My TIG pad of beads

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First I want to take a moment to thank you all. Your advice and insight has been very helpful and valuable. I'm a beginning welder with a ton of questions, and all of them have been answered. At this point I figured I'd post a picture of the pad of beads I did with TIG in my intro class so you all can see where I'm at. Aside from not looking very pretty, I had trouble welding straight lines even with the soap stones. It's hard to fix a crooked weld when the weld you're overlapping with is also crooked XD. I also had trouble getting the line all the way across. It just got too HOT. Anyway, here it is. Criticisms and advice are welcome. Attached Images
Reply:It helps to post up as much info as possible when asking for comments. Material thickness, filler size and type, amps used, machine used, position ( if not flat)... The more we know, the better our replys can be.I tell students that they need to cool the plate after every 2-3 beads. If they can't touch the plate bare handed, it's too hot to run another bead. Also a common error is to go too slow and use way too long an arc length. This heats the plate ( as well as the table many times) much more than a properly run bead does. When they get the table too hot to keep their hand on, I often have to get them to tack on a piece of metal to give them a cool surface to work on with their hands..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWIt helps to post up as much info as possible when asking for comments. Material thickness, filler size and type, amps used, machine used, position ( if not flat)... The more we know, the better our replys can be.I tell students that they need to cool the plate after every 2-3 beads. If they can't touch the plate bare handed, it's too hot to run another bead. Also a common error is to go too slow and use way too long an arc length. This heats the plate ( as well as the table many times) much more than a properly run bead does. When they get the table too hot to keep their hand on, I often have to get them to tack on a piece of metal to give them a cool surface to work on with their hands.
Reply:What's ur cup size and flow? Try switching to 1/16 70s2 filler and rest ur wrist or pinky finger on the bench and keep it light so your hand can adjust easy when you need it too. AL is alot easier to pad beads with. Do you have a machine that is capable to weld alumnium?160 amps is alot for a flat bead like what your doing. 125 amps is probably better
Reply:When I get a new TIG student, I have them practice heat pass beads...that is,not adding any filler rod.This allows them to develop proper tungsten-to-work distance ( 1/16" or so), proper torch angle (tipped back about 5-10 degrees from 90 degrees), and proper travel speed, weave pattern, etc. Even heat pass overlays (toe-to-crown technique).We use a 3/8" tungsten stick-out past the cup...and NO WALKING THE CUP ALLOWED!!Then, once these are OK, we move on to adding filler rod.Also, for a brand new student, a thicker piece of metal is sometimes more forgiving, if the machine is powerful enough to warrant it. Yours sounds like it is. We start out with 3/8" thick plate, ground nice and shiny. As mentioned, cooling between beads is important.With tig, you have to be v-e-r-y   p-a-t-i-e-n-t...RichLast edited by steelsurgeon; 06-27-2015 at 02:56 PM.
Reply:Not a fan of bead padding add naseum for training. Applied as a complementary event to practicing fillets/grooves (2F/G ~ 4F/G), laying pads is ok.  The problem most new operators have in padding beads is they do not allow the sample section to cool and/or the practice piece is undersidzed (x by y).Strongly believe bead padding for TIG, and SMAW for that matter, should be secondary training.  Learn to fuse real-world joints (ie. inside/outside corners, fillets/laps, grooves).  Make a lap joint and morph it into an "I-Beam".  Required 3ea pieces of 2" x 6" x 11ga matl.  You WILL grow by leaps and bounds over running pads and your natural inclination will make you lay straight lines.  About once a month, run'n a pad exercise on Aluminum with TIG is cool.  Mainly use pad approach to practice feeding filler with both dominant and non-dominant hand.  YMMV."Discovery is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought" - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Reply:I forgot to say it really helps if you put a .5" piece of AL behined the piece of steel your welding on it really pulls out he heat. Then you won't have to wait as long
Reply:IRT post # 6, correction:  the "I-Beam" creation requires 4ea pieces of ......"Discovery is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought" - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi