Welding Tips and Tricks

So I bought a new Lincoln Square wave tig 200. Working great in steel. Trying to do aluminum and I can’t get that perfect bead. Tack’s are nasty. Just won’t flow out right. Called Lincoln they had no answers
I’m using the torch it came with tried E3, 2% lanthinated, 1.5% lanthinated, 2% thoriated, pure. Played with all the frequencies and cleaning percentages. Using 4043 filler. Welding 1/8” 3003 100% argon. 2% lanthinated has been the best results but still not good. The beads lay out half way decent on flat plate but go to do and edge joint or fillet and looks like crap This is my first inverter so I’m new to it. Been tigging for years. But now I look like the newbie again. What am I doing wrong

Too many generalities without specifics.

If I may suggest. Post a pic and include all information for that weld.
Cup size, stick out, tungsten type and size, argon flow, amps, frequency, balance, position it was welded in, anything else you think of.

If flat works well, but your fillets and edges don't, then I suspect torch distance and gas flow issues, especially on the edges.

When you weld an outside edge, the argon is split and has no backstop to aid in shielding. If you can, clamp some material perpendicular to the surfaces just outside the edge to create an argon "dam" and you might see some improvement.

For fillets with aluminum, you need to be able to maintain the proper arc distance, which often means a tad more stick out, or upping the CFH of your gas. Also, the heat from welding will melt back your filler rod if you are sluggish with your dipping. Tight arc, stab the filler in, withdraw and roll along. Its tricky. If you contaminate your tungsten at all, you'll get black soot and the arc will be terrible. Stop, grind your tungsten clean, and being again.

Of course, material condition plays a big part in the outcome of your welds. Is this scrap 3003, was it cleaned at all, etc...? But pictures of your setup and results will help decipher possible other issues.

Turn the amperage up from 20A up to 200A.

Oscar wrote:Turn the amperage up from 20A up to 200A.

...and add some helium while yer at it...

Jacobsteele15 wrote:The beads lay out half way decent on flat plate but go to do and edge joint or fillet and looks like crap

I have the same machine and one problem I had with the original torch was the cup was not manufactured properly so the tungsten was not centered in the cup, which made it difficult to get a good bead probably because of the asymetric shielding. Since I needed a new cup anyway, I switched to gas lenses, which provided the largest improvement in my welds of anything I've ever bought for welding. So one thing I'd suggest is for the small amount of money it will cost, buy yourself a gas lens.
I also suggest continuing to work on a flat plate until you get beads that are as good or better than what you've done in the past with previous machines. Then try a lap joint next, then a fillet that's greater than 90 degrees so you can get the torch in there easier. I've also found the best results with 2% lanthanated, and I almost always use the default setting on the machine for frequency and cleaning.

Keep in mind that you must remove or at least loosen the oxide coating that's on aluminum. Aluminum oxide coating melts at a much higher temp than the aluminum itself. That can cause a lot of problems for new aluminum tig welders.

I have same welder and had similar problem with thin (0.050") aluminum. Nothing worked so I finally took it back to the dealer figuring something was wrong with it.The techs looked at each other and smirked. They handed me a gray banded electrode and told me to try it. It worked.

With thicker aluminum I could use other electrodes but still not clean. For some reason the gray band is the only one that really works with this machine.

Bill

discap wrote:I have same welder and had similar problem with thin (0.050") aluminum. Nothing worked so I finally took it back to the dealer figuring something was wrong with it.The techs looked at each other and smirked. They handed me a gray banded electrode and told me to try it. It worked.

With thicker aluminum I could use other electrodes but still not clean. For some reason the gray band is the only one that really works with this machine.

Bill

You know its funny you say this. I run a SW200 at my house for home projects. I brought home all sorts of tungsten. Blue, e3, gray etc etc. I usually just sharpen up a bunch and toss them in a cup. Red in one cup for steel, and the rest for aluminium in another cup. So, I just grab one cause realistically they all work. BUT ...... I started to notice that 2% Ceriated for some strange reason worked much better. Not that Lanthanated or even Zirconiated didn't work well, it was kinda like I could see better (much better) with the Ceriated. I didn't really pay much attention beyond that. Its not like I removed all the other rainbow colors from my cup and only sharpened up the gray ones. Then while having lunch one day at my shop, I was watching some videos on the newest technology to try to keep up. There was a Lincoln electric video that popped up and I think I accidentally clicked on it. Maybe it was an inverter vs transformer video or something. They were comparing the precision tig to the invertec or something. Well, they belatedly stated that the inverter Lincoln tigs were designed to use Thoriated and Ceriated tungsten. I needed to play it twice to hear this again. I found this interesting. Although I still just grab the next colored sharpened tungsten from the cup, I continue to notice the gray band seems to work best when welding aluminium.


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