okay so im welding with a lincoln 225

aluminum: im doing it on 130-140 amps
-using that green tipped tungsten
-3/32 collet
-and material is 1/8 inch thick
-yes im cleaning it

im just doing butt welds and it seems to just want to burn through all the time, and when it does work im not getting any penetration at all.

im having problems with steel too.
same material and collet sizes
140-160 amps
and red tipped tungsten

welds are alright just no penetration


any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks in advance fellas

 

Practice your &(^^^( off with steel first and then move to aluminum.

 

No pics makes the helping process tougher

 

turn up the penetration on the welder and crank the heat up, then just use the pedal to determine how much you need. practice makes perfect

 

Quit doing butt welds. Instead just practice running straight welds on flat plate. You can do it with or without filler. The first thing I tell people to do when learning to tig is just to intentionally blow a hole through the metal, not as fast as you can, but in a controlled manner. Then do it again, but when you're just a little short of blowing a hole, move the puddle. Lather, rinse, repeat, and you'll have learned the basics of heat control. Watch that puddle!

 

okay so here is the update. yesturday i quit my job so i spend the entire day practicing. sadly i ran out of steel material and i have a crap load of aluminum left so thats what ill be playing with today. and trust me... no problem blowing holes through that ill take your advice and stop doing the butt welds and see how it goes.

thanks again for the advice

 

practice makes perfect...keep it up man

 

I learned on Aluminum...so eff the people who said steel first.

Cleanliness is godliness. Clean your metal before you weld it. Clean your tungsten before you weld. Your tungsten should ALWAYS be clean. With Aluminum you MUST use filler rod for strength. Also be sure that your aluminum is "weldable aluminum" if you bought it at homedepot...it most likely isnt.

The reason why you're having trouble with the aluminum is the aluminum oxide. When aluminum is exposed to the atmosphere the aluminum oxidizes...leaving a white coating on the surface of the metal. the problem with this is the aluminum oxide has a MUCH higher melting point than pure aluminum. So when you weld aluminum and dont clean it...all the metal inside has melted but the "skin" is still in tact. This is why you see it falling out. 140 amps is about right...I might start out with more amperage until the piece is completely hot. Try cleaning the metal first...running more amperage and adding filler rod.

Steel welding... clean your metal. SHARPEN your tungsten. the rule of thumb is the taper on the tungsten should be twice as long as the width of the tungsten. so if you're using 3/32" tungsten...6/32" is how long the taper should be on your tunsten. Grind the tungsten on a NEW clean wheel. DO NOT USE IT FOR GRINDING ANY OTHER METAL...PERIOD. Dont grind perpendicular to the rotation of the wheel either...grind parallel.

Give your weld time to cool while its shielded by the argon...which may mean moving slowly with less amperage or stop/starting (note the black marks in the FR welds) Also bevel your weld. Grind at a 45 degree angle...and you may want to weld it in two passes. one time to join the metal..and another to fill/cap it. Mild steel + stainless...always use SMALL filler rod. When I use a 3/32 tungsten the biggest rod I'll ever use is 1/16" I like to use .035" rod.

with aluminum be sure to tack the piece often before welding.

practice, practice, practice

 

okay so ive been practicing all morning and afternoon and maybe for another hour today. i ran out of stainless so ive been using aluminum and i must admit im doing much much better. im not burning through much at all now. the only issue i seem to be having is tacking which hopefully ill have nailed by the end of today. i was using a 1/16 inch fill rod and i was hand sanding the metal. now im using 3/32 fill rod and a stainless steel wire wheel in a drill. and after i sharpen my tungsten im using the dc+ and hitting a 1970 penny to get a little ball on the tip. works wonders.

and thanks, everything has improved after i got a bigger fillrod and cleaner welds

thanks again mangs

 

i forgot to mention something ive done different to improve my welds that i recommend everyone try at least once....


and that is....

lots and lots of death metal!!


so thank you

suicide silence, between buried and me, super joint, through the eyes of the dead, blood has been shed, animosity, dead to fall. and to my friend that let me barrow all of these

 

You know, I've been welding for years and years, and the penny thing never once occured to me, GENIOUS! HA! So much for that copper plate I hang on to...
You'll get it, it's all about practice. Find one of the many internet sites that shows you a series of welds and what's wrong with them and learn from the pretty pictures. Then when you can make good looking welds, start cutting and etching them to see if you're really making good welds

 

are pennies pure copper?

 

i believe they are before a certain date. i think before the 80's your safe.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTErnie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">are pennies pure copper?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Nope. Copper shell over Zinc. If they are solid copper, with copper prices so high, a penny would be worth well over $.03

 

One thing you can use to clean the metal instead of a stainless wire wheel is using hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid. You can get it at the welding store.

 

since im currently out of work and only have so much ill be sticking to hand sanding my metals down.

okay so my aluminum welds look pretty good.

stainless is prettty good

my mild steel is pretty good except i dont know what it is but it almost look like little tiny ***** of metal or sorta like unpopped pimples? any idea what im talking about? maybe it just needs to be cleaned better im not sure... anyone know what im talking about?

 

if it looks like an unpopped pimple than u need more heat or less filler metal

 

That is called perosity inside the weld. It is too hot and there is an impurity in the weld, or not enough shielding gas. Usually perosity looks like a bunch of tiny holes in the weld that are obviously visible. But sometimes the weld cools just before the hole develops and creates like you described, a pimple that need popped.

 

okay i know what your talking about and this is different. its like you know when you mig weld you get like little ***** of metal all over the place? well im getting those when i tig. and its only on mild steel.

 

Splatter?

 

yep splatter

 

stainless and aluminum 2 different animals

 

yes thank you for that, the question is about why am i getting splatter on tig welded steel?

 

are you welding hot rolled? If you have splatter you are doing something wrong.