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Getting my equipment set-up to tig at home with what I have. I'm an old welder trying to hone my skills and see where I stand personally and equipment wise. Just bought a bottle of argon yesterday to set up for scratch tig on my buzz box for the first time. My camera is not the best, sorry. Look for the black numbers in the pics.Started with 3/32" 2% thoriated tungsten, 45-55 amps DC reverse, 15 cuft/hr argon.Scrap carbon was 14 gauge, #1,2,3 in pics. Started by running puddles and fused the corner with no filler, lots of porosity. Only filler I have is 316 SS so I ran those short beads with 1/16 SS filler. Contminated tungsten many times and had to restart.#4 is about 16 gauge SS and used same as above, looks, well.....#5 and 6 is 304 SS tubing about 3/32 wall. Increased to 65 amps for the thicker material and stepped up to 3/32 316 filler.Took a break in between came back and regulator was leaking, all my crap is old. That's about the 5th regulator I have now the diaphragm is bad. Switched out to the ancient Meco and it works for now.Let me know any suggestions you may have. Questions:1. How much gas flow do you use?2. I see on here where it is common to use 3/32 tungsten. I have a some 3/32 and a lot of 1/16 tungsten but will will need to buy a collet. What size for what appliactions? This is what I have: http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=2659713. Does my cup size look okay. This is an old CK 210 torch.4. Tungsten contaminated a lot due to operator error. I guess the only way is to pull it out and regrind everytime correct? No hand tool for a quick clean while still in collet?5. What's the rule on how far the tungsten should stick out?6. Can that SS weld be cleaned to a mirror finish?Thanks for your time. Attached ImagesLast edited by polarred21; 04-11-2013 at 01:17 PM.
Reply:Here is my power source: Attached Images
Reply:1. Argon flow depends on many things but for that size cup 15 is a good number unless you are using a lot of electrode stick out. The shorter the tungsten stickout, lower gas flow you can get away with due to the cup being physically closer to the weld puddle. Always experiment to see what is too low and what is too high by noting if you get any porosity. 2. 3/32" and 1/16" are good all around tungstens that will allow you to tig a very wide range of material thickness. 1/16" is good up to about 130A DC or so, and 3/32" will take care of pretty much anything else unless you're doing constant welding over 225A. The larger the tungsten you can get away with using (judging from arc starting and arc stability stand points), the longer the tip will stay sharp and crisp. Some people here use ONLY 3/32" tungstens and sharpen them to very long tapers and needle points and they get away with doing very thin materials this way.3. Cup size looks ok, maybe one size too small. Won't hurt going a tad bigger if you can afford the extra argon usage.4. If the molten steel that you picked up does not wick itself up too thickly, you can just insert that end into the torch and use the other sharpened end. That is what I did to make one tungsten electrode into 4--cut in half and sharpen all 4 ends, as use as needed.5. Your filler rod is way too large, so you ended up overheating the SS just to be able to get a nice dabbing action going--I know because I'm guilty of that myself many times. For 3/32" wall I'd try 1/16" or maybe even 0.045" (if it doesn't ball up before reaching the puddle). For SS, one usually needs to minimize the heat input in order to maintain nice welds that won't "gray out" and instantly oxidize once they are out of gas coverage, and one way to do that heat minimizing is to use the smallest filler rod that you still properly feed into the puddle, with no balling up before it gets there, and feeding in at an appropriate rate. Minimizing the arc length helps out greatly because it takes less amperage to get the puddle going, than an arbitrarily longer arc length. You also need to have sufficient post-flow of shielding gas (argon) to minimize/eliminate the gray oxidation---gas lens collet bodies with large alumina nozzles help with this. So, no I don't think that will easily polish to mirror finish unfortunately. Oh, PS: your camera is fine. Look at how your equipment pics came out nice and focused, but only the welds came out blurry Slightly press down on the shutter button before pressing it all the way down to snap the picture---this will allow the camera lens to come into focus, once it does then continue pressing the button all the way down to snap the picture. If it does not come into focus doing this, then you are likely too close to the object(s) and need to back up a little bit.Last edited by Oscar; 04-11-2013 at 02:12 PM. 1st on WeldingWeb to have a scrolling sig! HTP Invertig 400HTP Invertig 221HTP ProPulse 300HTP ProPulse 200 x2HTP ProPulse 220MTSHTP Inverarc 200TLP HTP Microcut 875SC
