- Thread starter KingMT
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I also moved from the trigger to the foot paddle after a couple more passes. The paddle seems much easier. I was running 4T on the trigger & keep forgetting the last action in the trigger so I didn't get a taper off on the amps.
Things are still far from pretty but I think I can stick two pieces of metal together. Now if I would just quit dipping my electrode. At least not dipping it as often but I'm sure I've already used an inch of it.
Things are still far from pretty but I think I can stick two pieces of metal together. Now if I would just quit dipping my electrode. At least not dipping it as often but I'm sure I've already used an inch of it.
Spuddevans
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I've been learning for about a year now, ground my way through 2 and a half tungsten's. It does get better, now most sessions I only have to re-grind once or twice instead of nearly every time I run a bead!!!
Tim
Richard.
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Yes it does get easier after time.
You will need to ensure you have a good clear vision mind.
Clean covers on your mask with correctly selected shade and sensitivity. If you wear glasses or contacts for seeing at short distances a cheater maginfying insert can also help.
If vision isn't a problem but keeping a steady hand is then find a way to prop and slide so you can keep your arc length tight for a long period without becoming uncomfortable and touching down. Alu is one for catching newcomers at this because you fill and increase the reinforcement higher than the arc length your maintaining with makes the pool touch the tungsten creating a mess. With Alu I tend to raise the arc ever so slightly at the point I add filler then as I move forward I come back down to move the pool along then raise add fill repeat. This works well for me. With DC I don't bother I just keep it as tight as possible and move along
You will need to ensure you have a good clear vision mind.
Clean covers on your mask with correctly selected shade and sensitivity. If you wear glasses or contacts for seeing at short distances a cheater maginfying insert can also help.
If vision isn't a problem but keeping a steady hand is then find a way to prop and slide so you can keep your arc length tight for a long period without becoming uncomfortable and touching down. Alu is one for catching newcomers at this because you fill and increase the reinforcement higher than the arc length your maintaining with makes the pool touch the tungsten creating a mess. With Alu I tend to raise the arc ever so slightly at the point I add filler then as I move forward I come back down to move the pool along then raise add fill repeat. This works well for me. With DC I don't bother I just keep it as tight as possible and move along
Sheild is clean, set on a 9 shade, sensitivity is as high as it goes, I have a 2x cheater, & I ware my glasses also.
I think my hand is steady but I'm still having a tough time seeing.
Part of my problem is I don't have a great place to weld. I have a cheap tent car port that I'm working in. The wind blew & that is when my arc went everywhere. I don't know if the wind has anything to do with it or just distracted me long enough to dip my tungsten. It was one heck of a ball on the end tho.
The tent is much easier to see in then trying outside was. That is why I had to pull cable is to get 220v in my tent. Lol
Another problem might be my cheap shield. It replaced another auto darkening that had went to dark. I thought my sight was getting to bad to flux core weld till I switched to this shield. Things got much better. On a low amperage(10A) with this shield it doesn't darken.
I got my new tungsten today. I only had time to run one bead with it. I was using the yellow which seemed to run much smoother them the gray one did. I also got some pure tungsten that is marked green but looking at a chart I found online doesn't rate it for a inverter machine like mine. Does that mean I can't use it?
Brad93
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Green is best kept for aluminium on transformer machines. Bit outdated now, rare earth metal oxide doped tungsten has lots of benefits over pure tungsten. Better arc starting, more stable at higher amperage etc etc.
I personally use these, one tungsten covers all applications. Binzel call them EP3.
http://www.huntingdonfusion.co.uk/i...-electrodes-a-grinders/multi-strike-tungstens
I personally use these, one tungsten covers all applications. Binzel call them EP3.
http://www.huntingdonfusion.co.uk/i...-electrodes-a-grinders/multi-strike-tungstens
Looking at that chart I thought to myself I should have ordered the blue. I bought the green thinking that was what i needed for aluminum. I guess since they won't work in my machine I can make myself a scribe to use them in. I've be considering making one anyhow.
Brad93
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Lathanated 2% (usually blue) is what you want, works on AC and DC very well. Hybrid tungsten (purple) like multistrike or binzel EP3 is usually lathanated but with other dopants to improve the qualities of the tungsten even more. They are more expensive than normal tungstens. Over here a pack of 10 is around £23 for 1/16" which is a fair bit more than your usual cheapy thoriated.
