My first attempt at TIG, not good 8o(

[3 Ducks]

HI everyone
I have recently bought a TIG welder to weld thin mild steel, aluminium, stainless ect thin plate.
The welder is a CEBORA and using PURE ARGON. AC for ally, DC for the rest,
I have used white coded Tungsten for ally and red code for all others, all points were coned and the correct distance fron the shroud.

I test welded on ally. mild steel, and stainless, when welding a flat surface all welds were very good with good penertration and no burning thro GREAT!

Problem was when welding 2 pieces together EG one plate on top of the other or at 90 degrees, I find that the top plate always melts and weld not "sticking" to the bottom plate, infact it looks a mess!

Any ideas please, I need lots of practice but dont understand why it welding 2 pieces together so bad when i can weld a single piece so good
Ray

 

[malcolm]

I had the same problem with learning TIG. Seems to be down to the filler wire. If there's the slightest gap between two sheets it needs to bridged by filler wire, otherwise all the heat goes into one sheet and burns it away while the other one stays stone cold.

The trick I found was to practice on thicker metal. I'd been messing with 0.8mm sheet. When I started practicing on 1.5mm everything started to come together and I could get away with a little experimentation. Same techniques could then be used on 0.8 with success.

I've been updating the "TIG - how hard can it be" thread with my learning experiences, though haven't done a lot of TIG recently.

 

[MigTig]

To do a lap joint like you have mentuioned, you need to get it going with filler, and on thin sheet, once the pool is there, you shouldnt require further filler. Keep your amps right down, sometimes under 30amps, as long as there is still a bit of penetration.

 

[3 Ducks]

Thanks for the repy guys, my welder goes down to 5 amps, was using about 35 on the mild steel....
will give it another go later this evening.. i just prepaired a 90 degree joint in ally..
material is about 2mm think. iI have run out of steel plate LOL.
Thanks to you both again - will let you know how i get on...
Ray

 

[MigTig]

Though expensive, I found the best thing to learn TIG with was on small plates of stainless. Unlike MIG, you wont learn much buy simply laying straight welds on the sheet, practice on Butt, Lap, Tee etc, and you will learn more in a quicker time. You are bound to get through some metal doing this, but Mild steel is currently fairly cheap, so its a good way to get going. I studied on 200X60mm, 2mm thick strips of sheet steel. I welded them untill I was sick of it and my arms were about to fall off. Did that for 6months on the TIG, and similar for two months on MIG.

I still enjoy TIG the most, but MIG is the way to go for 90% of most repair jobs I do. And my little Clarke hasnt let me down yet, infact Im even getting into MIG welding enough to buy a new Portamig shortly.

Then saving for a full size AC-DC tig as there is a lot of specialist work in this as a repairer.

 

[3 Ducks]

Not a very successful night im afraid to say, I just can seem to put 2 pieces together it at the moment, may be im trying too hard !
Will try again tomorrow

 

[chap]

Hi there.
Sometimes to start the weld and get the two pieces up to temperature and puddle, i wave the tourch in a small circular motion.

With a lap joint the exposed edge will go first, so you need to concentrate the arc on the lower piece of material using the circular motion. Then as this is coming up to temp include the edge of the upper piece of material in the area of the circular motion.
With practise, the upper material will melt and flow into the lower. Sometimes it can be useful to prod where the weld is staring with filler rod, especially with ally. This will bridge the two peices and start the weld run.

I believe a fillit weld is the easiest to start with, the 'corner' gives you a guide as to where your going.
Tee shape will draw uneven heat from the arc for the base compared to the upright. So to start, try welding up 90 deg angle, with each piece at 45 deg to your bench top.

Play around with the angle at which you hold the torch. To start, i tend to hold it more 'head on' (90 deg) to work piece, then as the weld run initiates, move to more like 45-30 deg. This then gives some preheating of the to be welded area, and also pushes gas sheald where you are dipping the filler rod in.
Incidentially, i find adding the filler rod at about 20-30 deg (opposite hand to torch) works well to not contaminate weld.

Most of my experience is with ally by the way.
Hope this gives you something to get your teeth into!

Good luck
Nathan

 

[3 Ducks]

Hi Nathan,
Thanks for your message, its most appreciated, and will try what you have explaned to me, Think my next move is a proper welding mask so I can see more clearly, I used a make do hobby shield which as not too good, and im Embarrassed to say when i woke up this morning my face was red and sore (hehe)..
Oh well, part of the fun is learning..
Next on my shopping list is a mask, fancy one of those ones that go dark when the weld light up, then I can have another go !!
If I ever get a good weld with out microwaving my face I will put a pic on here
Regards Ray

 

[malcolm]

If I ever get a good weld with out microwaving my face I will put a pic on here

You ought to post what you've got (no need to include the face). The auto-darkening masks are only good for getting the torch in the right position before you start welding. That is very useful, but once you are going it doesn't make much difference (unless you have a hand held mask - you need 2 hands for TIG and growing a third hand just to hold a mask would be silly).

 

[3 Ducks]

will post some pics of my welding soon as im set up correctly, i have now some 1.5mm steel to practice on !
Face news - nose stll peeling - wifey still laffin, says im not allowed to weld untill i get a proper mask and gloves..

 

[HughF]

Make sure your tungsten is needle sharp... take a look over at the education pages on millerwelds.com

And if you touchdown, get a clean tungsten!

Hugh

 

[3 Ducks]

Thanks hugh,
I have a new tungsten to grind up this week, hopfully my mask will arrive this week also, now i have more of an idea what i'm doing, i will post some pics of my welding for you guys to look at

I must admit im enjoying the learning of something ive wanted to do for a long time !

I also have 210 amp arc welder which welds Beautifully, im hoping my TIG skills improve with practice.