Reply:First, I'm not a pro, just an experienced hobbyist.A couple of things.First - VERY IMPORTANT. High pressure gas bottles with the cap removed should be chained up to prevent them from ever falling over. See "Myth Busters" about what 2000psi bottle can do to a cynder block wall. (think "rocket").TIG welding is done with "straight polarity' (at least DC). Straight polarity is electrode negative and work clamp positive. If you had them reversed you would have been asking why your electrode keeps melting away. Electrons (negatively charged) should leap from the tungsten to the work piece. So your torch should be "DCEN" - "Direct Current, Electrode Negative" AKA "Straight Polarity"Your machine is a constant current machine. You set it for whatever amps and it tries to maintain that.... The voltage is dependent on the gap the arc has to jump and the gas that it uses (in this case argon). Longer/bigger gaps means more voltage which, with the same amount of amps, means more power which, in turn, means more heat. So you can, to an extent, control the heat by controlling the gap.As for using both ends of a piece of tungsten. If you have a glob of metal on one end, then reverse the tungsten and then use the other end, what do you suppose happens when you get a globe of metal on the second end? Now you've essentially created a bar-bell with your torch in the middle. That is a PITA and a bigger stopper than if you just had another tungsten available. Just sharpen one end - and have spares available. Tungsten is not that expensive.1/16 is good to about 150 Amps (DC -EN). Keep 3/32 on hand, but stick with 1/16 for now. Cup size - I use #7 (roughly 7/16 of an inch diameter) for almost everything. I used to use a #6 but feel the #7 isn't noticably bigger and gives better gas coverage.I also use a 'gas lens' for everything. You'd be surprised on what parts are still available. I used to use a 20 year old WP20 and parts are still available today. See your LWS for details.There are really two factors in the coloration when you weld stainless. One, how well the material is shielded - ON BOTH SIDES. If you make the back side of the material red hot, it will gray. If you make it molten (like a 100% penetrating weld) it will actually form a rough surface (looks like crystallized boogers - real ugly). Read about purging and materials like "Solar Flux".The second part is speed. The slower you go, the more heat you put into the material in total. As you get better and more consistant (every dip the same, maintain torch angles etc. etc) you will be able to turn the amps up a bit - and move faster. Its better to melt a small area faster, than a larger area slower (think heat soak).So the ideal color is 'straw' (or gold). Next is 'salmon' (or pink). Finally there is blue. These colors are generally an indication of oxygen hitting the stainless while it still hot.straw being the best, blue being OK,Since you are doing scratch start, one trick you can do is knock off the work clamp to stop the welding. That will let you keep the torch in place and let the gas cover the hot metal until it cools enough. Note, when you take off the work clamp it will arc. So clamp to the table, not the work piece.Don't try welding squares. In a relatively small area, the circumfrance might be 6", but the square is only 1.5" on a side. That means you basically put 6" of weld were the metal usually can handle only 1.5". Stop, let it cool - preferably to the point you can touch it with your hand.I would recommend you search for post by DSW. He's been kind enough to post detailed 'learning steps'. There is no short cut. If you try to short cut it you will just learn bad habits that will slow down your learning. I would also suggest watching Jody's videos on Welding Tips and Tricks - especially the one on feeding the rod. You don't want to be a welder that can only weld 2" at a time (remember what I said about bad habits).To save yourself money, resources, learn on mild steel. I picked up a box of parts for modular furniture (office cubes), lots of 1/8 - 3/16" steel plates with long, 6-8" edges (at least on one side). You can also hit steel suppliers and ask if you can buy 'drops'. Heck, old door hinges (degrease them first) have nice straight edges at least on one long side.Con Fuse!Miller Dynasty 350Millermatic 350P-Spoolmatic 30AMiller Multimatic 200Hypertherm PowerMax 1000G3Miller Maxstar 200DX
