Welding Tips and Tricks

Managed to sneak home in my lunch break and get some practice in and I've got a few questions.

1) Arc length, roughly inch or mm wise, what's a good length to maintain. After about 2 practice beads I realized I was holding probably too tight of an arc and wasn't getting as big of a puddle as I thought I should. Was trying to maintain a blonde one less than 1/8" but as soon as I pulled up to around 3/16" thungs went a little bit smoother.

2) The weld is greyish after each run. Last night I had the same problem at about 18cfh of Argon so today I knocked it down to 10. Welded better but same apperance. #7 stuby with gas lense and about 1/7" stickout on a 3/32 electrode at 120 amps. Polishes up nicely with a wire wheel. Not too concerned, but I know something is a little off. Also 2 second pre and 12 second post flow.

3) How long should the tungsten stay sharp? 3/32" 2% Lanth and it started to flatten out and lose it's point after about 18". Too much stick out or is this normal?

Also any pointers on what looks wrong (aside from the smallish start to a bead where I stupidly tried 100 amps on 3/8" flat stock and the one bubble spot where I was lazy and didnt try and grind out a bit of broken cut off wheel). Just went through one 1/16" ER70S-2 on this. I'm getting some smaller stock tonight so I'm not having a massive heatsink with low amps. This was about 20 minutes including grinding, quenching, ans swapping between left and right hands.

Ran some more beads on some thinner metal I picked up and it's just crusty and nasty. I did notice the puddle was dancing around a bit, as if the gas was pushing it around. Almost makes me wonder if I don't have enough electrode stickout. Is that a possibility?

I can’t do the math on all your parameters, but, arc length should be equal to filler rod, gas at 15 cfh works well for a #7, and stick out only as long as it needs to be for flat (barely past cup lip).

My gut says too cold on your amps for the first test beads. Tungsten will stay sharp for a long time unless you dip it or contaminate it from unclean metal. I’d also bump up to 3/32 filler.

cj737 wrote:I can’t do the math on all your parameters, but, arc length should be equal to filler rod, gas at 15 cfh works well for a #7, and stick out only as long as it needs to be for flat (barely past cup lip).

My gut says too cold on your amps for the first test beads. Tungsten will stay sharp for a long time unless you dip it or contaminate it from unclean metal. I’d also bump up to 3/32 filler.

Dropped the stickout down to barely past the lip and up to 138amps (for no particular reason) and the 3/32 filler, and that did the trick! I don't know why but I thought I was running too hot. Shoulda realized it was the opposite when the puddle just didn't look, well, right.

with a gas lens stick out its not so much an issue. keep it out a bit so you can see whats going on. its not a mig.
what people sometimes do is run it really short then end up tipping the torch over to be able to see and end up with really bad torch angle.

arc length, short is good. if the tungsten is doing the backstroke then its a little bit short. but certainly do not extend the arc length to make a bigger puddle. keep it short and up the amps.

i thing i'm finding really handy for learning is foot pedal.
the reason is it forces you to read the puddle. you have no idea what amps your at, you just go by what the puddle is doing.

That latest picture shows much better filler control. Dab/feed, then move, pause, dab and move again. Nice rhythm and consistent travel distance!

I personally feel that new welders tend to be too low with their amps out of fear of burning through. You can always use filler to chill the puddle, and of course, a foot pedal (or potentiometer switch) helps control the heat. Easier to taper off then to loiter and heat up the metal with a chilly arc. Feeding more rod cools your puddle and allows for consistent fill, thats why a larger diameter rod helps new welders. Too thin and you've got to be Johnny-on-the-spot to get your puddle right.

I'm using the foot pedal, just have only been using it to taper off at the end. My train of thought has been to just go to full heat and stay there until I'm comfortable in torch movement and filling and not dipping the tungsten. It's been 12 years since I've tigged and have only done structural arc welding and oxy/propane and labratory laser welding on gold and platinum the last few years so I just want to get the fundamentals back down.

I thunk I was just fighting gas coverage. As soon as thr stick out was down everything ran so much smoother and didn't even dip the tungsten once; couldn't even see the tip but was able to see the puddle and arc and I guess that took away uneeded focus I had staring at the very tip of the electrode.

