[raticus]

I think it's safe to say in this discussion that gas is the culprit... I myself doubt the insulator makes any difference at all, and having too much gas flow is a good thought but I doubt that too as it would have to be an awful lot of gas to blow itself out that consistently I would think (?).

But what this does remind me of is a situation many years ago where I was first learning how to weld with MIG, my then brand new bottle gauges were reading the correct flow, but I had similar issues as the OP... I swapped over to a friend's set of gauges who I was sharing the shop with, and problem went away. Turned out my new gauges/hose had some debris stuck inside of them from the factory that allowed gas to flow but at a much restricted rate... Eventually I managed to unclog them and they were fine after.

[Rick van winkle]

I think it's safe to say in this discussion that gas is the culprit... I myself doubt the insulator makes any difference at all, and having too much gas flow is a good thought but I doubt that too as it would have to be an awful lot of gas to blow itself out that consistently I would think (?).

But what this does remind me of is a situation many years ago where I was first learning how to weld with MIG, my then brand new bottle gauges were reading the correct flow, but I had similar issues as the OP... I swapped over to a friend's set of gauges who I was sharing the shop with, and problem went away. Turned out my new gauges/hose had some debris stuck inside of them from the factory that allowed gas to flow but at a much restricted rate... Eventually I managed to unclog them and they were fine after.

Good idea. I never even looked inside the bottle valve before i stuck the regulator on

[noddybrian]

I hope the OP figures it out - but on the insulator debate I'll add I seen a lot of problems caused by it - maybe an unlucky combination of makes / tolerances but without the correct ones you can get either ceramic is done up against end of brass thread & cracks ceramics due to metal expansion / contraction - recent post showed this - always breaks in the same place or by having a gap near torch body the threads can be loose enough that air is drawn in down the thread in much the same way it can on gas line leaks - initially makes no sense but it can & does happen causing much head scratching as to the cause of gas issues - I get any number of people visit me with the common issue " I bought this Tig but it's faulty coz it does'nt weld like Jody's " ! it's usually simple but you have to see it not go by a description of what they think.

[Rick van winkle]

I think it's safe to say in this discussion that gas is the culprit... I myself doubt the insulator makes any difference at all, and having too much gas flow is a good thought but I doubt that too as it would have to be an awful lot of gas to blow itself out that consistently I would think (?).

But what this does remind me of is a situation many years ago where I was first learning how to weld with MIG, my then brand new bottle gauges were reading the correct flow, but I had similar issues as the OP... I swapped over to a friend's set of gauges who I was sharing the shop with, and problem went away. Turned out my new gauges/hose had some debris stuck inside of them from the factory that allowed gas to flow but at a much restricted rate... Eventually I managed to unclog them and they were fine after.

I think youve hit the nail on the head. Im thinking ive got something in the solenoid valve. Im getting steady argon supply out of the regulator but out of the torch hose im getting a good initial burst of gas that tapers off to a light breeze. I guess im pulling the case.

[Jim FLinchbaugh]

Do you have a magnet anywhere near what you're welding?
Like holding 2 pieces together?

[Least honorable]

Do you have a magnet anywhere near what you're welding?
Like holding 2 pieces together?

i've (and im pretty sure many people have) welded with magnets less than an inch away from my weld zone and i've never seen any magnet screw up a weld like that at 10 amps, though thats just me. unless he owns a really powerful rare earth magnet, i doubt its the issue, but what is happening to OP really does puzzle me

[Rick van winkle]

Update for anyone who might be interested... no obstruction was found in the gas lines or regulator. The argon solenoid isnt a type that looks easily rebuildable so i didnt take it apart with the machine being so new. The screen on the inlet of the solenoid is clear though. The argon tube inside the machine isn't pinched. I went back to my LWS today to return the torch they loaned me. They insisted i borrow a regulator from them and try it. So i did but no improvement was seen. The LWS has offered to let me bring the machine uo there so they can see the issue first hand and maybe understand what the issue might be. We will also try another argon bottle when i bring the machine up to them. Anyone in the north georgia area should consider lanier welding supply in gainesville. They didnt sell me the machine but have been nothing but helpful in figuring it out. I called ahp today and talked to their tech support, he was also baffled and thinks i have a bad argon tank.


I did notice today when messing with the new regulator that if i turn the argon flow up the arc stops wandering and instead focuses in one spot that is at least 1/8" from where the tip of the tungsten is. Turn argon down to 15-20 cfh the arc stays close to the tip of the tungsten but wanders all over the place. Get the cfh up over 40 and the arc is blowing off the side off the tungsten 1/4" and is loud like a gas torch with a big arc plume and tons of heat. If i try to puddle the base metal with the high 40cfh setting i get less porosity but still not near acceptable.

[raticus]

well so much for my theory... too bad you don't have a welder friend you can bribe to come over (beer is a good bribery) and let them go at it... if they get the same results at least you can't blame yourself.

