TIG Sycrowave 200 Help

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Hello Everyone,I am new to TIG welding and new to the forum, any help would be greatly appreciated!  I need some help clarifying all the different processes on my new machine.  Examples would be great. Pulse control, Balance/DIG control, Postflow, Syncrostart, Pulser peak and back round.  I will not be using the stick function at all.  I will be starting to practice on 1/16 stainless due to the fact that I have an abundance of it around the shop.  Any recommendations on what amperage to start with as well as tungsten size, filler rod an other tips that may be useful.  I have been reading a lot and it sounds like I may need to use a backer.   I have some 1/4  in aluminum diamond plate, will that work?ThanksWarren
Reply:There are lots of folks on the site more experienced than me with both this machine and with stainless...but, just to get things started...The tungsten size should be fine.  Gas backing (or back purging) is needed if you are trying to do some sanitary welds, but you can probably practice without it.  You will just get some crusty stuff on the back side...nothing to worry about when you are just practicing the motions.Pulse is just what it sounds like...it has a low current flowing all the time and pulses a higher current.  This allows you to weld thinner material without melting it...it has some other good qualities but, I think that's the main thing.balance is the control over the shape of the wave of the current.  Moving it back and forth increases and decreases cleaning.  The flip side of that is that it decreases or increases the penetration.  Set in the middle and you are running ac, turned in either direction away from the middle and you are pushing towards DC (straight or reverse polarity) current.Postflow just allows the argon to flow after the arc is extinguished.  You want some post flow to protect your tungsten from oxidation when it's still hot.  You want a bit more postflow when welding stainless or aluminum to protect the puddle.Don't know what syncrostart is...Last edited by smithboy; 01-05-2007 at 10:20 AM.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Thanks alot Smith, What amps do you guys think I should start out with when welding the thin stainless?  I wil attempt my first pass 2day after work. Here goes!WarrenWaren's CycleMiller Syncrowave 200Snap-on MIG
Reply:Congratulations! This is a great machine to learn on. I'll try and clarify some of the functions for you. The pulse control allows you to either pulse weld or shut the pulse function off. Pulse is really useful on thin materials, and the best way to explain how it works is that the machine pulses back and forth from a high peak current to an extremely low background current, in fact the background current is so low that if you would try to weld at that low of an amperage the arc would extinguish, but since it switches (pulses) back and forth from the high peak to the low background it allows you to maintain an arc. The balance control is helpful when welding aluminum, as you need to punch through the outer oxide layer on the aluminum in order to get through to the base material, this oxide melts at 3,000 degrees, but the base material underneath melts at approximately 1,200 degrees. When you have the balance control in the "balanced" position, this means you are spending 50%, or equal time on the positive (or top) side of the AC cycle, and 50% of the time on the negative (or bottom) side of the cycle. I believe on this machine the most you can go is 55% on either side of the AC cycle. One of the biggest battles with aluminum is making sure it's clean before welding, if you happen to have a piece that isn't the cleanest, you can set your balance control more towards the cleaning side (positive) You should see an "etched" zone on both sides of your weld, this is the cleaning or oxide removal. The "Dig" function is only applicable in the Stick mode, what the dig function does is raise amperage just enough to keep the arc from going out or sticking to the plate, if you've ever welded with 6010 rod, and tried to bury the arc, it would go out and stick to the base metal, the dig function sees this short and raises the amperage for a brief moment. the Postflow is the amount of time after the arc is extinguished that the argon flows to help keep the tungsten from oxidizing or getting contaminated. A good rule of thumb is 10 seconds of postflow for every 100 amps. The Syncrostart allows you to custom tailor the arc starts for tig welding, you can set it to soft, medium or a harder harsh arc start. This unit should have come with a couple pieces of Tungsten, if one is orange in color that is  2% ceriated, and you can use that for aluminum, stainless, and mild steel, just grind it to a point. Tig takes a lot of practice, but the results are definitely worth it. Let usknow how it works out for you!__________________________Sellin' Welders and Welding Supplies For a Livin' (can it get any better!)Brian
Reply:it would be a good idea to pick up the student pack from Miller. its got a realy good TIG book that should help you clear up most questions untill you get to the point where its all about practise.SS is probly the easyest to weld so it s ag ood place to start.like ss42... said post flow should be set at 1sec. per 10 amps of welding curent but SS can use a little higher and be shore to keep the torch over the weld wile its post flowing dont just let off the pedle and pick up the torch, you need to keep the gas on the weld till it cools down a bit, thats the point of the post flow and it dose no good if you just pick up the torch.you can also download a PDF version of the miller TIG book (free) at there site if you want.1/16 should not need a backer plate but back gassing would be a god idea, but as said abouve not realy needed if its just practising for now.TIG is a lot of fun and verry relaxing once you get the hang of it but can be a bit agrivating at first so dont get discuraged if you dont start out making fabulus welds on day one it takes time to get good and even more time to get good and fast, so take your time and you will get it.keep in mind you need to have every thing clean and oil free for TIG. its not like MIG its not verry forgiving if you try to weld dirty or rusty stuff. the old saying sh-t in = sh-t out is verry true in TIG. congrats on the syncro200 you should be verry happy with it. be shore to post us some pic's when you get started, a pic will tell a lot about whats going on. summer is here, plant a tree for mother earth. if you dont have time or space, sponcer some one else to plant one for you.feel free to shoot me a PM or e-mail me at [email][email protected] i got lots of time.