Try adding a slight pause after you add filler.

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Warrenh wrote:Try adding a slight pause after you add filler.

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What will this accomplish?

Demented wrote:

Warrenh wrote:Try adding a slight pause after you add filler.

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What will this accomplish?

Always helps burn in the puddle, but also creates more discernible freeze ridges (which some say is not desirable). Personally, I think that last pad looks really good for a practice pad.

Demented wrote:

Warrenh wrote:Try adding a slight pause after you add filler.

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What will this accomplish?

It makes it much easier to keep the edges of the puddle even and it gives a more uniform look. I dont have extra freeze ridges in my beads so I cant really answer that.

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Demented wrote:

Warrenh wrote:Try adding a slight pause after you add filler.

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What will this accomplish?

It makes it much easier to keep the edges of the puddle even and it gives a more uniform look. I dont have extra freeze ridges in my beads so I cant really answer that.

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I used this on these.

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I used this on these.

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Warrenh wrote:I used this on these.

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Grade A work right there, Warren!

I like pausing briefly after dipping in some filler. Cut up some 1/8" sheet and ran some T-joints for practice. Also giving up on caring what amperage and just using the foot pedal. Still gotta work on tapering down near corners to not melt the egdes but I'm very happy. Forgot I had the machine on slow pulse settings at the beginning of one.

One with 1/16 filler and one with 3/32 filler.

And for shits and giggles threw in a pic of some razor blades I was messing around with at work on our laser welder. Laser welding stuff under 35x magnificacation sure is something.

Thanks CJ. Blind hogs occasionally find acorns. Lol.

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Warrenh wrote:Thanks CJ. Blind hogs occasionally find acorns. Lol.

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Said the Boar with 20-20 eyesight

Demented wrote:I like pausing briefly after dipping in some filler. Cut up some 1/8" sheet and ran some T-joints for practice. Also giving up on caring what amperage and just using the foot pedal. Still gotta work on tapering down near corners to not melt the egdes but I'm very happy. Forgot I had the machine on slow pulse settings at the beginning of one.

One with 1/16 filler and one with 3/32 filler.

And for shits and giggles threw in a pic of some razor blades I was messing around with at work on our laser welder. Laser welding stuff under 35x magnificacation sure is something.

Those look pretty nice.

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Demented wrote:I like pausing briefly after dipping in some filler. Cut up some 1/8" sheet and ran some T-joints for practice. Also giving up on caring what amperage and just using the foot pedal. Still gotta work on tapering down near corners to not melt the egdes but I'm very happy. Forgot I had the machine on slow pulse settings at the beginning of one.

One with 1/16 filler and one with 3/32 filler.

And for shits and giggles threw in a pic of some razor blades I was messing around with at work on our laser welder. Laser welding stuff under 35x magnificacation sure is something.

Those turned out nice.

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This is the whole project that pic was from. It's a rolling cantilevered gate.

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Warrenh wrote:Those turned out nice.

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Thanks.

Honestly surprised because I was having issues seeing and kept catching myself putting more and more torch angle into it ans stopped burning into the root. Paused and got the angle back right.

Gotta try moving to a new position tonight. Took my cheater lense out too since it was giving me a headache so it all looks different.

About right there in the middle I realized, more heat and more speed! (then it all kinda just turned into one blob down the rest of the plate. Decided to just go one after another after another and didn't even realize the plate was glowing bright ass red) I was so focused on rythem that I realized I was staying in one spot for far too long when I did a a practice piece out of some 2" box I had to get a whole bunch of different jount types, and the heat coloring was nearly 1.25" up the tube...with no burnthrough on .125"


Got a ton more .125" box and hex to play around with so may as well ask. With the right amperage, what should the travel speed likely be? Tomorrow I'm thinking of spending a few hours just cutting up some practice joints and going to town while listening to a metranome. I know it's slow but I think I've been at maybe an inch every 10 seconds.

An inch every 10 seconds sounds VERY SLOW to me. But that depends upon filler thickness I guess. If you want to run beads and beads and more beads, get a bucket of water quench the piece after each run. It will keep the material usable and prolong your welding.

I usually do quench. The bucket was right next to me the whole time too. I'm not the smartest sometimes.