Got it, great info thanks guys

Tell me what you guys think of this then, this guy is from a really reputable motorsports team and after seeing one of his fab guys welding up a section of exhaust with no purge his answer was "on our application a standard weld hold sup fine, back purge would take more time without a pay-off, ...

Makes perfect sense thanks for that. What do you guys think of using pulse to do a fusion weld, no fuller but no purge? I mean, it's a exhaust so it's not the most critical and if the weld isn't heated too much and there isn't the strongest penetration it shouldn't sugar inside considering its just ...

Thanks for the advice and great tip about the fingerprint tip that has caught me out before.

So your point about tuning up the pulse with a low background. Does that mean keep it moving really fast as to not get it too hot because won't that make it grey up again.

Ok so I had to weld the tip on, I got the fitment as good as I could and just used pulse and this is the result. You can see the factory welds on the muffler are a different colour. What determines this? Also, am I correct in that if I use a sharper tungsten I would get a wider bead? Please give me ...

Dammit so I did everything possible wrong. I recently fixed up some aluminium issues because I wasn't hitting it with enough amps and taking too long to get the weld done so I just applied that thinking to this. It makes sense because this is the tail pipe section, I made the rest of the exhaust up ...

Oh it isn't food grade pipe what I meant was its a general stainless supplier that doesn't cater to auto stuff so it's thicker than I would like it at 1.6 mm and the fact it's 316 was because that's just what they had. So I'm confused, was using 316 a bad idea on my part? I thought the higher the nu...

Yeah I think everybody has done a good suspect profile on me on this one! Im pretty sure it's a #6 cup I pumped a fair bit of heat because when I initially started I noticed the welds were very narrow beads if I moved faster so I figured I would take my time and put some more heat into it and the be...

I have to admit that was my train of thought too but I was told ages ago that 309 is good at thermal flex and because this is a exhaust pipe it will resist cracking.... But I'm starting to regret it

So I rarely weld and I know these arnt the nicest welds but I was tiging some 316 stainless pipe using 309 filler and I have noticed that the welds are a little dark and "dusty" its even leaving a black soot when I rub my finger over the weld. I did purge it by running 20l/pm for about 15s...

I'm starting to think the throttle body flange I purchased might have some sort of anodise on it. I know it sounds stupid but it doesn't look like anodise but it doesn't look like raw aluminium either. I just wrote it off as me being silly because it's sold as being used for welding but I'm having d...

Olivero Thanks for your input I tend to agree that the issue is me as history with me shows it's usually something I did that is making my welds shit and not the welder. I'm not home ATM but after all the dramas I just picked up the torch and welded some lap joints that I needed for a little bracket...

Thanks arclight that's some in depth advice!!! Yep that is the machine I have and I have a previous post questioning how to cross reference the Lincoln miller percantage based balance to the kemppi and I have a online chart I use. I'm on my phone so I might have to just screen shot it but I'll add i...

Thanks Steve, that is the logical conclusion I came to, since my last post I have gone out again and it welded really well so I'm not sure what the story is. Can I add my machine is a kemppi 2300 which isn't that big in the states I hear but is a quality unit and whilst I've had it for 5 years or so...

I was actually taking your advice and was asking what distance you would recommend. I'm not blaming the machine I'm asking for advice and I took your advice.

Thanks for your input anyways

Hey I'd believe you if you told me I was using the wrong end of the torch no problems taking advice on this end I think I've tried it at all lengths, intact when it turned ugly mid weld I was in a corner inside weld that was fine then turned to crap so I couldn't get u home closet being that the cup...

This is all at 60hzwhich is what it was set at To the left is yesterday's puddle. It seems better but what the hell would cause it to be crap yesterday but today ok? This is why I find rig frustrating as a news because I can sometimes walk away and comeback with out touching a thing and it just fixe...

I'll try that now and give you a pic

The puddle on the bottom right is just me lighting up previously with a freshly ground tungsten trying get to get a ball, the rest of them are me lighting up after the "problem" occurred mid weld on the work piece, I would post a pic of the work piece but I brushed it back thinking I hit s...

Thanks for the input guys. I'm not running a water cooled torch and it was getting pretty hot when it turned bad- what tell tale signs should I look for to see if my torch is bad apart from melting? How do I check on the polarity problem mentioned? My point still stands, the same piece of scrap with...

So I'm welding some alloy and it's going ok-ish co spidering I'm hopeless to begin with. The Half way through a decent weld it turns to crap and I notice the ball on my tungsten pulls to one side and almost looks like there is a split in the end of it.... I then go off regrind and spark it up on som...

Thanks, all good with bolt head the bolt head goes from the other side

Thanks I'll definitely put some anti seize on it, I have to wait till tomorrow to get some bolts their a weird fine metric thread and I'll give it a go. In sure I've seen Jody do a alloy build up with stainless behind the work piece , is this a fool proof way as the AC won't puddle the stainless or ...

Sorry I should have clarified, that is a aluminium pipe getting welded to aluminium flange and when finished a bolt will go from the other side so the head of the bolt is fine for clearance Does this change your mind on using a stainless bolt in the hole to help save the hole... keep in mind my allo...

How would you guys tackle this?
I was going to get a stainless bolt and have it sitting flush with the end of the hole and hope it doesn't do too much damage and hopefully just run a tap through it after.
Any ideas? Possibly have the bolt a touch past the thread?