New Tig Welder Help Needed

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Hi there guys, this is my first post after reading useful info on here for months! It seems like there is a lot of people willing to share tips and information which is great!Anyway, here's my little question; I've been tig welding for years with a ancient twenty year old BOC tig machine with pretty much no adjustability other than amps and ac/dc. Recently I bought a Thermal Arc 200 amp AC/DC tig and am very pleased with its performance.However, never having had the chance to use adjustable frequency, cleaning action, pulse etc. I don't know what would be a good base setting for welding 2mm (0.080) sheel aluminium and tubing.Can someone suggest what frequency I should set the AC to and how much cleaning/penetration to set it to also. What effect does adjusting the frequency do?I realise what pulse does and have played with it, but if someone could suggest a good setting for welding 2mm aluminium that would be great. Also, any great tips for creating overlapping dimes? Thanks.
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Reply:Hi mate,2mm alloy i'm not sure how your machine is set up but here are some basics...Filler wire 1.2-1.6mm i'm a fan of the smaller the better when i comes to wire..AC Balance (cleaning) Depends alot on how clean the material your welding is... i would start at 60% electrode negative and depending on weld go either way from there, if the weld is dirty got back to 50% if it's welding clean and pooling up you can go up.But note for extremely dirty alloy you may need to go up a tungsten size i use 3.2mm for dirty old alloys. As you turn down the balance alot more heating of the tungsten will occur.AC frequency? if it has it, i would turn this up to it's max setting which will make the arc more focused for the thinner sheet.Current is a trial and error thing start off at 60 amps and see what kind of heat input your getting and adjust from there.Pretty welding Once you have your setting right a even travel speed arc length and the well timed addition of filler wire equals pretty weldsGood luck
Reply:Originally Posted by airkraftHi there guys, this is my first post after reading useful info on here for months! It seems like there is a lot of people willing to share tips and information which is great!Anyway, here's my little question; I've been tig welding for years with a ancient twenty year old BOC tig machine with pretty much no adjustability other than amps and ac/dc. Recently I bought a Thermal Arc 200 amp AC/DC tig and am very pleased with its performance.However, never having had the chance to use adjustable frequency, cleaning action, pulse etc. I don't know what would be a good base setting for welding 2mm (0.080) sheel aluminium and tubing.Can someone suggest what frequency I should set the AC to and how much cleaning/penetration to set it to also. What effect does adjusting the frequency do?I realise what pulse does and have played with it, but if someone could suggest a good setting for welding 2mm aluminium that would be great. Also, any great tips for creating overlapping dimes? Thanks.
Reply:Thanks for the help guys - I will give it a go and let you know how I get on.Some of my welds so far with aluminium have a 'rocky' texture in the weld bead as if some particles of sand had miraculously jumped in the weld pool whilst I was welding. Never seen this before with my old welder! Any ideas what is causing this to happen? To hot? Too cold or not enough/too much Argon? Thanks
Reply:Originally Posted by airkraftThanks for the help guys - I will give it a go and let you know how I get on.Some of my welds so far with aluminium have a 'rocky' texture in the weld bead as if some particles of sand had miraculously jumped in the weld pool whilst I was welding. Never seen this before with my old welder! Any ideas what is causing this to happen? To hot? Too cold or not enough/too much Argon? Thanks