TIG Problems

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I have an old air cooled AirCo Tig welder, that I run with straight argon, I've never had a problem with porisity. A few months ago I got a tank refilled and as soon as I hooked it up again it welded terribly and my welds were full of porosity. I brought the tank back and after some argueing I was able to get them to admit that they had filled the tank with co2 and to refill my tank with argon but the problem continued. Eventually they replaced my tank with a brand new tank (way smaller) and I still have the same problem. I've checked for leaks and I adjusted my flow meter but the problem still persists. I can get okay results with no porisity if I put my arogn/c02 tank on. Anyone one ever had this issue??
Reply:Could you try turning the flow significantly higher than required say like 16cfm and see if that helps? Your gauge or regulator may not be in sync with each other, meaning one or the other isn't working right. Can you tell if the the gas is definitely getting through the torch?
Reply:I've tried turning my gas up as far it will go and it hasn't help. I've turned the gas way down and than off to see if there was a difference. I am definitely getting gas through the torch. The porosity looks like it is coming from the parent material (i've prepped all the material and it is clean).
Reply:What type material are you trying to weld? Have you tried welding a different piece of mild steel scrap, (after its cleaned up)  to see if the results are the same? If you still having the problem, I think that I would try another gas supplier.
Reply:Pictures would help.Ian TannerKawasaki KX450 and many other fine tools
Reply:Thanks for the response so far,This morning when I got to the shop I decided to see how the machine ran when I was welding aluminum and stainless and the result was as if the problem wasn't there. So I thought that maybe the er 70s-6 i was welding with was somehow tainted. I went to a different welding supplier and grabbed some new rod. the first thing i did was butt weld two pieces of 1/8 and the weld had no issue of porosity. after that weld was successful i tried fillet welding the 1/8 to much thicker piece and this was just a nightmare. i than tried welding a fillet on the exact same piece with some stainless rod and got a fine result. any ideas??????????i attached pics of all three weld attempts Attached Images
Reply:Don't just wire brush the base metals. Hit them with a flap disc. The roughness of your steel says to me that it was some rusty stuff at one point.
Reply:Check for leaks in the torch hose, I had a 17 torch start welding bad a while ago and found about 10 tiny holes. Found them by closing the valve on the torch with the welder off so I could hear the argon leaking out.Airco Ac/Dc 300 HeliwelderMillerMatic 200 (stolen)Miller Maxstar 150STLMiller AEAD200LE (welding and generating power) Hobart MIG
Reply:I just don't understand why it weld fine with the stainless rod but with the steel rod it's full of holes?
Reply:The stainless is much more resistant to contamination. I think you've got gas contamination or some other contamination issue. It doesn't look like what happens when I've got wind related problems. If you post your location, you might find someone nearby willing to have a look.Also, why are you having the tank filled instead of exchanging it?Ian TannerKawasaki KX450 and many other fine tools
Reply:The tank has been exchanged  (brand new tank) but my regulator and lines are still the same. Any tig welders around in RI area?
Reply:I'm with fortyonethirty on this one. The weld defects don't look like a shielding gas issue. It's got to be a filler rod or parent metal contamination. You can try grinding all of the pitted area down to a smooth flat shiny surface, and welding it with your ER70s filler( I think this will be your best bet.) or you can try some other ER70s rod.You could try the filler that you are using on a different piece of cleaned mild steel as well,My bet is that there is some kind of contamination trapped in the pitting and that is what is messing up your welds. You stated earlier that you thought that it was coming from the parent metal, so you could very well be right.
Reply:So I looked for leaks and I swapped regulators and I'm still having the problem. I also took the advice of cleaning the metal with a grinding wheel. Still no luck! I think I might have one for the ages folks!
Reply:Are you sure you are using proper TIG filler (ER70S-x) as opposed to gas rod (RG-45)? Filler metal dirty or rusty?Also make sure base metal does not have oil or grease on it, try cleaning with naphtha or acetone.Pics do not look like gas contamination to me, either.JohnA few weldersA lot of hammersA whole lot of C-clamps
Reply:Material is definitely free of dirt and oil and I double checked the rod is er 70 s 6
Reply:70s-6 or 70s-2Syncrowave 180 SDMillermatic 250XSnap On MW 120 Econopac 50Victor O/A with some Smith Attachments 30 X 50 shop with a 400 Amps
Reply:Er70s-6 is just fine, very similar to er70s-2, but better on dirty metal. What size and type tungsten are you using? What size and type of nozzle? What gas flow? What are ALL of the settings on the welder? Maybe post a picture of the front of the machine.Ian TannerKawasaki KX450 and many other fine tools
Reply:Looks like long shots are acceptable,  I do not believe you are putting enough heat into the thicker plate and are trapping gas under the puddle.  Try working your puddle from the thicker plate up to the thinner or preheat the thicker plate.
Reply:A hole in a line is the same as a river, the velocity in the innermost portion of the line is fast, where as the outside edges of the line are slow and lazy, unhook the electrode from the machine but leave all the gas lines hooked up, drop it in a 5 gallon bucket of water and look for the leaks. replace the regulator to valve line, squirt the solenoid with soapy water, remove all possible sources of leaks one by one. If its not attributed to a leak, bypass the solenoid and try to weld, perhaps its sticking, if its not the solenoid and the lines, switch out the regulator, now you have yet to say if its a water cooled torch or air cooled, so if its a water cooled torch, perhaps it has gotten to hot and the torch head is leaking water. The next thing,run DCEN. Perhaps you have some crappy chinese base metal. If none of these are the issue, go buy 7018.I forgot how to change this.
Reply:Originally Posted by RIRandyThanks for the response so far,This morning when I got to the shop I decided to see how the machine ran when I was welding aluminum and stainless and the result was as if the problem wasn't there. So I thought that maybe the er 70s-6 i was welding with was somehow tainted. I went to a different welding supplier and grabbed some new rod. the first thing i did was butt weld two pieces of 1/8 and the weld had no issue of porosity. after that weld was successful i tried fillet welding the 1/8 to much thicker piece and this was just a nightmare. i than tried welding a fillet on the exact same piece with some stainless rod and got a fine result. any ideas??????????i attached pics of all three weld attempts
Reply:Looks like a gas delivery issue to me.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:So I ran into my old welding teacher yesterday and had him come by and diagnose the issue in person. I decided to go get the tank refilled and we set up and the welds came out fine! so i've concluded i've gotten bad gas 3 times in a row and in 2 different tanks!!!! thanks everyone for all the advice i really appreciate it.
Reply:If you had contaminated argon the aluminum weld and the SS weld would have all been crappy.  Please dig deeper what else did you do.
Reply:Originally Posted by RIRandyThe tank has been exchanged  (brand new tank) but my regulator and lines are still the same. Any tig welders around in RI area?