First attempts at TIG

[Red'n'Black]

I bought this machine a few weeks ago, finally had some time to get an argon bottle and regulator hooked up and have a play with it.

It's a Merkle MobiTig 180. There is no switch on the torch, everything is controlled by the foot pedal.

It came without any instructions and I haven't been able to find any online, so I'm guessing a bit as to the settings.



On the advice of the guy at Noz-Alls in Cheltenham I bought a pack of 2.5mm tungstens, a new collet and a couple of shrouds #5 and #8 for the torch.






After a few false starts I ended up with the #8 shroud, concentrated on moving the weld pool about without dipping the tungsten in it.

This is where I got to after about an hour of practice, moving right to left and started to add filler about half way. This is on 2mm plate at 55 amps.



Reverse side (flipped left to right):


I'm using 0.8mm MIG wire initially, but I'm finding I can't keep up with feeding it so some thicker rods will be on the shopping list.

If anybody has any pointers on a manual for these machines I'd be grateful, both Merkle and their listed UK distributor have ignored me so far. It seems a great quality machine, much more capable than the user so far

 

[voipio]

A link for the manual for the MobiTIG 190 is below. It may be of some use:

https://twistidea.com/manualsandmore/pdf/MERKLE-MobiTIG-190-DC-Operation-Manual.pdf

 

[Barking Mat]

I bought this machine a few weeks ago, finally had some time to get an argon bottle and regulator hooked up and have a play with it.

It's a Merkle MobiTig 180. There is no switch on the torch, everything is controlled by the foot pedal.

It came without any instructions and I haven't been able to find any online, so I'm guessing a bit as to the settings.

View attachment 451758

On the advice of the guy at Noz-Alls in Cheltenham I bought a pack of 2.5mm tungstens, a new collet and a couple of shrouds #5 and #8 for the torch.


View attachment 451756

View attachment 451757

After a few false starts I ended up with the #8 shroud, concentrated on moving the weld pool about without dipping the tungsten in it.

This is where I got to after about an hour of practice, moving right to left and started to add filler about half way. This is on 2mm plate at 55 amps.

View attachment 451760

Reverse side (flipped left to right):
View attachment 451763

I'm using 0.8mm MIG wire initially, but I'm finding I can't keep up with feeding it so some thicker rods will be on the shopping list.

If anybody has any pointers on a manual for these machines I'd be grateful, both Merkle and their listed UK distributor have ignored me so far. It seems a great quality machine, much more capable than the user so far

Evening, well (from an amateur), if already you got the hang of not dipping the tungsten, developing a bead, it's a good start.

Your weld looks a bit hot ? and it's all a question of heat, timing, regularity of bead 'blobbing', to build up a consistent weld.

Position and penetration play an important role too.

It's always all about good penetration.....

 

[Red'n'Black]

A link for the manual for the MobiTIG 190 is below. It may be of some use:

https://twistidea.com/manualsandmore/pdf/MERKLE-MobiTIG-190-DC-Operation-Manual.pdf

Mine is the AC/DC but yes that'll be a good start, thanks.

One piece of advice from the welding shop was to learn on aluminium first, then steel will be a doddle afterwards. Anybody else done it that way round?

The seller threw in a pack of ally rods with the welder, but when I got home I realised I'd forgotten to put them in the car
I'll carry on practicing with steel for now.

 

[Barking Mat]

Which way did you sharpen your tungsten, with what ?

I won't tell you how I do it, if you already know , how do you do it ?

 

[Barking Mat]

Mine is the AC/DC but yes that'll be a good start, thanks.

One piece of advice from the welding shop was to learn on aluminium first, then steel will be a doddle afterwards. Anybody else done it that way round?

The seller threw in a pack of ally rods with the welder, but when I got home I realised I'd forgotten to put them in the car
I'll carry on practicing with steel for now.

I can weld mild or stainless steel, but if I'd started on alu I probably would have given up, honestly.

 

[Red'n'Black]

Which way did you sharpen your tungsten, with what ?

I won't tell you how I do it, if you already know , how do you do it ?

The bench grinder is currently in bits, so I used a drum sander in a mains drill, clamped in the Workmate

I've heard some people put the tungsten in a cordless drill to get an even profile, but I found it worked well enough twiddling it by hand.

 

[DeBangis]

Congratulations, OP, for the new machine.

 

[Pete.]

Turn it up you want about 30 amps per mm for steel as a starting guide. Turn it up a bit and move faster.

It's a good start stick with it.

 

[Barking Mat]

The bench grinder is currently in bits, so I used a drum sander in a mains drill, clamped in the Workmate

I've heard some people put the tungsten in a cordless drill to get an even profile, but I found it worked well enough twiddling it by hand.

I believe* it's best to have a dedicated grinder wheel, only for tungtens.

I hold mine perpendicular to a wheel.

 

[Popcorn]

Twist 2 or more lengths of MIG wire together with a electric drill, to make thicker rods.

