NOOB welding tips and tricks!

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hey all!my names jeremy, and im from australia ive recently bought a DC Cigweld welder 170, with a cigweld tig torchso far, ive practiced for about 2-3 hours, read numerous threads on tig welding etc. but i thought it would also be good if people want to share some tips and tricks with me and shed some light on where im going wrong..this is how ive setup my DC tig at the moment (practicing on 2mm stainless steel):~32-35 amps10 lb/m flow or argon gassome things im keen to know are:what is a suitable arc length for the above? my tungsten seems to keep burning in on itself, and "balling"if i hold the torch close to the stainless, the arc goes spastic, and when i hold the torch further away, it appears i get a more constant arccheers, any help will be appreciated!
Reply:Pack your lunch, this will take ALL day, not just a couple or three hours...My first guess is that your amps are too low, but wait there's more! City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:thats fine!ive never welded before, so im open to all advise
Reply:id say u might have the lead on the wrong side u weld with dc - with tig and u should have a few more amps
Reply:hey mate what sort of stickout do you have, and are you keeping the tungsten sharp?
Reply:What type of tungsten electrode are you using? (They're usually marked with a colour at the end of it, personally I've only used the red and golden ones for SS, not sure how the rest of 'em behaves) Also keep in mind how you're sharpening your electrode as doing it wrong can cause the arc to wander.I keep around 2-3 mm distance from the workpiece, so that should work out for you as well when it comes to arc length.Random note: A tip would be to keep a notebook somewhat close to you (yet far away to avoid fires :P) and keep notes of what amps you're using etc and other little tips 'n' tricks, easier than to try to remember everything, because you wont. Take pictures of what you do and upload them, can help us out when helping you out!
Reply:thanks for reply guys!i am sharpening my tungsten to ~30* angle with a slight flat topi cant tell in mm how far away im holding my torch, but i would say its more than 2-3mm (which i had a feeling was too far!)my tungsten is red tip Originally Posted by davidw88id say u might have the lead on the wrong side u weld with dc - with tig and u should have a few more amps
Reply:i found this:http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...calculator.phpobviously i selected stainless steel and 1/16" butt weld which is equivalent to 1.6mmthe only big difference i can see is the amperage range:"Amperage Range:50-80"edit: found this response (derrr *face palm*)http://www.ukwelder.com/forum/index....=0&#entry75413DC current:Because the current flows from + to - . Take for instance the MMA process, you run the electrode holder on the + and the return on the - . If you had a TIG torch plugged into the + terminal on the machine you would have a similar effect as MMA welding, the tungsten electrode would just burn away. So whenever you are DC TIG welding you always run the torch out of the negative.Last edited by Jezzza; 07-24-2010 at 10:54 AM.
Reply:Did you end up getting the hang of it? As you found out, DCEN is typical for TIG welding steels.