Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi.

This post has been revised to include an additonal picture and more detail.

My name is Dennis. I am relatively new to welding and I have been trying to learn TIG. I am having trouble with welding T-Joints in 18 gauge mild cold rolled steel. I currently am working at 60 amps using an Everlast 210 EXT. I have a couple of pictures of my latest weld (eeww!). I'm not sure what the problem is, turn down the current or speed up the travel.

I was using 3/32 rare earth electrode with a #6 gas cup, with about 12-15 CFH straight argon. I was welding from right to left.

Any and all comments would be appreciated. The attachment shows the back side of the weld (in reverse to match the front side). I don't know how to post the front side of the weld. I'll try a second post for that.

Welcome to the forum, Dennis.

Dennis:
Glad to meet you and again welcome to the forum.

First, I must say that I am also a newby to the art of TIG welding. Don't get frustrated it will come with practice but it will take practice.

First, I do a fair amount of thin metal welding. I have found that the setup of the torch is important for me. When working with 16 or 18 ga. steel, I use a 1/16" tungsten I find it is to hard to control the heat when using a 3/32" tungsten. I also use 1/16 ga. filler wire. Trying to use 3/32 filler wire is not easy as it takes as much heat to meld as the steel your working with. Also when you do get it to meld, you often get to much filler material. Next, I use a #6 cup. A #7 will work but the #6 allows me to get down closer to the corner of the joint. To allow me to get the tungsten in closer to the joint, I use about 3/16" of tungsten sticking out of the cup. In my experience, the power you are using is about correct. I would probably set the machine up for about 70 amps and use the foot (or thumb wheel on the torch) to cut the power back. You will find that you are using about half the power available when welding.

The torch needs to be pointed 90 degrees out of the joint assuming that the joint is a 90 degree joint. When moving forward, lean the torch slightly back away from the direction of travel (10 to 15 degrees no more).

Now, let us look at your weld, Starting on the left, (although it is ugly) you do have a weld going on. You need a little more filler material. When welding a "T" as you have here, I add the filler rod in at the top of the puddle and let the filler material run down hill into the corner. If you look closely, you can see that the heat is about right as you can see that the heat is biting into the metal.

In the middle of the weld, you have a gas coverage problem. If you look at the weld, you can see that is is all porous and rough looking. This is caused by the gas not covering the weld. Your torch was not pointed correctly. Remember point the torch straight into the joint without to much lean forward or backward. I tend to use about 15 to 18 lpm of gas flow. It is a bit higher than some use but it allows me to be a little sloppier in the pointing the torch (I am also a newby).

In the right, you were having trouble. My guess is heat control. This again involves how you were pointing the torch. Also keep the arc short. The arc should be about 1/16" long. If you want to spread the heat out a bit, pull back a bit (make the arc a little longer) but keep it as short as possible.

Keep it up, you will get there it takes quite a bit of practice. Since I don't weld every day and in fact it maybe months between welding projects, I have to do some practice runs to get things under control before starting to do the weld I need on whatever project I am working on.

Keep it up, you will get there it takes practice.

Ken





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