Tig welding Comparison OLD vs NEW

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hey guys, was messing around in the garage with my new round top 250/250 and wanted to compare it to my Thermal Arc fab 181i on the tig welding side, im using the same torch for both units which is a thermal arc 17v with a switch to use the lift tig on the TA welderI used the same everything for all 4 joints except I changed the amperage and swapped machines, first is the TA machine on 100amps 1/8th lap joints mild steelon thing worth mentioning is the difference in the puddle between the two machines, OMG that old transformer machine makes the puddle so much easier to control and it seems that it melts so much nicer, you turn up the heat on the TA and the bead turns grey, I tried to remain consistent in travel speed for both tests, but I definitely gotta say I like Tigging with the old transformer machine way way way better than with the new TA that I spent about $1200 on (that's everything needed to weld) I know its not a tig machine but before I was wondering what the hell was wrong with me cause I could never get any consistency out of it, but I am able to do much better with the old school machineany thoughts would be appreciated thanks show some pics of your comparisons as wellit seems that the 120 amps was a lil much from the Lincoln and not enough maybe from the TAsame machine changed to 120ampsLincoln Round Top on approx. 100ampsLincoln Round Top on approx. 120amps
Reply:Very cool.  No pro here, but I've never stick welded with any smoother machine.  Do you think your results may be biased because you warmed up practicing with he TA and used the IA afterwards?  At least for me, I regain muscle memory after the first few beads and my beads get better as the project progresses.TA Arcmaster 300CM3XMT 304S22P12 suitcase feederX-Treme 12VSOptima pulserTA161SMaxstar 150STLHypertherm PM45OP setupStihl 020AVP, 039, 066 Magnum
Reply:I don't think so because I had been running beads with my TA before I decided to do that lil test, another thing I noticed is that when I ran a bead of silicon bronze onto mild steel and this is with either welder, I can stack dimes in almost perfect uniformity, but when I run the steel filler I have issues with consistency which has really been bothering me, im a super perfectionist which can be a bad thing because im never happy with how something turns out, even though my buds will tell me it looks fuggin awesome or whatever but im lookin right at everything that I think isn't great. I use the miller android app for my starting points for amperage settings, or sometimes ill use the 1 amp for every thou, kinda bugs me that the miller app says inverters usually tend to require less heat (amps) than transformer machines, but while doing these joints it seemed that the Lincoln at the same amperage was melting every part of the metal very nicely, ie the top edge, the bottom base metal and the bottom corner of the top plate, it all melted at the same time, while the TA even at 120 amps seemed to struggle to make them all melt, it was almost like a keyhole because the top was melted and the bottom had some puddle but right direct center of the joint wasn't melted. I had to kinda camp out to get it all melted with the TA machine, but the Lincoln was just....wonderful lol only drawbacks are that there is no way to stop the arc with gas coverage until I build a foot controlled cutoff switch. and I have to scratch start, if you flip the filler rod between the tungsten and the base metal it makes the arc but I have found that an actual very precise scratch has less contamination of the tungsten. after a few filler rod methods I noticed a little build up on the tungsten,. but im about 10 scratch starts and the tungsten is still shiny and sharp
Reply:Perhaps your lincoln is out of calibration?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:idk maybe it could be, anyway to tell? I have a clamp meter that I could prolly throw around one of the leads and put it on hold, you think that would work? does anyone know of any way to test the amperage of your machine at home?
Reply:I had my service tech certify my dynastys. The did it with some kind of meter.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:yeah I used the clamp meter by myself I just held it in my hand and struck an arc on some 3/8 plate and both machines were dialed to 100 amps and they both read 100-109 so I would say that the amps are both about the same when dialed, btw I ran both machines in stick mode electrode positive with 3/32 7018 rods but this is what I was talking about with the silicon bronze, I can run a almost perfect bead profile with it but steel im still trying to get the hang of it
Reply:Originally Posted by 7A749You can use a clamp meter, but without a specific resistive load, there's no way to accurately measure it. When you're welding, the voltage of the current constantly changes as the electrode burns up. Arc length, angle, travel speed, etc all effect the actual amperage & voltage at the arc.This has come up a few times recently.
Reply:I'm no pro stick welder hut with both machines I was able to strike an arc and let the weight of the stinger and my hand determine arc length while slowly dragging and both machines read 100-109 consistently I played around with arc force on the inverter and the amps went up or down accordingly but if I held the stinger up a lil the amps changed compared to if I had down forceMiller Syncrowave 210 w/CK FlexLoc 150  3/6/14ESAB PCM 1125 Plasma CutterAtlas 12x36 LatheACER 9x42 3hp millHarig 612 Surface GrinderDRINK Machine              welding&fabrication