Question for the tig experts

[drewski]

I bought a new Miller Syncrowave 200 a while back and I'm gradually learning to weld with it. I have quite a bit of gas welding under my belt so the tiq learning curve has not been bad. A question that I have is regarding post flow times on the argon. My machine came with a factory setting of 5 seconds post flow, which seems like a long time to me. Seems like a waste of gas at times.

What are you guys that do tig all the time using for post flow time?

Andrew

 

[bobadame]

It depends on the size of the electrode and the amount of current you are using. 5 seconds might be more than you need for .040 or .062 electrodes. Turn it down a bit and see if the electrode stays clean.

 

[atari]

I run mine at 1.5 seconds with a 1/16 electrode on a machine that maxes out at 150 amps. I would say 5 seconds is a really long time.

 

[t100]

5 second is bare minimum.

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/tech_tips/TIG_tips/troubleshooting.html

5. Tungsten oxidation during cooling. Keep shielding gas flowing 10–15 seconds after arc stoppage. 1 second for each 10 amps of weld current.

 

[zmotorsports]

A rule I heard years ago is approx. one second for every 10-15 amps. Example for running 100 amps would be approx. 7-10 seconds of postflow. The atmosphere needs to be kept away to keep from drawing contaminates from the environment into the weld and contaminating it.

I am usually in the 7-9 second range depending on what I am welding. I weld a lot of 4130 chromoly in the 60-85 amp range and keep mine at nine seconds postflow. Mike.

 

[drewski]

I probably need to add that most of the welding that I do is on 16-20 ga cold rolled steel and I am using a 1/16" electrode. I guess that the answer I'm getting is that it depends on the size electrode and the amperage being used for the material being welded.

This might have been a dumb rookie question that I needed to research a little more, but I do appreciate the responses. Thanks

Andrew