Thermal Arc 202 and Sentinel A50

[Richard.]

You seem to of got a good thing going on the fillets.

 

[KimB]

You seem to of got a good thing going on the fillets.

Not so on the straight beads however hahab

 

[KimB]

Did this and another. The long bit went well. The two ends not so. I was trying to make the ends awkward for myself because you’ll never always have easy welds. The right hand one I accidentally stuck the tungsten to the angle the left I accidentally touched the rod on the other bit of angle to it’s left which then suck and I couldn’t get it off haha, still wasn’t to bad.

 

[KimB]

What’re the little blobs that look like water droplets at the end of the welds

 

[anto44]

Not so on the straight beads however hahab

I found it hard to stay going straight when welding across a flat bit of plate cause there's no edge to follow along like there is on an actual joint. I found scribbing a heavy line into the metal helped. It looks like a tightly fitted up butt joint when you're welding it and gives you something to guide you

 

[KimB]

I found it hard to stay going straight when welding across a flat bit of plate cause there's no edge to follow along like there is on an actual joint. I found scribbing a heavy line into the metal helped. It looks like a tightly fitted up butt joint when you're welding it and gives you something to guide you

That’s a good idea, very good. I will try that. I can’t draw a straight line with a pen let alone tig one haha

 

[Paul.]

Rather than a pen mark, a scribe line or a row of centre pinch marks is good to follow while you are learning, but the best thing to be welding is a joint, we don't get many jobs where you just lay beads on plate unless you are surfacing or reclaiming something.

To prevent your crater at the end of the weld backstep a little as I do in this tutorial video, the black shiny thing in the craters on your welds above is melted scale from the plate, its contaminating the weld puddle and floating to the top.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/tig-technique/tig-bead.mp4

 

[KimB]

Rather than a pen mark, a scribe line or a row of centre pinch marks is good to follow while you are learning, but the best thing to be welding is a joint, we don't get many jobs where you just lay beads on plate unless you are surfacing or reclaiming something.

To prevent your crater at the end of the weld backstep a little as I do in this tutorial video, the black shiny thing in the craters on your welds above is melted scale from the plate, its contaminating the weld puddle and floating to the top.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/tig-technique/tig-bead.mp4

Thanks Paul, very nicely done in that video. I’ll givd that a try next time I’m doing some later in the week or tomorrow maybe

 

[Richard.]

Put the pedal away Kim is my advice. Get used to a fixed current on a switch
Get an understanding of what thicknesses and what joints demand what figures on the dial. A pedal is only a useful tool on highly conductive metals like aluminium.

 

[cianh91]

As Richard said get rid of the pedal(well on certain materials ) and get used to running welds without it. in 11year at tig I only bought a pedal this year an it’s not used on stainless or mild at all also there a pain for bigger jobs

 

[KimB]

Disclaimer first - I'm no tiggist

If your filler touched that other bit of stock you're pulling it far too far away between 'dips' (unless it happened after you finished).

It was the side of the rod not the end. It created a short I guess which caused it to stick.

 

[KimB]

So with the help of @Tinbasherdan i got my machine set up for some ali tig. I think it went somewhat okay. The first weld is at the top of this, obviously I had it a bit hot. The second bellow on the right. A bit better but a the plate had warmed it started to get messy.

This is the third attempt, the bits that look black aren’t, it’s just bad lighting. I was a bit wobly but it went well

Fourth (bottom right) weld I won’t bother showing as it was way to hot again, fifth however started out okay until the tungsten started to splinter and was killing the arc, I tried to recover it towards the end with more Amps but it just made the tungsten worse. Started okay and I’m very pleased with myself and the machine

 

[Richard.]

They look awesome. Well done Kim.
Do you now have a firm understanding of the TA’s ac settings.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

They look awesome. Well done Kim.
Do you now have a firm understanding of the TA’s ac settings.

Ish, I’m fighting the flu and was trying to tidy the garage so I could get to my bench at the time. I’ll spend some more time with you kim when I’m not dying

 

[addjunkie]

Ish, I’m fighting the flu and was trying to tidy the garage so I could get to my bench at the time. I’ll spend some more time with you kim when I’m not dying

A woman who welds but youd rather die....i dont know what are men made of these days.

Excellent progress Kim. Might I suggest you use nice new clean metal to practice, to remove some of the unkowns

 

[Richard.]

Ish, I’m fighting the flu and was trying to tidy the garage so I could get to my bench at the time. I’ll spend some more time with you kim when I’m not dying

Looks to me like your guidance was spot on mate.
Kim’s Alu welds ain’t half bad.

 

[KimB]

They look awesome. Well done Kim.
Do you now have a firm understanding of the TA’s ac settings.

Ummmmm, maybe haha. Not really. Tiny bit but obviously not well enough to properly set it on my own. What I may do is take the base figures over power and under power certain things and see how it reacts.

Ish, I’m fighting the flu and was trying to tidy the garage so I could get to my bench at the time. I’ll spend some more time with you kim when I’m not dying

You carrying on dying. Least I won’t have to hear the tragic stories of you wanting a bmw

 

[KimB]

A woman who welds but youd rather die....i dont know what are men made of these days.

Excellent progress Kim. Might I suggest you use nice new clean metal to practice, to remove some of the unkowns

I’d love that but I don’t have any. Ali for me will be a bit few and far between. I’ll see what I can get ahold of, I’m not going to buy a sheet just for tig welding practice.

 

[Richard.]

I’d love that but I don’t have any. Ali for me will be a bit few and far between. I’ll see what I can get ahold of, I’m not going to buy a sheet just for tig welding practice.

Stick a drop of postage brass in my PayPal and I’ll send you some 2mm 1050 off cuts if you like.
Perfect to practice on

 

[KimB]

Stick a drop of postage brass in my PayPal and I’ll send you some 2mm 1050 off cuts if you like.
Perfect to practice on

That’d be amazing thanks. I’ll do that. I’ll send you a message tomorrow if I remember.