Any tips for my TIG?

[projectwelder]

Watching this thread. Very useful information as I'm doing tig in college also. Only difference is 3mm material. 30 amps per mm of steel is very handy to know . Thanks.

 

[Maker]

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

I've made what looked (IMHO) like a very nice weaved bead and I cut it in half, ground it, sanded it, polished it and finally etched it with citric acid to see the penetration. The etch came out very well but the penetration was really naff, probably more to my technique than the fact it was weaved. It would be cool if someone on here who is good at tig would etch a weld and post pics for us to compare.

 

[Richard.]

I've made what looked (IMHO) like a very nice weaved bead and I cut it in half, ground it, sanded it, polished it and finally etched it with citric acid to see the penetration. The etch came out very well but the penetration was really naff, probably more to my technique than the fact it was weaved. It would be cool if someone on here who is good at tig would etch a weld and post pics for us to compare.

The penetration of the weave type Tig weld is not really the issue with it as it's usually use when filling or capping a thicker section joint. If it was etched in this case I'm sure it would come out ok.
Where it may suffer is if a bunch of sharpys were taken from it.
Notch toughness values are effected by very high heat input welding which is what a weave is.

 

[backpurge]

I've made what looked (IMHO) like a very nice weaved bead and I cut it in half, ground it, sanded it, polished it and finally etched it with citric acid to see the penetration. The etch came out very well but the penetration was really naff, probably more to my technique than the fact it was weaved. It would be cool if someone on here who is good at tig would etch a weld and post pics for us to compare.

Few photos from when we were messing around with different gases and travel speeds etc

 

[Charlie15]

Interesting stuff folks, the macros are very nice and the variation in penetration is good to see. Anyway, I was out practicing again this evening, thought I would try a multipass weld without weaving until the cap.

So set up:


image by Charlie_46, on Flickr

Then put the root in and the first of a split hot pass:


image by Charlie_46, on Flickr

I put the other side of the hot pass on and as you can see it was a bit wobbly:


image by Charlie_46, on Flickr

Finally, after a couple of fills, I capped it off using a weaved bead:


image by Charlie_46, on Flickr

Your feedback was much appreciated on my first tig welds so any more would be great!

Cheers

 

[wheresmejumper]

Lookin better.try longer runs if you have the steel,you will progress quicker than doing 2 inch runs.

 

[langy]

My first question is why are running 2 beads and then capping it ???

 

[Maker]

When I bought all my gear I bought 6 metres of 40x8mm flat, cut it into roughly 100mm lengths and practised fillet, butt and inside & outside corner joint configurations. According to the Tig welding page on here, thick material is much easier to learn on, hence 8mm but I think it would be a good idea to get a length of 3mm flat aswell, to learn slightly thinner (although, as tig welding goes, 3mm is still reasonably thick).

 

[Richard.]

There is no need for the weave on the top. It looks awful and puts unnecessary heat input into the joint.

 

[Richard.]

Concentrate on a good single pass fillet run of around 150mm long. Then stop there. If your going to start doing 10mm thick section preped butt and fillet joints then yes a multi pass is needed but you'll need to work to an inter pass temp between runs and don't bother with the weave cap , it does not add any strength to the weld. Stick with perfecting technique on straight runs and put up the results

 

[Paul.]

When I bought all my gear I bought 6 metres of 40x8mm flat, cut it into roughly 100mm lengths and practised fillet, butt and inside & outside corner joint configurations. According to the Tig welding page on here, thick material is much easier to learn on, hence 8mm but I think it would be a good idea to get a length of 3mm flat aswell, to learn slightly thinner (although, as tig welding goes, 3mm is still reasonably thick).

I would never teach or recommend anyone to learn on 8mm material, you wouldn't normally use tig by choice, that would fall into mig or stick territory, 2 to 3 mm is what we recommend in the tutorial, 8mm is just making hard hot work of it and is likely beyond the capacity of most welding sets found in diy workshops.

