tig outside

admin

I have a question.  I am new to tig welding with only about a hour or so of weld time.  I can stick weld and mig weld okay.  I was welding aluminum pipe 2 1/2 inch inside the building and was getting okay welds not great but was getting the dimes everyone looks for.  Than I had to take the structure outside and weld because of height problems.  The welding was going good till the first big gust of wind came and took the shielding gas away.  It seems that I can cover the weld to get about a inch of good weld then lose it.  Is there a trick to welding outside ie. more gas flow.  Right now I am using the argon at a 20 flow should it be bumped up.  Also I think my cup size of 7 might be to small but it makes it hard to get into the tight corners with larger cup sizes.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks
Reply:Yep you're going to have to build a windbreaker of some sort. I usually just make one of my coworkers stand there with a big piece of cardboard
Reply:thanks for the replies.  I was having a tough time with it and was almost going to give up with tig welding.  will try to build the shield to see if that helps.  I guess I tried to learn the hard way.  I made a couple of bad mistakes with the welds got to big and ugly.  I will have to fix my mistakes and try to keep at the learning process.  IThanks
Reply:Hooch it whenever possible (wind screen).  A gas lens should be mandatory for welding outdoors.  On our construction site, you will not find a single TIG rig without a gas lens on it.
Reply:Emergency repairs ( tig) are made everyday outside even if the wind is blowing, sometimes even when it is raining. Plastic has many uses.
Reply:tarp,flash screen,cardboard..you dont need much, you just need somethin...