Welding Tips and Tricks

I am testing out the furick #10 glass cup and gas lens kit I got from Weldmonger. Using 20cfh and getting real nice welds. I do notice porosity tends to happen only at the beginning of a weld however. Never during or at the end. Would too much or too little pre flow cause this? I tried .1 and .2 seconds with same result. Not the end of the world but i get little pock marks on about half of my starts.

3/32 electrode and wire 180amp HF start Everlast 251si. 1/4in hot rolled steel. Mill scale removed but not hospital level clean as these are just test pieces.

Up your preflow. I run 2 seconds on stainless and aluminum and 1 second on carbon. You’ll never notice a cost difference but you will notice a weld quality difference. I also run closer to 25cfh with that cup.

I'll try those settings thanks for the tip. I realized I may have gone a bit big on this cup, I don't really need massive stick out for my current project but somehow landed on this kit. I ordered a 8PRO cup from Furick which should let me run a little lower on the gas.

R-mm wrote:I'll try those settings thanks for the tip. I realized I may have gone a bit big on this cup, I don't really need massive stick out for my current project but somehow landed on this kit. I ordered a 8PRO cup from Furick which should let me run a little lower on the gas.

I see lots of folks worry about gas utilization. I just never have encountered what felt like an inordinate consumption even after weeks straight of TIG welding. Dunno, I’m sure there’s something to it, but I’ll be damned if I know what it is.

I run a postflow of 6-8 seconds for anything under 130 amps, and as much as 1 sec/10 amps with stainless and aluminum. The postflow on ally really helps prevent cracking.

Agreed, the gas consumption in preflow is utterly inconsequential unless you're doing constant tacks. I personally run .5 because the arc ignition still feels prompt, but I'd run far longer if It wouldn't throw me off.

sbaker56 wrote:Agreed, the gas consumption in preflow is utterly inconsequential unless you're doing constant tacks. I personally run .5 because the arc ignition still feels prompt, but I'd run far longer if It wouldn't throw me off.

Actually, with that much preflow, your arc start is far crisper because you have purged the immediate atmosphere below the cup.

It does take a bit of time to adjust to a delayed arc, I grant you that. But I have become accustomed to drinking my coffee and glancing at the paper while I wait

cj737 wrote: I see lots of folks worry about gas utilization. I just never have encountered what felt like an inordinate consumption even after weeks straight of TIG welding. Dunno, I’m sure there’s something to it, but I’ll be damned if I know what it is.
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depends on if your paying twice the price for half the bottle size. then you skimp on the gas as much as you can.