 

[Maker]

I would never teach or recommend anyone to learn on 8mm material, you wouldn't normally use tig by choice, that would fall into mig or stick territory, 2 to 3 mm is what we recommend in the tutorial, 8mm is just making hard hot work of it and is likely beyond the capacity of most welding sets found in diy workshops.

I'm well aware that it's way too thick for Tig but the picture in the Tig tutorial made me start thick to learn the basics such as torch angle, travel speed, going straight, feeding filler, etc without having to worry about burning through. They were very weak joints that would break under my weight but I feel it really helped me.

[QUOTE
The two welds in the photo on the right were made by a beginner TIG welder. In the first photo the welder was struggling to control the weld pool, and was having trouble adding the filler rod.

The second weld was made immediately afterwards with no further training. The only difference is the thickness of the steel (and the amps adjusted to suit). The increased thickness means the weld pool is larger and easier to control, which makes it much easier to add the filler rod.
][/QUOTE]

 

[Richard.]

This is what you should be practicing. I've done in on stainless 3mm as its a bit late to be grinding scale off steel. As Paul rightly said if you have to start putting more runs in then a change of process would be more ideal

 

[Richard.]

I'm well aware that it's way too thick for Tig but the picture in the Tig tutorial made me start thick to learn the basics such as torch angle, travel speed, going straight, feeding filler, etc without having to worry about burning through. They were very weak joints that would break under my weight but I feel it really helped me.

[QUOTE
The two welds in the photo on the right were made by a beginner TIG welder. In the first photo the welder was struggling to control the weld pool, and was having trouble adding the filler rod.

The second weld was made immediately afterwards with no further training. The only difference is the thickness of the steel (and the amps adjusted to suit). The increased thickness means the weld pool is larger and easier to control, which makes it much easier to add the filler rod.
]

[/QUOTE]
For running a simple flat bead on a plate yes it's easier to control movement and filler on thick material but for joints the Tig process is slow and that slow speed will be exaggerated further on thick steel. Again heat input will be too high, distortion could be an issue also.

 

[bkt]

I started Tig welding one year ago...

This is a picture of one of my decent first attemps on 2 mm mild steel.


After one year of little but continuous practice (I do not have enough spare time, 10 hours for moth), this is how it looks one my tig welds on 1,5 mm mild steel, (stainless is easier for me and on alu you have to be fast...)


Now my tungstens last a lot, no dips or contaminations... And i know i am still learning and I have a long way to go.

My advice will be to tell you to "see the puddle" you have to fell when you are working hot or cold... and be patient and rhythmic.

Weaving is not the answer (I did it too), yes it looks better on this starting point but if you want to do decent multipurpose tig welds is not the way to go.

Also jumping from practice scraps to real projects helps.

To start 2 mm I think is a good point, with 3 mm (or bigger) is easier to begin but you miss a lot of information... you do not know when you are really hot and you are going to burn a hole in it.... just the opposite you can perform "good looking" cold welds easily. I have done welds on 0,8 mm or less and learnt a lot with them...

Keep on you are on the good track!

 

[PhillipM]

That second weld is far too cold.

 

[Richard.]

I'd say it was more down to technique than heat. It looks like a line of tacks which would suggest he has dabbed the filler moved to far too fast allowed the pool to freeze. A new pool has then been generated as to which he has dabbed again. So the stopping and starting type movement is the cause here. I think if he was to keep it moving while dabbing the filler it would look rather tidy.

 

[bkt]

Thank you for your comments and suggestions, they are welcome. As I said on my previous post "I am stiil learning".
And of course trying different parameters, movements, travel speed, ...
I did this one on the same day.


What I wanted to show was the improvement... My welder has a welding time counter I will check it to see how much time I have practised this year.

 

[langy]

My first question is why are running 2 beads and then capping it ???

No answer ???

 

[Richard.]

No answer ???

I think he is learning and seeking advice,
The advice given was not to do it.