so i finally decided to get a tig machine and it took me a while to wire my shop for 220v. the machine is the little "rescue toaster" harbor frieght tig nothing special but i got it for real cheap and it is something to learn on. here are some pics.

i tried to figure out the scratch start and i got this.


i kind of figured out the scratch start all of these are not with filler.


the top right weld is with no filler 3/32 tungston 15 cfh and 5sec post flow
the lower left weld is with filler same as before.


i decided to try and weld something together and this is my first pass


this is the other side, i had to readjust at the last section


and here is the from one of the better welds sorry for the shitty pic


any help would be appriciated!
thanks

 

bump

 

Too much heat.

Practice.

 

actually it was the lower setting 20-60 amps but your right much practice is needed

 

try not to weld with your eyes closed..


you need to alternate between watching the puddle (very important) and being sure you know where you're going (watch the crack too). I can see a few spots where it's quite obvious you were not watching what you were doing. slow down, turn the heat down, and concentrate on what you're doing more.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boosted2182 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">actually it was the lower setting 20-60 amps but your right much practice is needed</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah becuase your torch is to high, get the tungsten as close to the puddle as possible and move along at a good clip.

 

Scratch starting sucks especially when you can't control the amperage unless you weld the same exact size material. Also if you don't do it right than you will contaminate the tungsten.

Start getting friendly with the grinder and have a few extra sharpened pieces laying around. I suggest grinding both sides but one guy on here says he got shocked because of this but that is not normal.

Definately get the torch as close as possible without touching the tungsten to filler or base metals.

Also even if your amerage is set low then either try moving faster because if you move say an 1 inch/min. slow with 60 amps as opposed to 10 inch/min than there will be a less heat saturation.

The other thing is youmight have too much torch angle. Start off with the torch perpendicular to the base metal. As you get the technique when adding filler and heat unput you may have to increase the push angle. (Push angle is the angle of which you hold the torch. If you are right handed then you move from right to left adding the rod to the left of the torch)

You shouldn't need more than about 15 degrees.

Also don't ahve your tungsten sticking out too far. The is different for everybody and certain joints but try like 1/8 of an inch. It may be hard to see the puddle so get in front of the arc and make sure you can see it.

 

i agree with too much heat

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cua0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">try not to weld with your eyes closed..


you need to alternate between watching the puddle (very important) and being sure you know where you're going (watch the crack too). I can see a few spots where it's quite obvious you were not watching what you were doing. slow down, turn the heat down, and concentrate on what you're doing more.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
my eyes were very much open, the reason for the slight detour of the weld is that i had to readjust to get comfortable.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by arcboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Scratch starting sucks especially when you can't control the amperage unless you weld the same exact size material. Also if you don't do it right than you will contaminate the tungsten.

Start getting friendly with the grinder and have a few extra sharpened pieces laying around. I suggest grinding both sides but one guy on here says he got shocked because of this but that is not normal.

Definately get the torch as close as possible without touching the tungsten to filler or base metals.

Also even if your amerage is set low then either try moving faster because if you move say an 1 inch/min. slow with 60 amps as opposed to 10 inch/min than there will be a less heat saturation.

The other thing is youmight have too much torch angle. Start off with the torch perpendicular to the base metal. As you get the technique when adding filler and heat unput you may have to increase the push angle. (Push angle is the angle of which you hold the torch. If you are right handed then you move from right to left adding the rod to the left of the torch)

You shouldn't need more than about 15 degrees.

Also don't ahve your tungsten sticking out too far. The is different for everybody and certain joints but try like 1/8 of an inch. It may be hard to see the puddle so get in front of the arc and make sure you can see it.</TD></TR></TABLE>
the grinder is my best friend and i have a few tungstons sitting around ready to go. the torch has been set correctly in those pics but just as one of the guys said i think i was to far away from the puddle. im going to have to give the push angle a try to see where i am comfortable at. thanks for the help guys!!!

