Help with Tig Brazing

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I picked up a syncrowave 210 yesterday, and I was really looking forward to trying tig brazing. I managed to give it a go, but something just doesn't seem right. I have 3/32 silicon bronze rod, welding 11 gauge material and I've tried anywhere from 40 to 60 amps. I understand that I need to apply the heat to the base material, and dab the rod when the base material starts to glow red, but I can't seem to get a nice puddle to form. I also run into the issue of the filler basically boiling and popping. This doesn't seem right. I think my two biggest problems are; 1) Heat application, I can't get enough heat into a large enough area of the piece, and 2) I think my rods might be too large; should I try smaller rods? I've gotten decent looking welds on A36 with 1/16th er70s2, so I know the machine is functioning as it should.  I'm sure I'm missing something else here though, please help me out here! Here are my machine parameters; 40-60 amps, typically best at 45 though3/32 Ceriated tungsten#7 Nozzleargon, with gas flow set at 25CFHThank you!
Reply:Originally Posted by TaylorJenkinsI picked up a syncrowave 210 yesterday, and I was really looking forward to trying tig brazing. I managed to give it a go, but something just doesn't seem right. I have 3/32 silicon bronze rod, welding 11 gauge material and I've tried anywhere from 40 to 60 amps. I understand that I need to apply the heat to the base material, and dab the rod when the base material starts to glow red, but I can't seem to get a nice puddle to form. I also run into the issue of the filler basically boiling and popping. This doesn't seem right. I think my two biggest problems are; 1) Heat application, I can't get enough heat into a large enough area of the piece, and 2) I think my rods might be too large; should I try smaller rods? I've gotten decent looking welds on A36 with 1/16th er70s2, so I know the machine is functioning as it should.  I'm sure I'm missing something else here though, please help me out here! Here are my machine parameters; 40-60 amps, typically best at 45 though3/32 Ceriated tungsten#7 Nozzleargon, with gas flow set at 25CFHThank you!
Reply:I cleaned off the mill scale with a die grinder and 36 grit roloc discs, other than that, there was no chemical cleaning. Would a flux eliminate the need for a chemical cleaning? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Nah, you don't want flux with TIG. Turn down your argon to 15 CFH and bump up your heat. Here is a piece of 11 gauge. Top bead is 1/16" rod and bottom bead is 3/32" rod. I set my machine at 95 amps. I ran the bead with 1/16" rod first. I didn't need full pedal, but I was up there. Probably at 75-80 amps or so. With the 3/32" rod, I needed full pedal for a few seconds to get it going and then backed off a bit as I moved. I could move fast. I should have let it cool a bit before I brushed it. After I did those two, I tried some beads with the machine set at 75 amps and it ran slow. The 3/32" rod was really slow. So it sounds like you were just melting the rod with the arc but the steel wasn't hot enough for it to wet out. I hope that helps.
Reply:Okay thanks, I'll have to give that a shot this afternoon. So my argon flow is cooling the material too quickly? Are you grinding your tungsten to a point? I just feel like my heat input is too focused; should I try grinding to a point and then grinding the tip just barely flat? Would keeping my arc length longer help? I've been trying to keep my arc length around 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:It's not that your flow is cooling the material as much as you don't need that much. I am using a 1/16" electrode ground to a point. When I am starting a bead with silicon bronze, I make small circles to get a decent sized area up to temp (bigger than just what keeping the electrode stationary would provide). Then I rest the rod on the surface of the steel in the area that I'm heating and let it wet in. Push a bit of rod to get your bead width and then move. Once you have your bead going, the molten puddle helps spread the heat, so I am moving in a straight line at that point.
Reply:Okay, I think I have a pretty decent understanding of how it should work now, at least until I go to try it haha with cleaning, should I be cleaning with acetone or alcohol, or should I be using something harsher like muriatic acid? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:acetone is just fine.  Just make sure you are grinding the millscale off and not just polishing it.  Both are shiny, but only one is adequate.  Use a hard grinding disk and save yourself a lot of time and headache to make sure you get the millscale off. 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