewhere that the carbonator positive displacement pumps work well and are usually paired with a reservoir so I bought one at a restaurant surplus store, added bypass valve and gauges, and bought a water cooled torch and leads and used carpet cleaner quick disconnects to hook it all up. It's not perfect but lets me play around with AC on aluminum as long as I want too.

 

[ntsqd]

That actually looks a lot like the coolant pump in one of the water cooled machines that I've used extensively in the past. IME the connections at the torch body are not all that secure, be careful with how much pressure the pump can output. The torch mfg probably has a spec for this.

If you have a closed system look into the recommended coolant. It isn't likely to be pure water. Mine came to me with automotive coolant in it that is past due to be replaced. Next time around I plan to use this: Organic Acid Technology (ES Compleat™ OAT) | Cummins Filtration - https://www.cumminsfiltration.com/organicacidtechnology