Learning to tig weld

admin

Went out and bought some 1/16 red tungsten and 1/16 e70s-6 filler rod .  How thick of metal should I be able to practice on with this size.  Is there a good chart out there I can reference
Reply:Maybe start here:http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...ur-skills/tig/Click on the "TIG Guidelines".  Some good info in there.
Reply:Thanks for the info just what I was lookin for
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWI've done so many  "how to tig" threads here I've lost count... I should probably start tagging them with "new tig thread" or something like that to make them easier to find.1st go on line to Miller and download their tig handbook as well as the manual for your machine. Read thru them and they will answer most of your basic questions on this. http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/TIGhandbook/As suggested, get some 1/8" steel  ( we use 3" wide 6" long pieces) and grind/sand off the mill scale, both sides preferably. If the steel is oily, you'll also need to wipe it down with acetone ( do not use brake cleaner!) You can skip the grinding if you buy cold rolled rather than hot rolled, but CR is more money. It's usually cheaper to grind. Note a wire wheel will not remove rust or mill scale, only polish it. You need to grind sand to prep.Grind your 3/32" tungsten to a pencil point and set the machine at roughly 125 amps on DC, argon at about 15-20 cfh. Extend the tungsten out of the cup about 3/8" roughly. This will let you see the arc better.1st drill I usually have students do is to just run beads with no filler on flat plate. Try and get comfortable and set up so you can maintain a consistent arc length and travel speed across the piece. You will be using the pedal to manipulate the amps in this drill. As you run the beads, play with the pedal to get a feel on what happens as you depress the pedal. Make the puddle smaller and larger at will. Remember the plate will heat up and if you don't keep cooling it down, it will act like you are upping the amps. I tell students the pieces are cool enough when you can handle them with your bare hands. A quench bucket and several pieces to work with will allow you to keep practicing without having to wait all day for coupons to cool between beads,Next reset the amps to say 90-95 and floor the pedal. In this drill you will now vary either the distance you have the tungsten from the work, or your travel speed ( drill #3 is to vary the one you didn't do in this drill) Get a feel how these changes affect the arc and puddle. Don't worry too much about these right now, the idea is mostly to get you to understand that varying these will change and effect the puddle. For most of the rest of the drills, you'll want to try and maintain as consistent travel speed and arc length as possible and just change your amps with the pedal.After these drills, say maybe an hour of "play time", try to run a bead by adding filler. 1/16" filler is a good size to work with. I usually suggest the students start with a lay wire method where they keep the filler in contact with the plate, and bring the puddle to the filler. Remember you melt the filler with the puddle, not the arc. You can slide the filler along the plate and into and out of the puddle as needed. If your amps are on the low side, some times the filler rod tends to be "sticky" and want to stick to the plate using this method though. Add a few more amps with the pedal if this is the issue. You can also "tap" the filler in like a drum stick or "stab" the filler at the puddle. I usually don't suggest new students stab the filler at the beginning as they usually will constantly hit the tungsten and foul it. get used to grinding your tungsten and get in the habit of stopping to regrind as soon as you foul the tungsten.You also will want to practice feeding filler with your left hand ( assuming you are right handed). Get yourself a length of filler rod, and practice feeding it thru your hand while wearing your tig glove when you are watching tv to help develop the muscle memory for doing this.Once you can run consistent beads the full 6" length of the plate, try overlapping the previous bead by 50%. Once you can consistently do these, you can move on to lap joints, followed by T joints, outside corners, and finally but joints in that order.Then you go back to the beginning for horizontal joints and start the whole process all over again with beads on flat plate... Then the same thing for vertical followed by overhead. After all of this, you can move to thinner  material and start all over again with say 1/16" and then finally start on round tube.Post up picts of your practice pieces along with your settings etc and we'll help you with this.One other thing. Because tig allows you the most control over the weld, it means that there are a lot of things you will have to manage all at once and keep the same to get good results. Best way to learn is to take a class so that someone can watch as you weld and pick up on many of these small changes that you are not aware of. There's only so much that can be done with picts. It's much easier to pick out a lot of this stuff if someone is watching you though.Good luck.
Reply:Going to get 3/32 tomorrow thanks for the info.
Reply:[attach]350881[/attach Attached Images
Reply:First time tig welding used 3/32 red 15cfh 100% argon with a amp setting of 80 on a simadre 5200 machine what am I doing wrong other than being a newbie
Reply:Originally Posted by Jdaddy350First time tig welding used 3/32 red 15cfh 100% argon with a amp setting of 80 on a simadre 5200 machine what am I doing wrong other than being a newbie
Reply:how many times did you dip the tungsten and not re-sharpen??Also, slightly hold the shutter button on your camera before making a full "press" in order for the camera to focus on the object.  If your pictures come out the same, then you're just too close for that particular camera to focus and you'd be better off backing off, taking the picture, and cropping/resizing it before saving it and posting it.Last edited by Oscar; 03-21-2013 at 06:35 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:Originally Posted by Oscarhow many times did you dip the tungsten and not re-sharpen??.
Reply:Thanks guys for the info u are absolutely correct I was getting ahead of myself.  I by know means am trying to short cut this .   I was just messing and thought I would see what it would do. The tungsten was brand new and freshly sharpened at beginning of weld and I did foul it mid weld when I touched it with filler rod that I apparently don't know how to use and for that matter should not be trying to use. Recently enrolled in a local tech school an  really just trying to get as much hood time as possible before it starts as currently am very inexperienced with any type of welder but just purchased this machine and a mm175 to practice with.  So all criticism and comments are very much appreciated
Reply:Pretty much what everyone else said, using a thicker piece of scrap is much easier for a beginner in that you won't have to deal with over heating the material as much and it lets you concentrate on hand eye movements.....Start off by just making small tacks, maybe three dabs with the filler until you get the feel of what your doing....Last edited by B_C; 03-21-2013 at 09:14 PM.  Miller Dynasty 350Twenty Six HammersThree Crow BarsBig Rock