On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 22:51:22 GMT, "Rick" wrote:

Next I ground a 1.5% lanthinated 3/32" tungsten electrode to a pencil point,
then ground the tip flat to about 1/4 the diameter of the rod, put in a #5
pink cone thingy and tried running a bead on a piece of 1/4 mild steel,
sanded clean, using a 3/32 filler rod, 115 amps, basic square wave foot
pedal operation, and 20CFH flow rate on my argon. A few seconds later I
reground a 1.5% 3/32" tungsten....well you get the idea.

Breath deeply. :-) Let's start with a few little suggestions. First
of all, you're going to want the machine set up for the "ramping"
power on the foot pedal. You'll want to use it like a car's gas
pedal. Only difference is that you'll generally want to jump straight
to at least 50% when starting and quickly work up to and around 100%.
At the end of a weld you might just back off the power a tad to keep
from burning through the material.

Given that point, set your machine's amperage to the approximate
decimal equivalent of the thickness of the thinnest material you are
welding. For example, if you are welding two pieces of 1/8th"
material... 1/8 = .125 = 125 amps. Also, make sure you're using DC-.

1/4" = .25 = 250 amps... but this is for 100% penetration. If you are
welding a 1/8" piece to a 1/4" piece use the THINNEST material, or the
1/8" setting of 125 amps.

Also, the angle of your Tungsten grinding will affect the control, and
thus quality, of your weld. Generally speaking, the tip should be
ground at a 20 degree angle. Don't grind the tip as much as you have.
Just knock the sharp point off of it but don't really flatten it.

Also VERY IMPORTANT, grind the tungsten so that the grinding marks run
lengthwise!

The tip of the tungsten should only protrude from the nozzle by less
than the width of the nozzle interior diameter.

Incidentally I purchased a Techsouth Inc. PowerPoint Tungsten Grinder
(http://www.techsouthinc.com/) with adjustable angle for $249 and it
is fantastic. I highly recommend it to anyone who does more than a
little TIG welding. In about 3 seconds I can put a perfect tip on any
Tungsten.

20CFH is probably more than you need. You might drop down to 15-17 to
save a little gas. But too much won't hurt anything... just burning
extra money.


How in the world do you keep the tungsten tip from touching the work or the
filler rod??? Nobody's hand can be *that* steady!
Can you rest the pink ceramic cup on the workpiece?

That is exactly what I thought the first 50 times I tried TIG welding!
:-) But yes you can, and will, get to the point eventually that you
won't "dip the electrode". I hate to tell you, but you are going to
do a lot of grinding and a lot of dipping. When you have to
manipulate the filler rod with one hand, the torch with another, and
the power with a foot, you are bound to experience coordination
psychosis! But I promise you, if I could learn to do this you can
too!

You really shouldn't rest the cup on the weld material. Ideally you
will hold the electrode within 10 degrees of perpendicular to the
weld. The more of an angle to the material the more likely that your
shielding gas will sweep across the weld and suck in oxygen with it
instead of creating an oxygen free buffer around the weld.

How do you hold the torch (angle from vertical) and where do you feed in the
rod to the puddle? In front of the torch? to the side? behind it?

The most popular way to hold the torch, and the way I do it, is to
grasp the handle in your right hand the same way you would hold a fat
sharpie marker. That is, between your thumb and pointer finger with
the middle finger adding support.

You will feed the rod into the puddle from your left hand and the
torch and rod will be essentially coming together at about a 45 degree
angle. Imagine how grandma holds knitting needles. Kind of like
that.

You will "push" the torch forward as you weld.

Initially you power up the torch and then after you see the base
material form a puddle you gently insert the filler rod into the
puddle to add some, and then back it out. Then push the torch
forward slightly and after the puddle inches forward it will create a
little shape that kind of looks like PacMan's mouth. When you see
the "", feed the puddle "mouth" with a bit more filler, then repeat.
Think of it like you're playing PacMan.

I accidentally welded a pretty smooth bead, but the next few attempts
produced more of the filler rod or tungsten getting stuck to the workpiece.

Well, technically since you were just using on 1/4" plate, you weren't
welding. :-) But you were running a bead.

I would have you first practice without any filler rods. Take that
same plate, leave your amperage at 125, and practice pushing the weld
puddle all the way across the plate many, many times. All you are
trying to do is move the puddle in front of your tungsten at a steady
pace and maintain about 1/4" from the surface of the material.

The next practice step is to take two 1/8" pieces of flat material and
hold them at a 45 degree angle pointing upwards (Upside down V). Tack
weld their edges together and then practice WITH NO FILLER ROD getting
the two pieces to flow together to make a pretty welded 45 degree
corner.

After you've done that about 100 times, then try it with the filler
rod. By that time you'll be feeling pretty good.

Hope this helps,

John P.