[WVJay]

I know I am new, but this sounds just like what I did last weekend when I installed the stubby gas lens kit. When you installed the collet in the collet body did you put the slit end in first? I put mine in with the slits up toward the cap and it did the same thing. Arc would jump all over the place due to the tungsten not being tight enough creating a poor connection in the torch. I hope you find your issue.

[raticus]

just thought of one thing, not sure if it was talked about or if you used some different scrap... but is this problem occurring on any steel you use? or is it just on this one piece of steel? i'm wondering if you're only having this issue on the one piece of scrap, that maybe there's an issue with it... maybe it's not even what you think it is (i.e not carbon steel)...

[Rick van winkle]

I know I am new, but this sounds just like what I did last weekend when I installed the stubby gas lens kit. When you installed the collet in the collet body did you put the slit end in first? I put mine in with the slits up toward the cap and it did the same thing. Arc would jump all over the place due to the tungsten not being tight enough creating a poor connection in the torch. I hope you find your issue.

I'll double check tonight, but i dont have an issue with the tungsten being loose in either gas lens or standard collett body configurations.

As far as the base metal im using ive tried multiple pieces, but im not using scrap steel either. Im using welding coupons that lincoln sells through their james f lincoln foundation. The problem started on a piece that i had been welding on fine the day before. But none the less ive tried three different coupons. Im a little frustrated at the lack of support im getting from AHP on this now even though they cant think of anything else to try they are saying they dont want to try to fix it either because it still turns on. Hindsight being what it is i would probably spend the extra for the lincoln machine if i had it to do all over again.

[Rudy Ray]

I am looking forward to learning what the problem is. It's been on the back of my mind for weeks now.

[Rick van winkle]

I am looking forward to learning what the problem is. It's been on the back of my mind for weeks now.

AHP says they are sending me a pre-paid shipping label but that was first thing friday and i havent heard back on it yet. Hopefully they will let me know what they find.

[MarkL]

You mentioned your LWS offered to let you bring the machine over and they'd help you diagnose the problem. Did you ever get a chance to do that?

[entity-unknown]

I believe I'm late to the show but you never posted your success so perhaps you're still hunting...

The three common things for bad arc that I've found are:
1: Bad Grind
2: Bad Ground
3: Bad Gas

Specifics of the 3 Bad Things:
1: Tons of arguments here but a bad grind gives bad arc. If you have a flat spot, the arc will focus there. What seems to be the "trick" is getting a perfect grind and spiral all around. The more concentric, the better the arc. If you half ass it you will have wander. If you do a decent job on a bench grinder, you'll have a decent arc with some noticeable wander. If you become an expert (in time) on grinding, in my personal experience you will never experience arc wander. What does a perfect grind look like? I dunno but a consistent/concentric pattern all around your tip seems to be the key. Whether it be CONSISTENT straight lines, or a fancy CONSISTENT curve all around, as long as the spacing and pattern is 100% consistent all around your grind, life should usually be good.

2: Make sure you have a good flow of electrons to your piece. Basically you need to make sure things are clean, clamped tight, and you have a good gauge/quality wiring for your ground clamp. In the end the truth is electricity is resilient and will find a way if it's possible but if you have crap/paint/anything but bare metal, TIG'in will present problems.

3: If you're not getting enough gas, life will suck and you'll have the worst experience ever. How do you tell if gas is running? give a quick push to your pedal or trigger and listen. If you hear it blow air(gas) out the cup, you're good. If you don't, then maybe it's too low. Either way give a feel with another "push" and hopefully you feel something come out. If not, it's too low or clogged. Argon isn't something that "clogs" up so if this is an issue you've got a pinched line or bad regulator. If you suspect either then crank the gas up real high and give a quick hit. If you still don't feel or hear anything then you've got some issues with a regulator up to the components inside that control gas flow including leak control from those internal valves. What should you be "feeling" with the gas hitting your flesh? The lightest breeze or one of the lightest pressures your air compressor can put out is very similar. Even pursing your lips and blowing on your finger tips should be similar.

[Granddaddy]

I will be following this thread for sure, curiosity is killing me.

I cant bad mouth AHP to bad because I will take some of the blame for my mistake but I think safe guards should have been built in, this was my experience.

I generally favor stick welding and I loved the way the AHP alpha tig ran 7018's, the smoothest I have used. I decided I would play with the tig function and got everything set up BUT I forgot to toggle back to tig. from that point on the solenoid never functioned correctly again. it would open for about a second and close right back up, sometimes it would open a second time for another second or so and close again. like the OP I went through everything I could think of and couldn't solve the problem so I returned it and bought a square wave 200.

I truly liked the AHP, it runs stick significantly better than the SQ Wave in my opinion but I didn't feel comfortable with a machine that was that delicate. as I said I will admit my mistake but forgetting to change modes shouldn't take a machine out.
in defense of AHP I sent an email ( not about this event just a general inquiry ) and 10 minutes later my phone rang and it was the owner of the company, the same thing happened when I emailed EverLast, I am still amazed by that.

good luck and I hope all goes well for you, I cant say I wouldn't try AHP again for an inverter arc welder.

creek