 

[zzr1200]

TIG - Schweißmaschine MobiTIG 180 AC/DC

Prospekt & Datenblatt-Download Die neue Merkle MobiTIG 180 AC/DC ist auf Inverter-Basis aufgebaut und garantiert damit beste Voraussetzungen für ausgezeichnete Schweißeigenschaften. Das kompakte Gerät ist universell einsetzbar für das Aluminium- Schweißen im Wechselstrom-Betrieb (AC), für...

www.merkle-shop.de

 

[minimutly]

I believe* it's best to have a dedicated grinder wheel, only for tungtens.

I hold mine perpendicular to a wheel.

Maybe once you are the master welder, but as a learner, as long as you have a clean (non dipped in ally) tungsten, with a reasonably pointy end you will be fine. Too many amps, or too much cleaning will ball the tungsten end very quickly, I would run with 30% cleaning max to start with.

 

[addjunkie]

If youd prefer a switch on the torch….that looks fair universal so just buy a switch, cable and plug. Should be easy enough to work out which pins.

 

[Red'n'Black]

If youd prefer a switch on the torch….that looks fair universal so just buy a switch, cable and plug. Should be easy enough to work out which pins.

I quite like the pedal so far. Once I've had a read through the manual I'll try some of the other modes, right now it seems to have two set currents, if you back the pedal off to half way it goes to the lower current. There is another mode (the one with the ramp symbol?) where you can vary the amps smoothly up and down with the pedal. I'm trying to stick to 'only change one thing at a time' for now.

The other thing I need to sort out is a better work space. It's standing room only at the moment, reading the guides again I really need a stool and a bench I can get my knees under. Funny how every project always begets at least two more isn't it?

 

[prepman]

I bought this machine a few weeks ago, finally had some time to get an argon bottle and regulator hooked up and have a play with it.

It's a Merkle MobiTig 180. There is no switch on the torch, everything is controlled by the foot pedal.

It came without any instructions and I haven't been able to find any online, so I'm guessing a bit as to the settings.

View attachment 451758

On the advice of the guy at Noz-Alls in Cheltenham I bought a pack of 2.5mm tungstens, a new collet and a couple of shrouds #5 and #8 for the torch.


View attachment 451756

View attachment 451757

After a few false starts I ended up with the #8 shroud, concentrated on moving the weld pool about without dipping the tungsten in it.

This is where I got to after about an hour of practice, moving right to left and started to add filler about half way. This is on 2mm plate at 55 amps.

View attachment 451760

Reverse side (flipped left to right):
View attachment 451763

I'm using 0.8mm MIG wire initially, but I'm finding I can't keep up with feeding it so some thicker rods will be on the shopping list.

If anybody has any pointers on a manual for these machines I'd be grateful, both Merkle and their listed UK distributor have ignored me so far. It seems a great quality machine, much more capable than the user so far

2.4's are good all rounder. Lathanated is all I use. It was a tip from an Youtube American cousin. I'm totally sold on the clear stubby shrouds/cups. Use nothing else. Grind rod on separate tungsten-grit compat' wheel (green?) spun between fingers. Not sure of filler rod diameter was given a load of 1M long, think they're > 1mm though.
Beauty of TIG versus MIG is that filler is an option as required.

 

[minimutly]

If you weld ally (or at least some of them) without filler it will usually crack on cooling, it needs the silicon from the filler to stop this.

 

[tatiepot]

1.6mm ER70S-6 will be spot on for most mild steel applications. I'd recommend PZ6500.

 

[Red'n'Black]

A few steps forward.

Butt joint of 3mm flat bar at 90 amps, with filler.



I wasn't sure if it had enough penetration, so put it in the vice and whacked it with a hammer. Bent through a right angle but the joint held.



Not the neatest, but I'll come to that in a minute.

Next, two pieces of 2mm plate at right angles. I used a bit more stickout on the torch and turned the current down to 60A.



Back side:



The first problem is I can't really see what I'm doing. I have an auto darkening mask (with a 2.5 cheater lens, I can't focus close up any more) but even with the sensitivity turned up to max it doesn't trigger reliably at lower amps, it flickers on and off. It's been fine with MIG all the time I've had it. Maybe add a work light at the back of the bench so it triggers all the time?

The second is I can't get the filler to feed continuously, so once I've fed a few inches I have to stop and re-position. I can picture what I'm trying to do, but the fingers won't co-operate. Only having three of them on my left hand doesn't help. Maybe some lighter gloves? I'm using some Teggera MIG gloves I got from a recommendation on here.

 

[Popcorn]

It looks to me that you're not getting the puddle going before your adding filler. In doing so your using the arc to melt the rod rather than the puddle.
MIG gloves won't be helping at all, there far to thick to have any feel for the rod. I got a pack of these when I first started with TIG:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CRY1ENE/ref=pe_27063361_487055811_TE_3p_dp_1

Good for feel and not that expensive, that it matters when you burn them.