First TIG welds - How Hard could it be?

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After years of MIG welding, and 3 years of no welding (long story), I got an STL150 about 6 weeks ago. I've only had about 4 hours to play with it. I was sure I'd pick it right up, but I was wrong. I found that getting the 2 pieces of metal to 'flow' together much harder than with MIG.  I decided a foot pedal was a must have, so that arrived yesterday.  I'm welding 1/4 round 304SS, using no filler, 1/16 cerium electrode.I cleaned these welds with a wire wheel on the bench grinder, no other modification.Your suggestions for improvement most welcome! Attached Images"We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities. "   - Oscar WildeMaxstar STL150Eagle CPM30 Bender
Reply:One thing with SS. You will embed plain steel in the surface with a plain wire wheel. You may not see it right away, but you may notice a discoloration later as the steel on the surface starts to rust. You need to use  SS wire wheel to avoid this.I'd have been curious to see the results prior to cleaning.SS is one of those metals that can be welded with no filler, but some filler might help with the sag/ undercut that it looks like you had. Those rods will be tough to get full penetration on and not have the undercut without filler.Last edited by DSW; 03-07-2009 at 06:13 PM.
Reply:Thanks. Yeah, I splurged on all SS brushes and wheels, since that's all I plan to work with.The reason I went with TIG instead of MIG is that with the wire running all the time in MIG, I always ended up having to grind joints (and how do you grind the inside of a 30 degree angle?). I'm hoping to learn to add a little filler as I gain skill, but so far filled joints look like vomit when I do them."We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities. "   - Oscar WildeMaxstar STL150Eagle CPM30 Bender
Reply:If this is just cosmetic for art and doesn't need to have full penetration,  Sharpen the tungsen to a needle point and run very minimal heat. If I can find some 1/4" rod I'll give it a try and see if I can make a suggestion on the settings.
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWIf this is just cosmetic for art and doesn't need to have full penetration,  Sharpen the tungsen to a needle point and run very minimal heat. If I can find some 1/4" rod I'll give it a try and see if I can make a suggestion on the settings.
Reply:Ok I ran out and found a small scrap of 1/4" SS rod in the junk pile. Didn't spend muck time trying to get a ggod fit just wacked it off in the dark, made a few quick passes with the grinder to knock off the crap that someone else had tried to weld on it and welded it up. All I had was 1/16" SS wire at hand, couldn't find a scrap of .023 mig wire to use, so these could be a lot better. tungsten is orange (cerated) 3/32 that was in the torch. I got a small puddle at around 20 amps. Gas at about 13 or so 100% argon.
Reply:20 amps. Wow. I had my max set on 80. I started out at maybe 40 - 50 (?), then throttled way back.Then I kinda pulsed it up and down to work the puddle. I guess. I'm still just getting the feel."We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities. "   - Oscar WildeMaxstar STL150Eagle CPM30 Bender
Reply:20 was where I was holding a small puddle on a blank spot on the rod. Took the hood off and looked at the machine to see what I was running at the time. I had the machine set at 100 and it took almost no pedal to get it started on the solid rod. I would probably set it at 50amps and try that and throttle back from there. I did have a bit of trouble melting the 1/16" filler in the tiny puddle. I would have preferred something like .045 or say .035 wire , but don't have any in SS. The puddle was a bit tricky trying to fill the large gap on the side since I didn't fit it too well. I needed the filler to start to bridge the gap and without it I would loose the puddle as I tried to span both pieces.Again I wasn't trying to get total fusion, just a very nice looking aesthetic joint with very little filler.
Reply:I have some .035 SS Mig wire. I'll give that a try. Thanks much for the feedback."We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities. "   - Oscar WildeMaxstar STL150Eagle CPM30 Bender
Reply:I've done a bit with mig wire as filler for small jobs. It's some what a PITA unless you can get it sort of straight. I have yet to find an easy way to do this. If you find something that works well let me know. Holding one end in a vise and pulling on the other with vise grips sometimes works. Otherwise I just try and counter bend the wire by hand.Good luck and post up picts of how it turns out.
Reply:just a quick and probably utterly useless thought for mig.........use the gun of the mig but with it connected to polarity or anything, will that work? that way it feeds?
Reply:tblum what you just described is how an automated tig works. The problem is that it would take quite a bit of control to do what you describe, and on that tiny SS rod the gun plus the tig torch would be a PITA to get positioned correctly, and you would have to start stop the gun very fast. Just not practical I'm afraid.
Reply:Originally Posted by DSW I needed the filler to start to bridge the gap and without it I would loose the puddle as I tried to span both pieces..
Reply:Originally Posted by artworksmetalI'm still at that clumsy stage. When I try to use filler, it ends up somewhere where I don't want it. Usually stuck to the electrode. Or I focus on the filler and stick the electrode into the work.
Reply:Man!After stickin and migin for about 25 to 30 years, I have never tried tigin!After reading this thread, I already hate it!#1. If you don't like what I wrote, or if it offends you, then don't read it!#2. I am living life the way I see fit, if you don't like the way I'M living, tough sh**!
Reply:If i was going to do a lot of these I'd probably clamp the grinder in the vise and come in from the edge to create a valley in the end of the rod to try and get the fit tighter. All I did was straight cut the rod and push it against the 2nd piece. Also I welded it as you see it laying. I might try to get it so that I could start on the obtuse angle and then start to fill around the sides and move towards the tight angle, so I could carry the puddle into the gap.It was definitely a challenge. I'll have to play a bit more with it and see what I can do with a bit of practice and maybe try the smaller rod.
Reply:Originally Posted by Ken DennisMan!After stickin and migin for about 25 to 30 years, I have never tried tigin!After reading this thread, I already hate it!