Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi all.

Been looking on here for a little while and figured I should join in.
I've been tig welding at home with DC only cheap rig for approx. 12 months doing mild steel and stainless.
Just a few days back I received my new Everlast powertig 200DX which I bought to attack aluminium welding head on.
I've been mig welding for approx. 23 years starting out as an apprentice motor mechanic doing lots of custom mild steel exhaust systems and general welding fab items for LPG conversions etc.
I've always had a strong desire to alloy weld but couldn't really afford the set up or justify it I guess.

So I've been watching Jody's vids for the last twelve months and honestly it probabaly was a great inspiration for me to get into this mess lol . I love the challenge of trying to do great welds and although I'm a long way off being very good, some small wins here and there are a great feeling. I never would have thought in the past that welding could give me so much pleasure as a hobby/past time.

Here is a picture I took of last nights efforts. I'm a little concerned of the apparent wide band of cleaning even though I have my machine's ac balance turned right down to minimum although it is more than likely something I'm doing wrong and not the machine ?
My settings were - 100 amps(foot pedal), 10 LPM argon,1 second preflow,5 second post flow, 5356 filler rod,ac balance at min of 30, ac freq 120, no pulse, 2.4mm lanthanated and 2.4mm thoriated tungstens at approx. 3/16 stick out.

hoping to have some fun here and learn
cheers
Jason

Hey mate, what part of Vic are you from? I'm in Bendigo.

Sent from my ZTE T83 using Tapatalk

Hi Mike.
I'm in Traralgon in Latrobe Valley.

Welcome to the forum Jaso.

Jason,
Welcome to the forum.


If the 200Dx is like the 250EX, then the Balance is counter-intuitive and should be set to around 70 for the balance you're after. I'm no expert on inverter welders but I had a chance to play a little with my son's 250Ex and that was the case.

Len

I have a Everlast 250 EX, I think it's similar to yours. Your cleaning zone looks just a little wide on all but the very last bead on the end. Your bead furthest to the right on that plate looks right around 30-40% EP . If your machine is like mine, that would be around 10 o'clock on the balance knob , or 35% or so . I don't think it's a huge problem if that cleaning band is a bit wide ...only thing is that it shouldn't be that wide if you've got the balance knob turned all the way counter clockwise, or "minimum" as you say. Maybe I misread what you wrote . Anyway your beads look great, especially for your first few beads on AL . I've had mine just a few months also and you're right, it is alotta fun . This is a good forum, helpful and nice people here . Welcome to the forum !

Bit of a hike from my joint

Sent from my ZTE T83 using Tapatalk