 

too much heat doesnt always mean you are running the machine too hot... it could also mean you are moving to slow..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 9295EJ-t &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">too much heat doesnt always mean you are running the machine too hot... it could also mean you are moving to slow.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

that would also make more sense than what others have said " too much heat" with no explaination but you and arcboy have cleared it up for me.

thanks

 

with the machine that you are using, you dont have amperage control right? so, when you see the weld puddle getting bigger, move your torch faster.. when working jobs at powerplants and paper mills, you have no foot pedal (in all cases that i have come across), so when you are welding 2" tube without foot pedals, you have to move fast as ****.. (i used 2" as an example because it is smaller and doesnt decipate heat fast like bigger pipe)


and a good way to scratch start, is to lay the cup down on the work, and place your filler wire on top of the cup, and quickly slide the wire across the cup and pass the tungsten.. takes a little practice.. but it gets easy..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 9295EJ-t &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">with the machine that you are using, you dont have amperage control right? so, when you see the weld puddle getting bigger, move your torch faster.. when working jobs at powerplants and paper mills, you have no foot pedal (in all cases that i have come across), so when you are welding 2" tube without foot pedals, you have to move fast as ****.. (i used 2" as an example because it is smaller and doesnt decipate heat fast like bigger pipe)


and a good way to scratch start, is to lay the cup down on the work, and place your filler wire on top of the cup, and quickly slide the wire across the cup and pass the tungsten.. takes a little practice.. but it gets easy..</TD></TR></TABLE>
this helps out immensly thanks

 

here is an update and some better results following the advise of others

3/32 tungston 3/32 filler


same as before


same as before i realised that i wasnt moving fast enough


this is straight fusion weld no filler


same here


now with filler


i decided to try to weld some pipe with no filler


the tungston was contaminated like a ****


same fusion welding

 

keep practicing on flat stuff man.

 

Like my tig teacher says, 3 things you need to succeed at welding.. Practice, practice, practice

The pipe is a bit too advanced for you just yet, and you actually need to use filler and have a bit of a gap between the 2 pieces on butt type welds so you get the weld all the way through. If you look inside the pipe, you wont see any signs of a weld at all on the root, this isn't what u want. Basically the other side (root) should show a weld pattern similiar to the side you welded on, but a bit thinner. But dont worry about doing the pipes now, do flat butt welds to get better at that.

I think you just need a sense of pace and rythym with adding your filler. You'll get it eventually. Also, watch your undercut, where metal from the surrounding area is pulled into the weld bead.

Janos

 

lately i have been practicing and i see what your talking about as far as undercutting goes. i didnt have much material to practice on accept for some pipe but i now have some sheet metal so i can just lay some beads down.

my rythym as far as using filler is kind of hard but im getting the hang of it, i dont knwo if you can help me on this but it seems i get a better rythym using 1/16th tungston and 1/16th filler as oppose to 3/32 tungston and 3/32 filler. any help on that would be great.
thanks for the help

 

i've really been thinking about this machine for 200 bones i give it a shot!

 

Couple of things I see and I am going to assume:

Make sure not to make to many passes on one piece or it will become heat saturated and it will look like you are putting too much amperage in the part.

If you look at all the weld ends (to the left) they are all too hot. This is because you don't have a remote (pedal or hand controller) to reduce the amperage as you get to the end of the weld. At the beginning of the weld the part is cold and takes a little more amps to weld. As you get to the end the part is hot and you run out of material to heat up so all that heat is added up at the end. If you could control the heat you would reduce the amps with the remote and the end of the weld would look like the beginning.

To keep some consistency in your weld really try to brace your hand against something. I like to rest my pinky finger against the part or the table. As opposed to having your hand out in the air. You might as well as weld with your eyes closed unless you get good at that.

Still looks like your either moving to slow, bad torch angle, too much heat. Definately too much undercut.

Set your machine low and strike an arc. Keep doing this and increase the amperage until you see the material melt just a little bit (w/out filler first then add filler, you will need a tad bit more heat with filler). If the amperage is too high then the it will look like the rest of your welds. You should shoot for any appearance that is NOT a dull grey. If you don't understand then grab some stainless filler and this will help understand the color/appearance with heat control.

 

not trying to thread jack at all...but i'm going to buy that same welder on friday... what materials (fillers, sheet metal, pipe) would you guys recommend that I buy to start with?

 

I recomend trying to weld some thicker materials first. At least 1/8 inch material, pipe is your last choice because it is hard to weld round stuff as a beginner.

Filler: any ER70 like some ER70S2. 1/16 dia is about the most common and versitle.

 

Yeah having a remote control makes it much easier to weld with, but since you dont have that you can at least speed up your torch travel to comspenate for heat input, and add a bit of filler at the end just before u let off to keep it from caving in. But yeah a remote amperage control like the foot pedal or torch mounted **** makes it much easier.

Janos