First post gents so be gentle
As an enthusiastic novice, Ive become a proud owner of a very ancient miller (rebadged erco, airco?) machine in order to try and get a handle on this tig welding malarky. Unfortunately things havent quite gone to plan as i suspect the previous owner has been in and about the damn thing and rewired it. Miller have been very helpful and sent me the user and maintenance manual so at least i have a wiring diagram to follow when i next get the chance to lift the lid on it. What i dont understand though is:
1) The machine originally had a switch that allowed HF on all the time or HF switchable using a foot switch. Why is that? What are the advantages of having HF switchable? Did they really have gas flowing and the torch live all the time in those days? (Currently the footswitch operates a remote gas valve and the welder is permanently on, although when you come to end of a weld and press the gas pedal, the arc starts dancing all over the place so could it also be switching the hf off?)
2) Again, im no expert and i definitely need more practice, but the weld it produces is very 'ridgey' if that makes sense, definitely not the nice smooth penny welds of the big 3 phase machines at work. I need to play with the settings but being an old machine there arent that many!! are there obvious things i need to look at. Apart from my technique of course....
3) Lastly, i was welding for about 45 minutes last time at about 80amps and the torch was becoming unbearably hot. Im only using thin gloves but is that normal?
Hope you can help and cheers in advance for your time.
As an enthusiastic novice, Ive become a proud owner of a very ancient miller (rebadged erco, airco?) machine in order to try and get a handle on this tig welding malarky. Unfortunately things havent quite gone to plan as i suspect the previous owner has been in and about the damn thing and rewired it. Miller have been very helpful and sent me the user and maintenance manual so at least i have a wiring diagram to follow when i next get the chance to lift the lid on it. What i dont understand though is:
1) The machine originally had a switch that allowed HF on all the time or HF switchable using a foot switch. Why is that? What are the advantages of having HF switchable? Did they really have gas flowing and the torch live all the time in those days? (Currently the footswitch operates a remote gas valve and the welder is permanently on, although when you come to end of a weld and press the gas pedal, the arc starts dancing all over the place so could it also be switching the hf off?)
2) Again, im no expert and i definitely need more practice, but the weld it produces is very 'ridgey' if that makes sense, definitely not the nice smooth penny welds of the big 3 phase machines at work. I need to play with the settings but being an old machine there arent that many!! are there obvious things i need to look at. Apart from my technique of course....
3) Lastly, i was welding for about 45 minutes last time at about 80amps and the torch was becoming unbearably hot. Im only using thin gloves but is that normal?
Hope you can help and cheers in advance for your time.