Any tips for my TIG?

[Charlie15]

Evening folks,

I have been working on my TIG and I am in the process of putting a trolley together.

I got a snap of one of the welds tonight and I was hoping someone could offer some advice for improvement? Where I'm going right and where I need to improve!


image by Charlie_46, on Flickr

Cheers

 

[Paul.]

you need to stop weaving, if you need a bigger weld build up the joint with stringer beads done in a straight line, first one in the corner then overlap the next one to one side, then the third to the other, although that is quite a small joint and would fill easily in one pass, I would use a 2.4 electrode and a 1.6 filler rod

 

[Charlie15]

Thanks for the reply, I suspected as much. The reason I felt I need to weave was that I didnt appear to be getting the pool over both sides of the lap joint if that makes sense. Would a longer arc length help with this?

Cheers

 

[wheresmejumper]

You never want a long arc length with tig.ever
what you need to aim for is the weldpool filling up to the edge of the top piece, but leaving it in tact.not chewing it away like you have.its a difficult thing to control when learning though

 

[Paul.]

No the arc needs to be kept tight, getting a bit of filler rod in early to use as a pool is the way to do it, as per the tutorial here, this is a butt the basic technique is the same though, http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/tig-butt-weld.htm

fillets are covered in this section, the last picture on this page shows the effect of a long arc http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/tig-fillet-weld.htm

 

[Brad93]

Sort out doing straight runs with no under cut before you start weaving.
Like so.

 

[Charlie15]

Thanks for the feedback folks, only my second day of tig so any input is much appreciated.

I will have another crack tomorrow and try and reduce the weave, establish the puddle on both surfaces and add filler. I will post up the results.

For info I'm using a 2.4mm tungsten and 1.6mm filler, a cup 6 size ceramic and running about 60 amps on 3mm thk steel.

 

[Paul.]

60 amps is a bit low, I would run that in at around 90 to 100 and move faster, also 60 amps is really at the bottom end of what a 2.4 electrode is comfortable with,
rough rule is 30 amps of welding power per mm of plate thickness, a little more for fillets where there is more mass of metal, and a little less for outside corner joints.

 

[Maker]

rough rule is 30 amps of welding power per mm of plate thickness, a little more for fillets where there is more mass of metal, and a little less for outside corner joints.

I was taught 1 amp per thou' which works out to around 42 amps per mm.

 

[Paul.]

If that works for you then fine, but IMO 120 is a little to high for that joint, the thing with rules of thumb is to use them as a starting point then adjust from there, (unless using a WPS of course).

 

[wheresmejumper]

I was taught 1 amp per thou' which works out to around 42 amps per mm.

Thats the general rule for aluminium,30 for steel

 

[Richard.]

Personally I don't weave with Tig at all, some people will on thicker section joints like the one brad has posted above but I will always go for a multi run approach.
The first issue you have is a weave is a very hot weld which from a mechanical point of view is low on toughness. The second issue you have is with Tig your weave manipulates the arc to cut into the side wall and unless you match that manipulation spot on with the filler your going to get some deep under cut.
3mm thick butt joint id use 80-90
Fillet joint up to 100 amps
1.6 filler will be just fine a 2.4 May chill the pool too much.

 

[Maker]

I've tried weaving a few times, just to try it and I always find it cracks down the middle so I stick to just plain straight motion.

 

[Brad93]

Yep as said Above very hard to avoid undercut like I got in that photo. Not the best I've ever done. It does get very hot on that thicker material which can destroy the properties of the steel and strength etc.

Another pic stolen from Weldporns Instagram.

 

[Brad93]

Another one

 

[Brad93]

Both of them have been 'walked' it is possible to free hand though as mine was.

 

[langy]

I would suggest you learn to weld correctly first, once you have achieved that then move on to the more difficult stuff.

 

[backpurge]

All this "weavy" stuff may look pretty and obviously demands a high degree of arc control to lay down such a uniform bead but they are not always that mechanically sound

 

[wheresmejumper]

Most of the fancy stuff thats walked and had a professional photographer in to capture its true beauty is waay too concave for optimum strength

 

[backpurge]

You quite often find the penetration profile isn't that great