Reply:So I tried my new machine for the first time over the weekend, I love it!  It is going to help me out so much.  I have already used it to start finishing some parts I need to finish.  Granted the welds are not so pretty.  I figure the pretty will come with some practice.  I find that the hardest thing is the coordination of keeping all the movements uniform.  I find myself going off track and forgetting what movement is needed where.  Pretty clumsy.  Thank-you guys very much for the replies.  I started welding the 1/16 stainless and came to find out after some advise that I was using the wrong size tungsten. I was using what miller provided.  I was told I need to switch to smaller stuff, in order to cut down on warping and blowing through the metal.  I purchased 1/16 and 3/32 tungsten pieces.  So hopefully these will help.  Makes sense, should have thought of that, myself.  As for the pulse control, I need a reference for where to set the pulse control at.  I have it set in the middle, 7.5 right now.  What do you think I should set it at for the thin SS (1/16).  I would assume the smaller the number the cooler the metal will stay?  But at what point will it not work for me.  I plan on just testing each end of the spectrum and going from there.  Sorry about no pics, I will have some when I practice a little more.WarrenWarrenWaren's CycleMiller Syncrowave 200Snap-on MIG
Reply:what did the syncro200 come with for a tung.? i would have thought it came with 3/32 witch should be ok bit a 1/16 would do also.dont get your self over welmed by all the controles. i would skip the pulse and just work on getting used to the rest of the steps for right now. start slow work with pudle controle, just start a pudle and walk it around the pice trying to stay flowid but not so much as to melt threw. at the same time you should be just at the edje of melting threw, check the back and you should be able to tell if you are getting good melt or just playing on the serface. and filler adding after that, once you have good pudle controle start adding filler to get a nice riple going. the bead should be raised up above the serface but not sitting on it, it should be one buble.about 30% on top and 70% in the pice. practice, practice, practice and then practice some more and it will all start to look nice and be strong as well. do some distructive testing to see what yo have realy done, not just what it looks like on the top. put it in a vice and beat it over with a big hammer and cut some in 1/2 to see what its looking like.with a foot controle you should be able to keep from blowing holes in the work, just turn down the amps and give it a little less foot. the TIG pedle is no place for a hot rod, save that for the track.if you have your amps ajusted right you should be working in the midle range of the foot controle where you can let off a bit as needed and heat up a lil as needed.a cuple of things to keep in mind are the fact that the longer the bead the more heat builds up in the part and so less is needed as you go.try to use the filler to cool the pudle so you can keep things moving.also cutting the filler stick in 1/2 so tiy have 18" pices insted of 36" pices of filler will help if you havent already done that..also dont try to do the hole weld in one long bead. tack it and work around the area needing welded to keep the heat down in the pice and reduce worping.as for the pulsing, its all about the # of pulses per sec. some people use it to train them selves to add filler and move with the pulse.the higher the # the cooler the pice would be as its in pulse mode more, witch means more time in low amps. probly best to just play with it a bit to get the hang of it and what works best for you. but again with 1/16 you should be ok without it.what type of part have you already gotten finished?? be shore you got good penitration on the parts, its easy to just put a cold bead over a joint making it look like its welded but realy only be sitting on top. summer is here, plant a tree for mother earth. if you dont have time or space, sponcer some one else to plant one for you.feel free to shoot me a PM or e-mail me at [email][email protected] i got lots of time.