First TIG welds...suggestions?

[jakeb]

Just got my new TIG setup yesterday. There is a learning curve and I can see getting good will take practice practice practice.

I wanted to share and look for tips. These are just on mild steel, 3/32 tungsten, 3/32 filler.

I tried to do some thinner stuff and I think I need some thinner filler as the material was melting too fast for me to get the filler in.

Suggestions welcome..

 

[racingtadpole]

I started TIG welding early last year, I found the following things helpful.

Clean the steel
Get some scraps of 1/8 plate and just run straight beads following a chalkline
When you are sitting around not doing much, like watching TV, run a piece of filler through your fingers (my Mrs thought I was going loopy)
Once you can lay a straight bead, and have some filler rod control work on bead consistency, dont be afraid to play around a bit with torch angles and how you hold the torch and filler. Also dont be shy of playing with amperages.
Once I had the basic torch and filler motions working and could lay a half reasonable bead I started doing corner welds welding the plates into L's and U's to get some practise on internals and externals.

I was really surprised at how little current it takes to join a couple of bits metal together.
Its all just bum in seat practise, practise, practise Just a few hours of doing the stuff above got my beads to a level Im pretty happy with on steel, my ally welding still leaves a bit to be desired.

With what you posted, clean the metal first, use a smaller electrode and smaller filler, 1/16 would be plenty big enough for the plate size you used. Turn the current down a bit, your sides a little undercut in a couple of places.

Hope thats of some help to you

Weldingtipsandtricks.com is a good site to get ideas to improve your technique

 

[jakeb]

thanks for the tips

I will get some smaller filler and give it some more practice. I must say it is pretty fun.

 

[markl]

Make sure your parts to be welded fit up tight.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks to me that you may be running a little hot. Back off the current a little. As a general rule most use the 1 amp per .001" thickness of parent material. I generally back off about 10% more depending on the joint. It is also apparent by the welds looking more gray and wider towards the end vs. the start. I am assuming you are using a foot pedal, taper off on the current a little as you approach the end of the weld. Especially if the end is near an edge as you are pushing the heat towards an edge and there is nowhere for it to go so the heat builds up. Not to much just enough to keep the puddle fluid, then use the rod to cool and freeze the puddle.

Move the molten puddle with the torch then when it gets to the size you want and penetrating both pieces of metal dip the rod. This freezes the puddle. At that point pull the rod out of the molten puddle, not out of the gas stream but just out of the puddle. Move the puddle ahead about 1/3-1/2 the size of the puddle and repeat. Grow puddle, dip rod, move puddle.

When preparing for a weld do a "dry run" with your torch. It appears that maybe you are moving your hand in an arc than moving parallel to the joint. I may be wrong but by looking at the start and the stop that is what it looks like. Plan your starts/stops while doing this dry run so they are planned rather than dictated to you.

For the most part it doesn't look all that bad, just work on your consistancy and heat a little and you should be there.

Hope that helped.

Mike.

 

[kazlx]

Rule #1 is clean everything. Bare metal. Otherwise, doesn't look to bad to start. I agree with Z, looks a little hot.

 

[bad_idea]

Suggestions? Stop now. kidding.

 

[ranger302]

One more thing of fit up, the gap should not be larger than the filler rod. Work on the Chalk chasing like racingtadpole sugested and when you get to welfing with filler it will look great. (off the record. if you shake to much 1/2 a beer does wonders)

 

[Nerdcore]

On thin ****, use a thinner tungsten. Your Tungsten is heating up too much cause it's so thick.It's all about heat. You're getting too much heat in that part. He is controlled by filler metal, contact tip to work piece distance and travel speed. What's your voltage set at?