Reply:Thanks for this great feedback. Let me clarify a few things:1. I did start out with DC reverse, tungsten just burned up. Swapped to straight and figured out right away, this is the right polarity.2. I hear you on the gas bottle, thanks for the safety tip. I won't bother to tell you about my stinger clamped to the tig lead dangling between the argon cylinder and my air compressor. I did move it to safer place.3. My torch cable is heavy. Its about 20 feet long and the lead must be 1/0. I need to get a piece of #1 or #2 cable and put about a 6 foot piece on the end. Right now feels like wrestling an elephant snout.4. Sounds like the tungsten just keep some sharpened and ready to keep things moving. You can't see it in the pic but I was running the short collet holder, will only take about a 3 inch piece of tungsten. Have the full length one as well.5. This torch is an old CK 210, I need to look into ordering a few parts for it. I only have a few cups for and they are all teh same size. The old Airco torch I have many more cups and different sizes but the cup thread size is larger and they won't fit the CK. I wonder if CK make a gas distributor collet with larger OD threads to accept these cups? OR maybe I sell the darn thing and get me a new one.6. My camera is a fixed focus undewater Koday, cheap one. I have an auto focusing camera on the way.7. I don't have a lot of thin scrap to practice on, I have to procure more somewhere.8. Yes the SS tubing, I was letting it rock, felt more like brazing which I'm better at. Burned that sucker up but the high heat and large puddle was easy. However, I'm looking for SS clean finish results as you have mentioned. My very first welding job was at Captive Aire systems in Raleigh. They had me doing grunge work. The tig welders used buzz boxes to mainly fuse weld 16 gauge SS restaurant hoods. I sometimes used a device much like a small battery charger with a cotton ball and solution to get the blue out of the very small weld beads. That's what I'm shooting for.9. This argon purge thing, you're saying I need to keep gas coverage in place at the end of the weld bead, this is to keep from oxidizing, correct?10. Yes I need to read more and watch a few good videos, learned the tip about striking with the filler rod from the sticky on this forum.11. Good tips on the colors, what is the color for oh crap, just stuck the tungsten in the puddle!!12. Yes need to get proficient on mild steel. Need to get some scrap and the correct filler rod. I have a whole sleeve of SS 316 and 2 sleeves of aluminum, but no mild steel.
Reply:Originally Posted by con_fuse9As for using both ends of a piece of tungsten. If you have a glob of metal on one end, then reverse the tungsten and then use the other end, what do you suppose happens when you get a globe of metal on the second end? Now you've essentially created a bar-bell with your torch in the middle.
Reply:Yep, sounds like exactly what I saw today. Lots and lots of wicking.Let's lighten this thread up a little bit.....here is an idot (me) trying to tack two pieces of SS today:
Reply:Loved the video!!
Reply:I keep forgetting that you're using scratch start. Maybe you can kick the ground clamp off the leg of the welding table to extinguish the arc without pulling the torch from the workpiece to get proper post flow 1st on WeldingWeb to have a scrolling sig! HTP Invertig 400HTP Invertig 221HTP ProPulse 300HTP ProPulse 200 x2HTP ProPulse 220MTSHTP Inverarc 200TLP HTP Microcut 875SC
Reply:Originally Posted by OscarI keep forgetting that you're using scratch start. Maybe you can kick the ground clamp off the leg of the welding table to extinguish the arc without pulling the torch from the workpiece to get proper post flow
Reply:Originally Posted by WookieWeldingits a simple snap of the wrist to extinguish the arc leaving the area still sheilded with gasalso looks like you are cooking the material |
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发表于 2021-8-31 22:49:11