Welding Tips and Tricks

I seem to weld better with aluminum than steel for the reason of I can see the aluminum beginning to melt. With steel I start my weld pool and take off when I'm finished it looks like I've just burnt the weld all up always a dark grey color. I'm using a Lincoln Tig 200. I watch Jodi video with the same welder and wanted to just kick myself for sucking lol. I can't send pictures of the welds if that would help not sure how to video it. I appreciate any advice. Using 3/32 tungsten red going to try the blue next hopefully of better results. 63 amps was full petal

Tungsten blend won't change anything. Thin steel will easily oversaturate with heat, it's just the nature of the game unless you have a large argon shield and use chilling methods. The alternative is to not weld thin steel.

The angle was 1/16 thick.

You could also have gotten away with less amperage. 63A is not always what is needed, as you now know. Also, were you trying to use 1/16" o 3/32" filler rod?.

3/32 filler I felt like I needed more amps for the start but it looks like I'm cooking the weld.doe torch angle affect the heat of the weld.

Angle and distance greatly effect the heat input. You might need 65 amps at the start, but as you run your bead likely you need to taper the pedal down some.

Also, travel speed is a major factor. Loitering with a long arc will cook thin steel promptly.

And clean the material both sides to shiny bright steel. Thin material allows the backside to pull through to the weld puddle.

Everything affects tig welding. Too much torch angle (more than 15-20°) can excessively heat the base material. That telephone pole of a wire was likely making you wait too long to melt it. For 1/16" steel you should be using 0.045" diameter wire, not 3/32". Save the 3/32" for when you are welding 1/4" steel with 200A+ of current. 63A is just not enough to quickly melt it, so you most likely cooked it trying to melt that filler. Chalk it up to a learning experience. I wonder if Jody ever made a video on this....

First,,,be patient. It does take time and practice. I agree with Oscar and cj ... you need the heat to start the process then back out of the heat when you get the puddle...a thinner filler will definitely help...keep the tungsten close to the material being welded,, about the distance of the thickness of the filler (thinner than you are trying to use). The torch angle will allow you to basically peek under the cup at the puddle. I keep telling myself that welding has a learning curve of / where tig has a curve of I. Before you add any filler, try making the puddle and move the molten base metal along a straight line, when you get that done, then try it by adding filler. Maybe think along the lines of moving a molten puddle with an invisible pencil. Hope this helps and once again, be patient, it will come together and surprise you when it does.

what everyone else said but also looks as though your practicing on bed frame metal, I heard that stuff sucks. just my observation, I'm sure someone else will confirm or enlighten us.

Y'all have been a ton of help I appreciate it all I'm going to pick up more filler and look around for some much better steel to work with. Can I get a picture of a weld to aspire to thanks again.

varekai wrote:what everyone else said but also looks as though your practicing on bed frame metal, I heard that stuff sucks. just my observation, I'm sure someone else will confirm or enlighten us.

yeap, or scrap shelving material. You can tell by the slot/tabs on it. Gotta look for "decent" scrap. Unless that is the actual project

It was the first thing I dug out of the pile.

Don't worry you'll get the hang of things soon enough. Just remember to not shoot yourself in the foot (handicap yourself) by setting yourself up for failure in the first place. It will go a long ways towards learning the intricacies a lot faster.