burning tungstens

[side-show-bob]

Hi

I have the use of a Miller Maxstar unit from work to do some body repairs. The unit runs off all supplies 415, 240 and 110 so is great for home work. It has a 415 plug on it but an electrition at work made me up a 415-240(3pin) adaptor.
When i tried using the unit it would just burn the tungsten tip straight away, I have used the unit at work and it is great but i cant get it to work at home. I am useing pureshield Argon as my gas but i didnt use a flow meter would this have done it?

Cheers
Rob

 

[malcolm]

Have you set the jumper connectors inside the welder for the 240V supply? There should be some pdfs on the Miller website under the support section that show how to do this.

A lack of shielding gas could cause the tungston to burn. I take it it's not just getting red hot but messing up as well? Maybe not enough gas if you can't hear the hiss.

 

[shenion]

Mine did that when i had the torch polarity reversed.

 

[weldequip]

Hi

I have the use of a Miller Maxstar unit from work to do some body repairs. The unit runs off all supplies 415, 240 and 110 so is great for home work. It has a 415 plug on it but an electrition at work made me up a 415-240(3pin) adaptor.
When i tried using the unit it would just burn the tungsten tip straight away, I have used the unit at work and it is great but i cant get it to work at home. I am useing pureshield Argon as my gas but i didnt use a flow meter would this have done it?

Cheers
Rob

If you are using it on DC, ie.for mild steel/stainless steel you must have the torch & earth connections the correct way round:-
Negative (-) Torch
Positive (+) Earth
If you don't you will get a 'flare' effect that could explain burning your tungsten out.
weldequip

 

[Hitch]

Have you connected up the torch/earth the right way around?
That would be my first thought.

 

[side-show-bob]

Hi

I use the unit in work using 415 on s/s fine. Im trying to weld body pannels m/s @ 240 i did have too much gas.. I will check the unit and see how you adjust the voltage, i was told that it did it atomaticly.. Will it make any difference if im welding outside?

The unit is a Miller Dynasty 200 http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/dynasty_200_series/
It says that it automatically connects to the right voltage??

 

[side-show-bob]

Could it be the way the 415 plug is wired on the adaptor?

 

[malcolm]

Just read the specs on the Miller site - no idea they could detect voltages. Shouldn't make any difference at all to the welder which way the two live wires are connected. Really bad wiring could connect one of the lives to earth, but that would instantly blow your RCD. So I'm presuming it's not that.

What exactly are the differences you are noticing between being plugged in at work on the 3 phase and at home on the single phase?

Outside welding could have an influence if there's a bit of a breeze to blow the shielding gas away from the tungston tip. Any oxygen near the tungston will burn it away.

 

[side-show-bob]

At work it is as it should be strike an arc and away we go, but at home i struck an arc and the nice sharp pointy tungsten turned into a big blob... I had the gas flow on full with no flow meter if that mattered but i would have thought outside that would help prevent it been blown away?? I really want to use the Tig as it is better on the thin stuff so i am going to try again tomorrow. As yet im not sure what i can do differently..

Rob

 

[malcolm]

Failing touching the tip against the metal the big blob thing does tend to be a lack of gas. Might well be a bit of wind causing the trouble especially if you've ruled the tungston type out by using the same one at work.

Could be worth experimenting with wind breaks when you give it a go again to see if that helps.

 

[side-show-bob]

i m using red tips is that right for mild as at work we are welding stainless can i use the same tip?

 

[PyroDan]

I'm no Tig welder, but from what I have read, Red tips are for mild and stainless.

Danny

 

[snowcat]

yep thoreated are red thats fine. ziconiated are your ally ones which operate at a high temp, not sure the spellings 100% on those but you catch me drift.

 

[weldequip]

Thoriated (Red tip):- Mild/Stainless Steel
Zirconiated (White tip):- Aluminium
Ceriated (Grey Tip):- AC & DC
They are the common ones, there's loads of other types & colour codings but the above will cover more or less everything you guys on here will need.

weldequip

 

[snowcat]

Ceriated now your geting tech steve what about lant's ? or your pure's