My Tig progression pics:-

[carlos420uk]

Ok so I've been practising with my R-Tec 200amp ac/dc Tig for around a month or so now. Started off as per the tutorial and followed steps. After a few weeks of just laying beads on all kinds of things from hoover pipes to biscuit tin tops lol, I moved onto joints.

Here are a load of random pics of my progress.

The first few are of a little 100x100mm box I made from 1.5mm mild HRS. I used the pedal and had the machine set at 60amps for this. A little choppy in places, but I got the job done without melting through.

The little piece of angle with a triangle "Gusset" if you will, is going to be a harness eye bolt mount that bolts into an oem point on the chassis. I want to weld the little 2mm gussets either side (God knows if they will make any difference, I just wanted to weld something) and so choose to do it as a butt weld. Thing is it's quite hard getting a weld along the edge like that without melting it off.
The pics are just a few practise pieces I knocked up to figure out how to get it right. I'm tending to start from the pointed end (on a tack) and travel towards the middle now with the torch pointing at the 2mm flat part rather than the edge; is this the best approach? I did some runs finishing at the end but found it hard to keep the puddle going with out it turning out like a dogs dinner.

All other pics are just of practise beads on various scraps and coupons I cut out. Getting there slowly I think, I just need to master keeping the bead and filler addition consistent and straight as I tend to come off course if I haven't a line or joint to follow.

Lastly I have found that as a beginner arc length, torch angle, and having enough amps at the pedal should you need them are the 3 most important things to get right.

Any comments / pointers welcome

 

[justmental]

very nice welds. you need to try aluminium now

 

[ChrisJohnsSculpture]

Looks good to me. I certainly can't see any obvious issues apart from the odd wobble here and there, a lot of them look very good indeed and it looks like you're putting a pretty even amount of heat into the welds. Consistency will come with practice and experience.

Pics of the reverse sides of the butt welds will tell more about penetration

 

[carlos420uk]

justmental:- Thanks mate, I have run a few beads on alloy 1mm sheet, but when I tried a few lap joints it ended in fail big time as I just melted the top plate away. I need to get some thicker stuff to play with really.

ChrisJohnsSculpture:- Cheers. I do have a tendency to wobble off line a little leading to an uneven weld but am getting better as I relax more. Once I get my new torch I'm hoping it will be less of a handfull and easier to hold steady.

The but welds did have 100% penetration on the backside, below is a pic of the one. Backside looks a bit nasty because I didn't clean off the mill scale

 

[justmental]

i was doing the same as you this is on 1.5mm plate running around 65amps max a gas lenses and a 2.4 tungsten.
the good thing with a foot pedal is being able to back off the amps easy.
if the weld is blowing away from you and blowing a hole its to much heat
back down on the amps ( ease up on the pedal ) and try again.