Tungsten prep for ac

[Leetig]

Right lads I seem to have a problem Which is new and I can't seem to figure out what's going on. My tungsten keeps forming a strange hook shape and will not pin point the ark even on higher amps. All my ally has been on cast for the last few weeks and I just assumed it was down to increases cleaning. However this afternoon I was welding a flange on a pulley all of which is new clean ally and it's still at it. I literally done a few inches and I had to sharpen it!!!
Setting were 70 percent en,130 freq, white tip 2.4mm tungsten can never remember the names of em ha! And using advanced square wave. Any suggestions?

 

[Richard.]

Put a pic up if you would pls lee. I'm interested in what the "hook shape looks like. All your settings seem to be in the ball park. Just for experiment sake prep your tungsten with a very shallow point. (Almost flat and put your balance at 50% to see if you can generate a nice shiny ball ) turn the amps down to around 100 so that you don't melt it away.

 

[Leetig]

Will do Richard. I normally prep it depending on amperage used. The more the amps the less the taper and I put a land on the end. The annoying thing is this wasn't a problem when I started!

 

[Richard.]

What is the current your operating. Are you aiming to generate a ball on the end or keep the point. With your balance biased more in the en and using low current there may (and I mean may) be a chance the little bit of ep you have is not enough to ball up the tungsten evenly but may be a little too much en for keeping a point. There for giving an odd shaped finish on the end. It's all I have other than faulty balance control. I stick to a basic guideline with ac. Under 90 amps 1.6 over 90 2.4. If I want to keep a point my balance is up as far as 80% and if I want to round it right off I'll go to 60% sometimes lower for cast (cleaning purposes). Again tungsten prep for high ac freq and narrow arc in a fillet or thin gage I'll prep a Narrow point and aim to keep it with high en% and vica Verca for thicker butt joints where a want a wide arc transfer. Tell me job spec joint and thickness and I'll tell you how I would set up my machine see if it makes a difference.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Are you sure it's on AC and that you haven't accidentally switched to DC. When I stupidly used to grind both ends of a tungsten I mistakenly ended up using a Zirconiated tungsten on DC and the end split and curled round!

 

[Richard.]

Are you sure it's on AC and that you haven't accidentally switched to DC. When I stupidly used to grind both ends of a tungsten I mistakenly ended up using a Zirconiated tungsten on DC and the end split and curled round!

He would be having a lot more problems than a curly tungsten if he was trying to weld Alu in DC.

 

[Leetig]

Are you sure it's on AC and that you haven't accidentally switched to DC. When I stupidly used to grind both ends of a tungsten I mistakenly ended up using a Zirconiated tungsten on DC and the end split and curled round!

No pretty sure ha.

 

[Leetig]

Ok so had another few bits to do today and decided to try another tungsten. No problems? Could the tungsten have been contaminated from all the cast I've been doing.
Richard I'll try balling it a bit more before welding to see how that works.

 

[Richard.]

Well if you've resolved the issue by changing the tungsten then there is no need to. I suggested balling it up to see if the balance on the machine worked as it should. Yeah maybe contamination maybe it was split who knows. Glad it's fixed.