setting your gas

[BrokenBiker]

my tig experience isn't that vast, I usually only use pre set up machines on mild steel.

however I am becoming more and more interested in the lift tig function on my inverter so I have bought myself a decent torch with a gas valve (17 size) and a set of tungstens and ceramics and so on.

the only thing I don't really know is how do you decide how much gas you need? does it depend on thickness of materials or type of material?

I will probably only ever tig weld up to 3mm stainless with my machine and probably not much thinner than 1.5mm

 

[Paul.]

Set the flow to around 5 to 6 lpm and leave it there, any more is a waste it will be fine for most jobs, outside corners sometimes need a touch more but on fillets you can get away with a little less, get yourself a peashooter type flowmeter to set it at the torch rather than rely on what the regulator gauge tells you. http://www.weldequip.com/gas-flow-tester.htm

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers paul. I have one like that on my argon bottle will have a play in the morning