New to TIG, advice welcome!

[RS2000WRC]

Hello,
I bought one of the R-tech welders recently as I've always wanted to try my hand at TIG welding and I've gotta say its pretty difficult to pick up

So any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Heres a few pics of my attempts, try not to laugh too much

Heres one of my first attempts, just messing about, seeing how it goes,
moving a bit and stopping

So then I tried some scrap box iron I got layin about,
I'm struggling a bit at adding the filler rod, and generally not being steady with the torch.

Heres what I had the TIG and gas set at, I think I didnt have enough gas flow but those R-tech gauges are hard to set up I'm not sure if its the inner or outter numbers I should be going by?

I then moved on to a bigger piece of box iron,

Going from bottom to top

1ST WELD With filler not very steady with the torch and the filler rod seemed to be melting before I put it in the puddle
2ND WELD Tried without filler, weld looked thin!
3RD WELD Turned th4e amps up to 80, i was very jerky and probably went too fast maybe?
4TH WELD Tried to get the tungsten closer to the weld, but after that weld there was yellow on the tungsten
5TH WELD Just a quick run over
6TH WELD Slow and far away with the torch

 

[shenion]

top weld:

Close gap and torch near vertical helps prevent filler melting before hitting weld pool. Also sliding it in helps too. The elongated ripples are probably too low an angle on torch.

Overall looks good for a start. Try varying current and torch speed. Work on getting a good rhythm and feel.

 

[RS2000WRC]

Thanks! will give it a shot again tomorrow!

 

[rodney769]

Gas flow

Your right about the gas flow. Read the outer numbers on the gauge and the gas flow should be set at about 8-10 litres per minute, you seem to have it set at about 3 Read the tutorials,with a bit of practice its not to bad.My view is if you can oxy/ acy weld then you can tig weld.

 

[gerry3]

Your right about the gas flow. Read the outer numbers on the gauge and the gas flow should be set at about 8-10 litres per minute, you seem to have it set at about 3 Read the tutorials,with a bit of practice its not to bad.My view is if you can oxy/ acy weld then you can tig weld.

Get a flow meter fitted.
The gauge's are too unreliable.

 

[FranV8]

Agree - I got one from RTech - they ahve a nice needle valve too for easy flow setting. Although they are the ball bearing ones, so there are superior one's available.

 

[Westermans]

Not sure how far along you are but found this article which might help!
http://*******/jgKI1l

 

[RS2000WRC]

havent really had time to get much practice in!, I got a gas flow tester to help with setting he gas, il get a few pics up soon!

 

[Kayak-Girl]

Use a flow meter much easier to set up and to see from a distance.
The weld with the brown colouring around it is usually due to a lack of shielding gas as i found out when doing my Tig course at college