Thermal Arc 202 and Sentinel A50

[KimB]

I got my new tig now. And new welding helmet! Oh and gloves, ESAB gloves. I’m such a fan girl haha.
Firstly the A50 helmet! What a dream to weld with. It’s funny, you don’t realise how bad a cheap helmet is till you try something of this quality, and not many can go round saying I have a touch screen helmet haha. I can :P! I must say though. It can be a pain, if you need to adjust it I have to remove it and take my gloves off. You can see the screen with the mask down (it’s just below the viewing glass) but it’s to close for my eyes to be able to focus (I’m quite long sighted) it also has a button on the side for grinding which is nice, you can have different preferences also, so I have two saved now. One for tig and one for plasma cutting but also it quite a number of spaces for saved settings.

Now onto the tig. This is my first ever time using a tig. The local shop did give me the option to try a Jasic which I asked you all about but with my limited knowledge, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at and didn’t want to take a chance when spending that amount of money. I think I made the right decision though, this machine is very good from the very little experience I’ve now gained.

The button layout is very clear and easy to understand. I did however spend a bit of time speaking to @Richard. And @Tinbasherdan over the last couple days trying to work out what certain phrases meant. This evening I gained a pretty basic knowledge of it though. At first the down slope (which I never touched was set at 7seconds and kept causing havoc but after being told what it was by Richard I lowered it and got great results.

These were the first two welds after the chat with Richard and his help on getting the setting right. Not to bad for a first time. I was using about 65A on 2T without the pedal. I plan on giving the pedal a go tomorrow once I gain some more experience.

Then I started adjusting things. The welds 4 and 5 I was playing with Amps, 4 I think I went higher and 5 I went a bit lower to 60A which caused the wire to stick.
Weld 7 I tried to go what I now realised is the correct way with the torch and rod, I’m right handed and have been welding with the torch in my right hand but moving to the right and filling with my left. It was pointed out that I should be going left

I’ll have more of a play tomorrow and hopefully it’ll improve more so and a bit less jumpy.

 

[Richard.]

Dan has this exact welder he will be great to tell you the ins and outs but I can talk you through that panel easy enough. Missing out the obvious parts.
I don’t think the hot start will do anything on tig Personnely could be wrong but it’s usually associated with MMA.
Initial current is a 4t thing. It’s your start current while your holding the trigger and when you release you slope up into main current. You have an end current or crater current which works in reverse on 4t. When you press the trigger to stop the end current comes in and you release to stop.
Now you have this block in the middle of the graph which is all about pulse. Pulse is 2 currents. It flicks between the 2 currents. What it’s useful for can come another time but you should play with it and get to know what it does. High current is your pulse top current and low current is your bottom end. Width often known as duty is the % of time spent in either high or low and frequency is the hz (no of pulses or times it flicks between currents in a second). Balance and frequency are ac tools and explained in great detail in the guide at the top of this section.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Quality choice of machine, told you you’d like it as always I’m more than happy to help where I can.

 

[Brad93]

Good stuff Kim!

 

[Paulbarrett]

Great stuff, some nice gear there.
Keep practising! I really need to get back into the tig.

 

[cianh91]

I bought the same machine in September and iv found it fantastic . I use kempi and fronius in work and this machine is giving me the same results as a lot more expensive machines best of luck with it

 

[KimB]

Great stuff, some nice gear there.
Keep practising! I really need to get back into the tig.

Thanks Paul, you should! Get that car done hope you’ve cleaned up too haha.

I bought the same machine in September and iv found it fantastic . I use kempi and fronius in work and this machine is giving me the same results as a lot more expensive machines best of luck with it

It’s brill isn’t it. I started using the pedal today but had to go out. I’ll try again in a bit and get some of the pics up from earlier

 

[Paulbarrett]

I have had a massive tidy up, even cleaned the Harrison down. Had to build a new shed put all the crap in though.

 

[backpurge]

I've had the same machine for a while now and very pleased with it, only problem I've had with it is the on torch current adjustment, packed up twice now so am going to start using a standard torch, which to be honest, I prefer

 

[KimB]

I have had a massive tidy up, even cleaned the Harrison down. Had to build a new shed put all the crap in though.

Remember, if you ever want to sell that lathe make sure you message me first

I've had the same machine for a while now and very pleased with it, only problem I've had with it is the on torch current adjustment, packed up twice now so am going to start using a standard torch, which to be honest, I prefer

Oh. Do you have a pedal?

 

[backpurge]

Remember, if you ever want to sell that lathe make sure you message me first



Oh. Do you have a pedal?

No Kim, have always preferred to set the amps on the set and just used the torch switch for arc on, arc off. Never used the amperage control on the torch but because of a fault with the torch it sometimes sends the amps you've set on the machine hay wire

 

[KimB]

No Kim, have always preferred to set the amps on the set and just used the torch switch for arc on, arc off. Never used the amperage control on the torch but because of a fault with the torch it sometimes sends the amps you've set on the machine hay wire

Christ, that’d be a pain.

 

[KimB]

Had a bit more of a play today. Used the pedal for a bit. Not as bad as I thought. I’m not able to control the Amps other than all or nothing but I’ll get here.
Middle one here was third time with he pedal. First two times I had an issue with the mask steaming so I couldn’t see. Also the pedal got stuck on the wheel of my mig welder

I then just tried running beads. Eventually the last one I managed somehow to feet wire for the first time. I did have my hand quite far away though, made it hard for me to accurately put the filler into the weld.

Then I decided to weld an off cut onto it. Start and then realised I needed bigger wire so went to 1.5mm, also realised it was to cold so upped it to about 120 here but I think I raised it more for the second off cut which I didn’t get a pic off.

 

[Brad93]

I've had the same machine for a while now and very pleased with it, only problem I've had with it is the on torch current adjustment, packed up twice now so am going to start using a standard torch, which to be honest, I prefer

Can’t get on with the thermal arc torch with the current on it. Bloody horrible.

 

[KimB]

Can’t get on with the thermal arc torch with the current on it. Bloody horrible.

I found it unnatural position for the on off button but it may be because I’m a bit cackhanded

 

[Brad93]

I found it unnatural position for the on off button but it may be because I’m a bit cackhanded

I think maybe if you use it enough you’ll get used to it but I picked one up a few weeks ago and it was totally alien to me.

 

[Richard.]

It was one of those TA pot torches that came with my tweco. I didn’t care for it too much. Problem is Brad we have been spoilt with the offerings from weldtec speedway and ihead so not much out there now is likely to be up to standard

 

[Richard.]

Kim will soon build herself a cooler no doubt once she starts getting into ac.
She will need a new torch then and then she will never pick up a wp26 again after having a wp20.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Kim will soon build herself a cooler no doubt once she starts getting into ac.
She will need a new torch then and then she will never pick up a wp26 again after having a wp20.

love my little 20 keep forgetting my work machine hasnt got a cooler though and cooking the torch head

 

[Richard.]

Yep. I use a wp20 95% of the time. Very occasionally a 20 won’t go in then I’ve got two choices really. A wp24w or a wp20 stubby kit which allows me to use wp24 consumables on the 20 torch. They are a fortune mind.