First ever go at TIG

[chinnybeer]

Hi all, Paul here. I bought a Thermal Arc 175TE the other week. Having never used a TIG before I've finally got gas etc and had go. To be honest I'm well pleased with the results, what do you think?

Need lots more practice yet though and not tried feeding in any filler yet either. There is just soo much great advice on here, cheers

 

[Jim Davey]

Well done, needs a little more filler or a larger diameter rods as the welds are a bit sunken and hot looking, but not to shabby at all for a first go.

 

[BrokenBiker]

not bad, as above you need filler really, there is a lot of undercut on the welds, but as they are autogenous that is to be expected. good for a first go though keep it up

 

[chinnybeer]

Cheers, was probably a bit heavy on the amps too. So used to doing bigger looking welds with MIG and TIG is always much smaller looking so could maybe do with speeding up a bit.

 

[BrokenBiker]

you will find that when you start adding rod the weld will be a bit smaller overall as the puddle cools when you dip the rod, maybe a few less amps and a bit more speed would sort it out but so far so good. just concentrate on arc length and torch angle to begin with, speed will come with practice

 

[chinnybeer]

A slightly higher bench would also help I think, mine is quite low so I struggle a bit to see and automatically change the angle to compensate and start to lose the weld pool and just end up heating the metal. Combination of many things, get them all right at the same time and happy days. Will keep at it. All good advice though, thank you

 

[BrokenBiker]

comfort and view is.paramount with tig.

 

[pedrobedro]

Get some 2.4mm rods and have a go at feeding them. They don't disappear too quickly and are easier to grip till you get the hang then go onto thinner stuff.

 

[chinnybeer]

Might well try that, had a go using 1.6mm rods, found I kept touching the rod on the tungsten, not the best thing to do. Will get there with more practice.