tig weld steel and getting mil scale ?

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I was welding a metal bracket that holds my fuel filters on 1/4 inch steel it was powder coated black, I added a a piece of steel plate 1/4 brought from IMSAll parts flap wheel grind ed till shiny wiped with alcohol tigged with red Tun at 130 ish amps with number 8 cup, gas lens and 15 cfm argon.after i welded it had mil scale on the welds and looked gray but a wire brush knock it off and looked clean other then have small ripples and not stacked dimes.where did i fail ? over heated ? sorry i cant post pics i needed it to drive the truck home so it was painted and installedLast edited by Bigrich954rr; 04-24-2014 at 12:44 AM.
Reply:Originally Posted by Bigrich954rrI was welding a metal bracket that holds my fuel filters on 1/4 inch steel it was powder coated black, I added a a piece of steel plate 1/4 brought from IMSAll parts flap wheel grind ed till shiny wiped with alcohol tigged with red Tun at 130 ish amps with number 8 cup, gas lens and 15 cfm argon.after i welded it had mil scale on the welds and looked gray but a wire brush knock it off and looked clean other then have small ripples and not stacked dimes.where did i fail ? over heated ? sorry i cant post pics i needed it to drive the truck home so it was painted and installed
Reply:ok ill crank up the flow and try it on the plate i brought
Reply:Sounds like you went too slow. A lack of shielding gas on steel will usually be obvious, but too much doesn't hurt. A bit more amperage and faster travel speed, would be my suggestion, with no pictures.Ian TannerKawasaki KX450 and many other fine tools
Reply:If flow and travel speed is good then make sure your tungsten is not sticking out too far. It could cause your argon to not flow directly on the weld or it can pull outside air into the shielding gas. There was a great vid on weldingtipsandtricks site or http://welding-tv.com/2014/02/19/3-t...ing-tips/about how to get nice shiny welds using a gas lens designed to equalize and stabilize the gas flow.
Reply:ill be doing some more welding tomorrow. im going to turn up the argon first 22cfm ish . Then see how it welds .  stick out should be good i was at 3/16 to 1/4 cause i was doing a inside corner which is why i used the gas lensereally thinking about just beveling everything alot and a doing 2 good passes on this one but want some nice clean shiny welds  first weld 140 amps second 200 amps my maxNext what amps would you weld 1/4 steel ?Last edited by Bigrich954rr; 04-25-2014 at 10:00 PM.
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Reply:thanks i just download the miller app last night to my iphone im used to welding 18ga to 1/8. i guess i really understated the amps
Reply:Well I did some more tig today went to 22 cfm of argon didn't help much but kept the blue away a little better.Went flat out at 200 amp miller was cooking. I think i still needed more amp i didn't get the FP i was hoping for and when i stayed long in one spot the puddle just started to get to wide before i felt the rod push in how i like. So i pulled out the stick leads and stick welding everything out side started with 6010 at 110 amps looked like **** but went fast . then switched to 7018 at 135 or 155 amps cant remember.how do you guys tig weld over 200 amps my gloves were burning at the level. i have a water cooled torch too?I was getting alot of slag in the corners  with the 6010 and had to chip out why not with the 7018 ?
Reply:Originally Posted by Bigrich954rrWell I did some more tig today went to 22 cfm of argon didn't help much but kept the blue away a little better.Went flat out at 200 amp miller was cooking. I think i still needed more amp i didn't get the FP i was hoping for and when i stayed long in one spot the puddle just started to get to wide before i felt the rod push in how i like. So i pulled out the stick leads and stick welding everything out side started with 6010 at 110 amps looked like **** but went fast . then switched to 7018 at 135 or 155 amps cant remember.how do you guys tig weld over 200 amps my gloves were burning at the level. i have a water cooled torch too?I was getting alot of slag in the corners  with the 6010 and had to chip out why not with the 7018 ?
Reply:If you need to tig weld that hot, consider buying a "tig finger" from that link I shared above. Its also good for stick and mig welding. Other than gas flow, and dirty base or filler material, other issues with discolored welds can be from over cooking the material, which is very bad as it can change the metallurgy and or ruin the material in your "haz". Also, if your gas bottle is getting low, change it out or maybe try someone else's welder rig to make sure its not your welder rig that may have a problem...
Reply:you don't need to go over 20cfh for a #8 cup, especially on mild steel. And even at that you're probably just wasting 25% of your argon tank.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com