Purple tungsten. Thoughts?

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Anyone know what it's made out of? I can't find any information other than the fact that it's a replacement for red. Went to class and the teacher gave me one to try out and see what I thought about it.My thoughts:I do not like it. The start is very violent.  Never had a smooth or consistent start. If it's contaminated it really really doesn't like it. And the arc wanders all over the place. Blue or gold seems to stand up a lot better even if you contaminate it.Now what I thought was really strange. It started to ball up after a little while (very small ball) so I took it out to re-grind it and there was copper color on the tungsten. Cleaned it off and it happened again (even on gold tungsten) Teacher thought it was strange, so I wanted to see where it came from.Collet was perfect. The collet body on the other hand looks like it got melted. And for whatever reason I can not separate it from cup. As soon as I get a replacment collet body because this is the only one I have for class I'll get a pic up and maybe someone can shed some light on it.Oh and the teacher tired it. His very first impression after 5 seconds was he liked it. Then after a few minutes he said he didn't like it at all on steel but for aluminum it was ok. I have yet to try it on my inverter machine so I wonder if it will act different.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:Was red better?What you tried was the new E3 I think.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:Honestly I love red, but people are not making it any more. I'm found a new love for blue and recently gold so I stick to either of those.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:http://www.e3tungsten.com/98.34% tungsten1.5% lanthanum.08% zirconium.08% yttrium oxide
Reply:Decided to try it again and give it another shot. Maybe I was having an off night. Yep that was NOT the case. It still sucks. Tried it for about an hour at school doing weld after weld.I did a butt weld and it came out really good. 1/8" gap with 3/32 filler. Had just a little bit of under cut, so I put the torch down and showed the instructor and he told me go over it again and add a very little amount of filler. Put it back on the table and grabbed my torch (nothing changed and I didn't contaminate it) hit the pedal and then all of a sudden a I get a bunch of black soot all over my workpiece, unstable arc, it even melted back. No settings were changed at all. It just decided that it wanted to ruin my work. Resharpen and start again. 1/8" gap on a butt joint. Light up and the arc would wander from one piece to the next and would not stay stable at all. I had enough, took it out and put in a gold tungsten and all my problems were gone. So I decided that maybe I'll give it a third shot and take it home and try it on an inverter. Same story. Still sucks.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:There all the same, other than green.I bet if you did the same DC weld with each type you couldn't tell me which one any of them was, unless it was a lucky guess.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Originally Posted by MikeGyverThere all the same, other than green.I bet if you did the same DC weld with each type you couldn't tell me which one any of them was, unless it was a lucky guess.
Reply:we use purple e3 at school... I havent had any trouble with it... It is the only thing I have ever tigged with though. Although one day I used red and didnt see a difference. Welding with a dial arc 250
Reply:I was somewhat impressed when welding stainless with it.  Kept its shape well.  However, on AC it degraded very quickly.  I run ceriated, and stoved the E3.Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2Jay DavisAWS-CWIC-60 Specialty Welding ContractorLoving husband, and father of two boys (
Reply:Originally Posted by GambleHonestly I love red, but people are not making it any more. I'm found a new love for blue and recently gold so I stick to either of those.
Reply:Originally Posted by GambleHonestly I love red, but people are not making it any more. I'm found a new love for blue and recently gold so I stick to either of those.
Reply:I like gold and blue.tackleexperts.comwww.necessityjigs.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mach...dingequipment/
Reply:Thats the E3 rare earth or "Magic Tungsten" is what the guy at Airgas called it. I tried it because they were out of everything but that. It cost me $20 for 2 rods and was good for 5 min. Sucked after that. Save your money and stick with one of the proven rods. RGOhh and if someone ever tries to sell you a "Magic" anything, dont buy it.RG_______________________Hobart 187Northern Tool Plasma 375Harris 85 O/A Rig (Ireland)
Reply:Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:I tried the E3 for the first time yesterday on some old AL. Cleaned the hell out of it first, ground a blunt taper to get started and got s++t for results. Arc wandered all over the place, couldn't get a decent bead to save me, drop out, etc. I know those are usually indications of contamination, it's not like I've never TIGd before. But man, this was really bad! When I get a chance I'll try my old 2% thy. on the same pieces and post the results.
Reply:Mixed results when it comes to using purple tungsten, Seems like some are better than others   Ceriated work best for me.
Reply:@ Gamble - exclusively use REDs for DC TIG and BLUEs for AC TIG on Inverter machines at the shop.  However, during a training course this week was presented with 1/6" and 3/32" PURPLEs and GOLDs.  Welded mild steel, stainless steel 316, 4130 CrMo, Inconel 617/625, Titanium 6AL-4V, and Magnesium using a Lincoln Precision TIG 275 and 20 series water-cooled torch.  Cups sizes varied for #6 to #12 and shielding between 15-30 CFH.  Thicknesses for steels 10ga, stainless steel 10ga, CrMo .085", Inconel .035" (coupons, tubing), Titanium .045" (coupons), and Magnesium heavy castings.  Inc tubing was internally purged with Ar, and Ti coupons were externally back-purged with Ar.The PURPLE tungstens performed extremely well on all materials.  No arc wandering, no difficult starts.  Did NOT grind a hypodermic needle point, but rather a less gradual point with a length a la 1x the tungsten diameter.  For REDs, usually a sharper point works better on my Inverters.  Decided to grind the PURPLEs with a less extreme point and they worked very well.  Wonder why your attempts with Purple did not work?  Note:  made no attempt on TIG'n Aluminium with either color.  Wasn't in the mix.Now the GOLDs (1.5% La), did not perform as well as the PURPLE.  But, did not invest enought time trying candidate grind angles across all materials.What will I continue to source/use?  RED and BLUE."Discovery is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought" - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Reply:Well, it amazes me how easily I can screw myself. The issues I experienced with the E3 were of my own doing. I was wearing gloves when I flipped the power switch on my Lincoln Precision TIG 185 and the balance knob is just above that. It turns pretty easy and I must have grazed it with the glove, moving it to almost full penetration which of course gave me the results I got. Put it on auto and welding went back to normal. The one thing I did notice is the E3 seems to hold up better but I haven't put any real heat to it yet.
Reply:Won a bunch on Ebay and been handing it out to the crew. They love it on AC. Tried myself and was pleasantly surprised. Still not half as good as Red. But for the most part I am a red for DC, and blue for AC.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.