New to tig, opinions on these welds welcome!

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Be easy guys, I have a grand total of about 5 hours at this so far.  I am a LONG way from the first couple hours and that is mainly thanks to reading a lot on here and watching many tig videos on youtube and weldingtipsandtricks.com  But here they are...one chromoly and one stainless.  Both are on tubing which I know is more difficult, but I wanted to learn on what I plan on welding I can honestly say I enjoy it much more than mig welding or flux core welding, but man is it ever slower!  Weeeelllll here are the pics:Stainless 18 gauge tubing with no backpurge (only one bottle right now other than 75/25)Chromoly .083 wall
Reply:Sorry, just realized chromoly pic was kinda crappy.  I know one thing I am struggling with is adjusting the torch as I get too far around the corners.
Reply:CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN!!!!!!!!!The first pic shows porosity and it's pretty ugly but with some proper coaching you will be much better much sooner....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Originally Posted by sargBe easy guys, I have a grand total of about 5 hours at this so far. I am a LONG way from the first couple hours and that is mainly thanks to reading a lot on here and watching many tig videos on youtube and weldingtipsandtricks.com But here they are...one chromoly and one stainless. Both are on tubing which I know is more difficult, but I wanted to learn on what I plan on weldingSorry, just realized chromoly pic was kinda crappy.  I know one thing I am struggling with is adjusting the torch as I get too far around the corners.
Reply:Thanks Zap!  I had not really cleaned those parts as well as I needed to.  I guess I got over excited with this new tig machine   Time to step back and start doing the basics. DWS, I had seen that thread and it seemed in the beginning it was going nowhere.  I just went back and saw all the responses.  I'll get some 1/8 and try to learn some more about welding it.  I just have access to a bunch of free misc scraps of stainless tube and figured I would start with the free stuff and mess it up first, lol.  Looking back on that thread there were some great links (which read to some more links) that I have read through.  Hopefully I absorbed all of it and can make some improvements!Oh, and not sure what you mean about the pictures....text all looks fine in my browser.  What browser are you using?Couple questions...is it bad to start, stop, adjust, start, stop, adjust, repeat when tigging?  Also very good to know about arc length and starting the weld!  Should you start the initial weld a tad further back and then bring the arc in as you get going?Last edited by sarg; 05-05-2012 at 11:17 AM.
Reply:Some practice today on some mild 1/8 inch steel.  I should have stripped it down all the way, but as it turns out I was done anyways as I ran out of argon.  Any better?Last edited by sarg; 05-08-2012 at 06:44 PM.
Reply:I circled the 2 best ones you did there. The vertical one could use the filler added a bit more consistently, but it's not bad for your level. The area underlined in yellow is very close to what you should be shooting for.  You want to get to the point where you can consistently do welds that look like this every time.The rest  of the beads, I see a lot of consistency issues. The biggest issues seems to be how often you are adding filler. I'm wondering if the filler isn't balling up and dropping into the puddle every so often or if you really are simply only adding filler that infrequently. Some of the others look too hot/ not enough filler. Attached Images.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:It did ball up every now and again.  I would then go back and try to fix it as best I could by getting it to work into the current puddle.  One thing that happened every so often that had me confused was when I added the rod it would almost make the puddle recede from where I added the filler...what causes that?  I was also trying to experiment with distance from the piece to see how it effected the puddle.  This is all very new and the only person that I know that knows how to weld is not good at teaching...he is great at tig welding, but has a hard time conveying how to do it to me.  For the longest time I thought the flame/arc melted the rod rather than the puddle!
Reply:Originally Posted by sargIt did ball up every now and again.  I would then go back and try to fix it as best I could by getting it to work into the current puddle.
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWThat might explain some of what I'm seeing. Skip going back over your welds. That won't really "fix" a problem, only hide it. Generally I see 2 ways this usually happens, #1 would be simply melting the rod with the arc and dropping it on a cold plate. I don't see the distinctive signs of this, but your going back over the beads might have disguised the signs. #2 is that they have the torch angled too far forward, often in conjunction with small rods. ( That's why it's important to list all the info, like rod size as well as amps and material thickness). The heat that's pouring out in front of the torch is melting the filler before it ever gets to the  puddle. It's very typical with alum because the rods melt so much easier than with steel. You need to keep the torch fairly vertical, so the heat stays focused on the plate, not out in front.
Reply:It's been a few, but I have been practicing a decent amount and started working on the turbo kit for my car.  I have learned that fit up is my friend!  Any big gaps start to make it really tough.  Stainless to stainless.  They were supposed to both be 304, but they did not weld as clean as the known 304 pipe does to itself.  My guess is the flanges were some other alloy.  My recent attempt:
Reply:Are you doing the Vband in 1" sections or so? Too much heat will warp that flange.Are you welding the inside too?Torchmate 2x2 CNC with Flashcut CNC controlsHypertherm Powermax45 Esab ET220i Razorweld 195 MigRazorweld 200ac/dc TigTormach 770, Tormach xstechRazorweld, Vipercut/Vipermig, SSC Foot Pedal Dealer
Reply:I did it in 1-1 1/2" sections then took it to a nice level sander after.  I just hit the inside in 3 or 4 small 1/2" tacks at 12, 3, 6, and 9 oclock to keep it from warping as I welded.Edit:  Oh, I also had the flange clamped to a piece of large flat thick aluminum to try to draw any heat out as I welded!Last edited by sarg; 01-14-2013 at 06:22 PM.
Reply:that flange is mild i personally have v-bands clamped to whatever they clap to (wastegate, othe half od vband, etc.) when i weld them and ive never had any issues with warping. is that a dump tube, wastegate mount tube or exhaust piping?mike
Reply:That is exhaust tubing.  Coming right off the manifold (also had vband) and leading to the turbo.
Reply:So any thoughts on the weld, other than the fact that I probably should have used a 309 rod instead for mild to stainless?
Reply:well from what I can tell, the gas coverage and heat input was good, only judging from the color of the beads and only from that 1/8 circumference that shows a good view.  What about the rest of the 7/8 of the circumference?  Don't get me wrong;  I know I can see "half" of the circumference of the weld, but the welds that are 90° to either side from the point of view of that shot are not always in the right lighting to see them accurately.Also, show the inside.  Did it sugar up?
Reply:It looked pretty similar all the way around and did not sugar on the inside at all.  Using 2 bottles instead of splitting one for the purge seemed to work much better for some reason.  I will see if I can get some more pics.
Reply:Originally Posted by sargIt looked pretty similar all the way around and did not sugar on the inside at all.  Using 2 bottles instead of splitting one for the purge seemed to work much better for some reason.  I will see if I can get some more pics.
Reply:I had two regulators before hooked up to a T fitting, but it did not seem to work as well for whatever reason.