This is my first time trying to TIG two pieces of metal together. The metal is A2 and the filler rod is ?H3? (?H13?). I was really just concerned about getting a good puddle (which I really dont know what 'good' looks like) so I just grabbed two pieces of metal and a rod that was sitting on the bench.

I have a few minutes every night to practice at work, but no one is around to really show me anything.

Here are my questions:

Some general comments on the welding please.

What you cant see in the picture is a crack along the length of the weld. Is this simply because I picked some random metal and rod?

Is it ok to drag the cup against the metal? I'm a pretty shaky guy after my large 3x3 coffee.

It took about 10 seconds to 'connect' the two puddles together. Should I start off more aggressive with the heat?

Thanks for looking.

 

didnt you weld that turbo manifold on your car ?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dturbocivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">didnt you weld that turbo manifold on your car ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

nope! did all the fitting and tacking and brought it piece by piece to get TIGed at a local shop.

 

Start with a Butt weld, not a T fillet weld. Also use larger pieces, I find with larger pieces you can get the hang of it better, since it seems like you have an issue starting and stoping, by the time you get going, you just about have to stop.


Modified by 90blackcrx at 4:50 PM 1/17/2007

 

looks ok, just work on consistency...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Start with a Butt weld, not a T fillet weld. Also use larger pieces, I find with larger pieces you can get the hang of it better, since it seems like you have an issue starting and stoping, by the time you get going, you just about have to stop.</TD></TR></TABLE>



I'll do this tonight.

 

I can't believe that no one else has said this: CLEAN YOUR BASE METAL.
In TIG, cleanliness is next to godliness. at least 50% of how a weld comes out is prep. Some say its 80%.

The crack could be from all sorts of things, contamination, wrong metal/rod, wrong prep (no bevel), badly aligned joints... Get some clean metal and practice laying a consistent bead. Read your camera manual, and learn how to use Macro mode so you can zoom in on your welds without everything getting blurry. I'm no expert, but there are a lot of people on this forum who are, and I'd listen to them.