ok... so i went out an bought a new tig torch a few weeks ago. (weldcraft #9 flex) and today i got a gas lense for it.... well. tonight i decided to test it out..... put it together... tried to use my 3/32 tungsten but i only had (the piece that the tungsten slides into and gets held by) in 1/16... so i decide to use that one.... so i go light on the pedal.. i have my max amp @ 70 and i wasnt even close to "half throttle" .... next... i dont know what the F happend... blew a hole in the 2 pieces i was testing this torch on, looks like a bunch of white "****" around the hole(looks similar to welding them ****-***, zinc coated, exh. pieces from pep-boys) and now half of my tig cup is missing... haha.. great... now what....

my question is.... was my 1/16 tung. too small for what i was trying to weld, the tung. got hot... melted.. hit the cup.. cracked... then blow a hole in my test piece?

also, my "arc" was jumping around like a mad man..... is this normal for a gas lense setup? it didnt seem right at all.

help the handicap'd please

*also.... i tested my old torch out after this had happend, to try the larger 3/32 tung. and it worked fine.

 

You didn't flush the torch lines with argon before you used it.

Lack of argon will do nasty things to tungsten.


Before I use any torch. I start and stop the arc quickly and let the after flow purge the line.


>>><<<

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by F20Cteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
You didn't flush the torch lines with argon before you used it.

Lack of argon will do nasty things to tungsten.


Before I use any torch. I start and stop the arc quickly and let the after flow purge the line.


&gt;&gt;&gt;&lt;&lt;&lt;</TD></TR></TABLE>

no i didnt do that. i did set my cfm before i started welding though... this should be similar to a purge, right ..or no? i push the pedal to let the gas flow... check cfm....set to desired level..

i did swap my old torch onto the new hose, and it seemed to work fine. you think it just worked fine with the old torch because the line is purged..

how long are you supposed to "purge' the new hose for? 15 seconds? more ?

 

You sure you didn't stick a piece of aluminum or stainless filler in there instead of tungsten by mistake?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You sure you didn't stick a piece of aluminum or stainless filler in there instead of tungsten by mistake?</TD></TR></TABLE>

sounds like an old welding trick

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dturbocivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok... so i went out an bought a new tig torch a few weeks ago. (weldcraft #9 flex) and today i got a gas lense for it.... well. tonight i decided to test it out..... put it together... tried to use my 3/32 tungsten but i only had (the piece that the tungsten slides into and gets held by) in 1/16... so i decide to use that one.... so i go light on the pedal.. i have my max amp @ 70 and i wasnt even close to "half throttle" .... next... i dont know what the F happend... blew a hole in the 2 pieces i was testing this torch on, looks like a bunch of white "****" around the hole(looks similar to welding them ****-***, zinc coated, exh. pieces from pep-boys) and now half of my tig cup is missing... haha.. great... now what....

my question is.... was my 1/16 tung. too small for what i was trying to weld, the tung. got hot... melted.. hit the cup.. cracked... then blow a hole in my test piece?

also, my "arc" was jumping around like a mad man..... is this normal for a gas lense setup? it didnt seem right at all.

help the handicap'd please

*also.... i tested my old torch out after this had happend, to try the larger 3/32 tung. and it worked fine. </TD></TR></TABLE>

it probably depends on how you grind your tungsten, at my work I have a diamond grinder and I give it a nice clean 30-35deg tip, on the miller 175-200's I've worked on, the electrodes want to travel from around the diameter of the tungsten until it hits that point and creates an arc, if you're tip wasn't sharpened correctly, all the electrodes would jump around and once you get a little hot on your peddle it'll find it's way to create an arc and you can do your business, as for the white crap, that's probably just some arc marks or nasty coloring throughout your heat affected zone, white stuff = bad and brittle. If you get anything white while you're welding it means that your welds are contaminated and that's a possible weak spot in your material because it's hardened and brittle. Having mistaken some type of filler rod and using it as a tungsten will cause the filler rod to ball up, explode, Hell I had somebody trick me before when I was practicing my welds on some titanium, blah, and as for your gas lens and ceramic cup, that helps distribute the argon to avoid contamination and having oxygen entering the heat affected zone so it's a good thing. I hope this helps.

 

You blew up your tungsten and it almost always cracks the cup. Use the 3/32 tungsten with a 3/32 or 1/8 collet next time.


btw how the hell did you get a 3/32 tungsten to fit in a 1/16 collet?

Sry I'm drunk posting and don't erallty know wha't going on.


Forgine me.

-FDavid/

 

alright... i got a new 3/32 collet, some new cups(i bought more than 1 this time HAHA) and some 3/32 red tungstens.. i will re-attempt sometime later this week.

thanks everyone for thier suggestions and input


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You sure you didn't stick a piece of aluminum or stainless filler in there instead of tungsten by mistake?</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha. no i didnt. it was a "red" 1/16 tungsten.


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ManBearPig4silly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You blew up your tungsten and it almost always cracks the cup. Use the 3/32 tungsten with a 3/32 or 1/8 collet next time.


btw how the hell did you get a 3/32 tungsten to fit in a 1/16 collet?

Sry I'm drunk posting and don't erallty know wha't going on.


Forgine me.

-FDavid/ </TD></TR></TABLE>

haha. see above post.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dturbocivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

no i didnt do that. i did set my cfm before i started welding though... this should be similar to a purge, right ..or no? i push the pedal to let the gas flow... check cfm....set to desired level..

i did swap my old torch onto the new hose, and it seemed to work fine. you think it just worked fine with the old torch because the line is purged..

how long are you supposed to "purge' the new hose for? 15 seconds? more ?</TD></TR></TABLE>


Depends on hose length. I do it until I can smell argon.


Hmmmmmm. I love the smell of tig welding.


&gt;&gt;&gt;&lt;&lt;&lt;

 

Dave, just stop by JM sometime and I'll show you how to set things up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91TSiGuy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Dave, just stop by JM sometime and I'll show you how to set things up. </TD></TR></TABLE>

haha. i do need some pointers cause i suck at welding !!!!

i did test the torch out last night with the 3/32 tungsten/collet body/new #7 cup(gas lense) and it worked fine. although my welds arent all pretty looking i need like 100 hours more practice.