Jon Elson wrote in
rvers.com:

Jim Levie wrote:
On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 14:53:42 -0500, Jon Elson wrote:


But, maybe I'm asking the wrong question! Should I be able to see
the color of the weld puddle and surrounding metal with ANY mask at
all? Or, is the glow from the arc and TIG electrode so brilliant
that it washes out all the glow from the workpiece?


I've never been able to see anything other than the light from the
arc. It's many times brighter than the metal.

Any comments along this line? Do I have to just learn to judge
temperature by how big the weld puddle is, or stop the arc every once
in a while to switch the hood to clear?


Learning to judge how much current to dial in for the weld you are
making is part of the trick. You might have your son get things set
up and complete part of a weld and let him watch what you're doing.
You'd know the heat would be right so then it's just a matter of
technique. In my hands I find that less current (or a smaller
tip/flame on oxyacetylene) works better, if a bit slower, and there's
less risk of melting through the parts.


Sorry, MY son is not the pro welder (at least not yet). I have a
finger control on this Lincoln machine, so I can turn it up and down
as I go. My problem that started this thread is that I can't see any
difference in "color" around the weld pool as the material heats up.
I am used to being able to see this with stick welding, and can
control the heat to some extent before things melt completely and fall
to the floor. I get NO HINT of light from the workpiece to tell me
how hot things are getting. Now, maybe this is the difference between
stick and TIG, and the brightness of the arc and electrode totally
wash out any light emitted by the work. If so, grumbling about the
green tint of the auto-dark mask is NOT the problem! The more I think
about this, the more I think this may actually be the case! Any
comments comparing visibility between TIG and stick? What cues do you
use to tell when you are getting close to overheating the work?

Jon (still in the EARLY learning stage with TIG)

In my case, never having welded aluminum before, I had a local club
member come over to check things out and he gave me some pointers. What
he told me to watch for was the shiny spot, that shiny spot on the
aluminum is the weld pool and what to watch for. The tough thing for me
was not developing the "shiny spot" rather, learning to back off the heat
and not weld too hot...never going to get that "stacked look of dimes"
that way. I did manage to do it a couple times. I know this is gonna take
a bunch of practice!

I use a NexGen EQC, I also picked up a 2X magnification lens, should help
the aging eyes. TIG demo today at my house, going to have a crowd of club
members there!

Marty