how horrible is my first couple of tig welds with my pa200st

admin

Ran on about 100 amps 1/8 filler and tungsten Attached Images
Reply:not too horrible.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:Are you kidding?  Those look great.  Lose the wood table under the weld.  Get a plate of metal to cover it with at least.
Reply:Thick bevels really aren't the place to start. I'd suggest starting out 1st doing some basic plain beads on flat plate to get down adding filler. Then move on to lap joints, then T joints, outside corners and finally but joints. Doing these boring repetitive drills is how you develop consistency. From what I see consistency needs a lot of work. No big surprise as you are just starting out.I see a bit of orange at the edge of that bevel joint.  Looks like there are several beads stacked in that 1st pict and you may have fouled on the previous bead. That orange dust tells me you were fouling your tungsten at some point and not stopping to regrind. When you foul, STOP, regrind, clean the plate where you fouled, and continue. Otherwise you just keep dragging that contamination along with you thru the weld. It may not matter for practice beads, but it's a bad habit to get into.I tell new students to get real used to grinding... They will be doing it a lot. Many times they'll spend more time at the grinder, than in the weld booth, at least until they improve. Don't get discouraged. This takes time, and quite a bit of it. The mig guys at the tech school can move right along, but the tig guys usually spend most of their 12 nights of class in a semester working on basic beads on flat plate and lap joints. There are just more things that you need to coordinate all at one with tig, and it takes time to get every thing together at the same time..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:Let's see....1/8" Tungsten...1/8" Filler....100 Amps???Try this instead.3/32" Tungsten....1/16" Filler...150-200 Amps.Then post your results.I believe you will find it much easier with these adjustments.......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.