tig welding tips and advice

[mikesmith181]

Right, got my welder and the electrics is getting sorted tomorrow so hopefully i'll be able to practise a bit, i've watched a tig tutorial dvd that goes over the basics but not in too much detail, for example a rough guide as to what amp's for different gauge material, i'll be starting off on 1.5mm mild steel would 80amos be a good base to start at, also am i supposed to touch the material with the tungsten electrode or just close to it, and also tungsten thickness guied, is there a set guide to sizing for a certain gauge material or will larger do smaller more delicate tasks too, any help would be great.
Thanks in advance.

[dewismotorsport]

What type is it? You will probably have a scratch start so yes you'll need to touch material, only the HF (high frequency) don't need to touch down. The thinner the tungsten the better for delicate stuff at low amps, generally I use 1.6mm for most stuff tbh make sure you grind the tungsten in the direction of the length to prevent arc wander

[mikesmith181]

its a HF machine, cant see anything about scratch start on the book, if i hold it close and it doesn't start to glow it will probably be a scratch start, am i right with that? also i'm welding 1.6mm tubing think its 1.6mm tungsten i have, is 80 amps about right?

[dewismotorsport]

If it a HF then you will hear it trying to arc up keep it about 5mm away and it will arc itself up, it's hard to guide people on amps as I always use the foot peddle so I am constantly altering the amps with my foot to match what I see the metal doing, one thing to note with alloy is it doesn't show heat so may be worth cooling inbetween runs else you will end up just putting a big hole in it

[mikesmith181]

i wont be welding alloy for the minute, its onle a dc machine, did a few welds today, and nothing really consistant tbhmy best looking weld was my 3rd attempt right at the bottom about an inch long on the pic then couldn't get it that good again, and somehow i managed to warp the metal, what could this be down to? dont know where i'm going wrong, but i know i need a hell of alot more practice lol

[dewismotorsport]

The warping is just purely down to the amount of attempts you've had on the same bit of metal so don't worry too much about that yet. If your right handed you need to hold the torch at a 70 degree angle and rod at about 20-30 degree, get the arc started and wait in that spot until the metal looks wet then start moving slowly adding filler rod as you move don't be in to much of a rush, if your burning through turn the amps down and quench metal and try again, practise makes perfect mate if struggling get some thicker material as will be easier to pick it up as you won't burn through so quick

[mikesmith181]

i went through the first time on 80 amp's so turned it down to 30 and that seems to be about right i think, i'll have another go thursday when i get some more spare time, not i think of it i think i had the tig torch and the wire about 20deg from the metal, , but the torch needs to be more upright but off straight doesn't it, i tried in both hands to see which i prefer, and i cant really tell much difference tbh so i'll keep trying with both and see which is better.

[dewismotorsport]

If your right handed then I'd have the torch in that hand and rod in other, and if you lean the torch back too far it will heat too much metal in front and make your molten pool too big

[mikesmith181]

i think thats what the problem is as i was getting a black carbon look substance along my weld, it comes off easy enough so not much of a big deal. hopefully if i straighten the torch up a little bit it will help.

[rc]

what gas presure do you run at dewis?

[dewismotorsport]

you lean the torch back too far it will heat too much metal in front and make your molten pool too big

That's what I said! Looking at the link in your quote I can see your a spammer so die a slow painful death

Can a mod delete this user?!

[dewismotorsport]

what gas presure do you run at dewis?

15LPM iirc you can use more if you require slightly better cooling or if your cheating by pulling the tungsten out further to get in a hard to reach place like a collector or something

[rc]

15LPM iirc you can use more if you require slightly better cooling or if your cheating by pulling the tungsten out further to get in a hard to reach place like a collector or something

ahh i'll give that a bash, i read to use 8-12lpm and ive been eating tungstons which i read is down to poor gas flow, but didnt just want to keep turning it up as argons expensive stuff

[dewismotorsport]

ahh i'll give that a bash, i read to use 8-12lpm and ive been eating tungstons which i read is down to poor gas flow, but didnt just want to keep turning it up as argons expensive stuff

I use a 1.6mm tungsten and never melt tungstens and I have a 200 amp machine, and I get gas for free so don't care how much I use

[mikesmith181]

thats just reminded me, if the tungsten turns blue is it then scrap or is it still ok to use?

[david2006]

ahh i'll give that a bash, i read to use 8-12lpm and ive been eating tungstons which i read is down to poor gas flow, but didnt just want to keep turning it up as argons expensive stuff

Do you use the regulator to measure flow or a pee shooter?

[dewismotorsport]

thats just reminded me, if the tungsten turns blue is it then scrap or is it still ok to use?

Tbh you should always knock the end off it when you touch down so normally as you hit the end off with the hammer etc it will brake off as far back as is damaged

[mikesmith181]

will blue tungsten effect the quality of the weld or just weaken the tungsten?

[dewismotorsport]

The colour just means its been heated as long as the end is clean and ground properly it will be fine tbh

[rc]

ahh i'll give that a bash, i read to use 8-12lpm and ive been eating tungstons which i read is down to poor gas flow, but didnt just want to keep turning it up as argons expensive stuff

think i may have found out why i was eating tungstens, just been reading through pages of google searches and it appears the tourch should be negative and the work piece positive as 2/3 of the heat in created in the positive. i had conneced it up like i would a mig school boy error: will give it a try tomorrow.

[Gsi_16v]

Been reading these tig treads with interest ! would i be right in thinking that TIG is very similar in method to GAS welding ? where as gas you use oxy/acet torch to make the weld pool then filler rod and the TIG does the weld pool though electric an argon gas.

[rc]

think i may have found out why i was eating tungstens, just been reading through pages of google searches and it appears the tourch should be negative and the work piece positive as 2/3 of the heat in created in the positive. i had conneced it up like i would a mig school boy error: will give it a try tomorrow.

what an idiot swapped the torch and earth leads around and i can actually get an arc now and not just a blow torch out the end lots of practice needed though

[david2006]

I wouldn't say they were that bad for a beginner. The material you're using looks very thin though, when you're starting out you should get your practise perfected on thick material then move onto thinner material you'll notice a big difference. Try more lap, butt and fillet joints and post them up

[dewismotorsport]

Been reading these tig treads with interest ! would i be right in thinking that TIG is very similar in method to GAS welding ? where as gas you use oxy/acet torch to make the weld pool then filler rod and the TIG does the weld pool though electric an argon gas.

That's correct just a modern version of OA welding

School boy ronnie ;-) try adding more filler rod as that cools your molten pool down, as your welds look concave but keep practising, tbh steel isn't the best metal for making it look good stainless is and alloy of course

[rc]

i didnt add filler to the concave ones (the bottom one) i was just practicing holding the torch

i'll have a go at stainless as i have some stainless rods. ive had a bit of a bash with alloy on a old alloy rad, but didnt have any filler so was just playing with the pool.

i'll have some more playing and report back ive wasted half a bottle of argon and about 5 tungstens and 2 caps by having the leads the wrong way round