Richard.
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Pure tungsten has its place and is often used by old school welders on big transformers where the "only" way to weld aluminium is with a big ball on the electrode. That's fine and it works but we know better that Alu is now often welded with pointed electrodes on inverter machines with advanced wave patterns and the pure softer tungsten doesn't hold out so well in this case.
Soft sine wave transformers with buttery arc charactotistic a they perform ok but on a harsh square wave they suffer due to been softer than the alloyed tungstens.
Soft sine wave transformers with buttery arc charactotistic a they perform ok but on a harsh square wave they suffer due to been softer than the alloyed tungstens.
DennisCA
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Not to hijack anothers thread but I wonder if any other beginner experienced this. I decided to just up the amps last night to 150A while doing some practice beads on a 2x2 piece of rectangular tubing (1/8" wall). Wow much much easier to work with now, feels like I cleared a major hurdle in welding.
I don't have a foot pedal and my LCD screen is broken so I go by the numbers on the pot which is 1-10, I've never gone above 4 which I figure is 120A (machine does 300A and it has 10 settings with infinite adjustment, so each number should be around 30A) since my torch is rated for 130A. I thought, based on what I had read, that it would be easier to work with lower amps and go slower, but I found the inverse to be true.
I don't have a foot pedal and my LCD screen is broken so I go by the numbers on the pot which is 1-10, I've never gone above 4 which I figure is 120A (machine does 300A and it has 10 settings with infinite adjustment, so each number should be around 30A) since my torch is rated for 130A. I thought, based on what I had read, that it would be easier to work with lower amps and go slower, but I found the inverse to be true.
DennisCA
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Yeah, I know but I had to test, I upped it in order to test tacking and it just worked better. But it seems quite unusable below 150A to me on the stuff I am learning, perhaps I need thinner electrodes for lower amps, using 3/32nds now, and thinner material.
Maybe I cannot trust the pot. I'd like to replace the LCD so I know for sure what amps I am using.
Maybe I cannot trust the pot. I'd like to replace the LCD so I know for sure what amps I am using.
I have a junk fuel take that I was going to replace for $50 & I would have been money ahead to do so but I figured I needed the practice. I've been quite impressed with my new machine & I'm not upset with the welds I'm laying down.
I've found the foot paddle to be a very useful addition to the machines ability since the metal is thick & thin because of the pitting. I need low amps to fill in the holes, a little more hear to fill in the thin spots, & almost twice as many amps to go back to remelt & flow the new metal were I built up the holes.
I ordered & picked up some smaller filler yesterday so hopefully it's easier to dab in smaller amounts instead of trying to keep from gobbing in from the larger filler.
I have come to the conclusion that I bought to small of a bottle of argon tho. That stuff really goes fast. The salesman at the LWS told me he would trade me up in bottle sizes tho. All of the LWSs I've delt with have reasonable CS but this place to me goes above & beyond. They are already cheaper then any other place I've been including the big box stores & in most cases cheaper then eBay & other mail order placed I've looked. Tungsten is pricy there but most things I can save money by shopping at Matheson's. I never even heard of this place until a salesman at Airgas sent me there informing me that they were cheaper. It's nice having someone else look out for my pocketbook.
I've found the foot paddle to be a very useful addition to the machines ability since the metal is thick & thin because of the pitting. I need low amps to fill in the holes, a little more hear to fill in the thin spots, & almost twice as many amps to go back to remelt & flow the new metal were I built up the holes.
I ordered & picked up some smaller filler yesterday so hopefully it's easier to dab in smaller amounts instead of trying to keep from gobbing in from the larger filler.
I have come to the conclusion that I bought to small of a bottle of argon tho. That stuff really goes fast. The salesman at the LWS told me he would trade me up in bottle sizes tho. All of the LWSs I've delt with have reasonable CS but this place to me goes above & beyond. They are already cheaper then any other place I've been including the big box stores & in most cases cheaper then eBay & other mail order placed I've looked. Tungsten is pricy there but most things I can save money by shopping at Matheson's. I never even heard of this place until a salesman at Airgas sent me there informing me that they were cheaper. It's nice having someone else look out for my pocketbook.
