Welding Tips and Tricks

using 1/16th filler on a piece of 1/8th. What am I doing wrong?

Likely too long arc length and/or excessive torch angle. What is your actual arc length from the tip of the tungsten to the work? What angle are you using? How far is the stickout of the tungsten from the edge of the cup? Remember, no guessing! Actual factual numbers tell the truth.

first thing is to follow the 3 c's of tig welding, clean clean clean !
you have to get all the mill scale off and be down to bright shiny metal.

Coot - Are you sure you are using 100% Argon and not your Mig gas? Your CFH for TIG should be 2x the diameter of your cup size. And do clean everything you are welding to a bright shiny metal.

cj737 wrote:Coot - Are you sure you are using 100% Argon and not your Mig gas? Your CFH for TIG should be 2x the diameter of your cup size. And do clean everything you are welding to a bright shiny metal.

yes, I am sure I had it set to tig and using the proper gas, that's one of the things I like about this millermatic. you have to set it to tig or mig and then change the leads to the correct place + or - for it to work properly. it also has two ports on the rear for the pure argon for tig and the mix for mig, which I really like.


As far as the CFH, I will need to check that. I think I set it at 12 or so and I am using the glass cup sold by weldmonger. I used a flap disk to clean up the area, I could do better on that also.

Thanks for the feedback

Run a couple of beads without any filler. Let us see what that looks like.

Just to confirm..... you have the torch in the - port, and the ground clamp is in the + port?

It might be from a long arc, but that isn't the first thing that comes to mind when looking at your first picture. What is the material?

12 is probably not enough flow for the furick cup but I'm not sure it would make the weld look quite as bad as yours without a good bit of contamination on the base part. Which it does appear you've got a fair amount of dirt on there yet.

Aluminum is very unforgiving when the part is dirty. It's always hard to tell in a photo but your part does appear to have a tremendous amount of Gunk on it. I mean it shows up brown in the picture.

As per his picture, that is a MM 215 which is limited to DC for Tig welding. It won't work for doing Aluminum in TIG mode. It can do Aluminum in MIG mode if set up correctly.

After looking again at his first picture, I can see what looks like etching around the weld. I would say it looks more like attempted Tig on Aluminum using DCEP.

So OP, what is that material?

That is a 4x4 piece of 1/4" steel.

Olecoot wrote:That is a 4x4 piece of 1/4" steel.

If that material is 1/4” you have the machine set for 1/8”. Remove auto set and crank the amps to 160 and try again.

If the glass cup you are using is a #8, bump the CFH to 20. If it’s the large #12 Fupa cup, bump it to 25 CFH.

I know this machine well and have its predecessor. Works a treat.

thanks for the tips.

I'll get back out there after work today and give it another shot. Also, after looking at the original pic, it is 1/8 not 1/4. I blame 2020.

also I have the #8 Pro Cup.

gave it another try this evening. same settings on the welder. 125 and lift arc. 1/16" filler 1/8" steel cleaned up with a flap disc and brake clean.

Well we still can't see you actually welding nor holding/moving the torch so it's still a guessing game. I say long arc'ing and/or too much torch angle. Are you sure you have 1/16" diameter filler? You seem to be off on metal thickness identification

Oscar wrote:Well we still can't see you actually welding nor holding/moving the torch so it's still a guessing game. I say long arc'ing and/or too much torch angle. Are you sure you have 1/16" diameter filler? You seem to be off on metal thickness identification

I'll get a video of the Tig welding. I'm fairly certain of the thickness, I still had 2 fingers and 8 toes left after figgering.

hey Coot,,,,ya just want to peak down to the tungsten at the workpiece...the tip is gonna be really close.(almost touchy feely). Don't lean the torch too much from vertical. When ya light up, drive it like ya stole it...call it dirty names, tell it and show it who is the boss. Try running some beads without filler so you can get to know your machine.
gramps

You can reduce your gas a fair bit. Gauge shows 25CFH which is way too high for a #8 cup. A picture please of the tungsten installed in the cup? Focused on the stick out length and taper of the tip

good way to spend lunch

first try. had a ball on the tip from yesterday, changed the CFH to 20. no filler video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYpi5CWy67o

and this happened 2nd try, sharpened the tungsten, CFH at 20 1/2" stickout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr04_30AuYc
Finger got a little hot that time

this is the weld.

That looks like too much stickout.

VA-Sawyer wrote:That looks like too much stickout.

1/2"on a #8 cup is within tolerance.

The grind of the tungsten looks dodgy.

Coot - Are you using a pedal or fixed amperage?

I'm using a pedal. using a bench grinder on the tungsten. I read or saw a video on sharpening tungsten and that was one of the better ways suggested iirc.

From the perspective of the video, it looks like you are using a 45 degree torch angle. This simply will not work. Your chosen grip for the torch will simply not allow it IMO. Yes everybody has their preference, but yours will be particularly limiting if you try to learn this way and forge your muscle memory for this grip. You need to keep the torch 10-15 degrees from the vertical. That will impede your vision of the tip of the tungsten, if you don't do anything about it. Meaning you need to scoot out in front of it and learn to tilt your head just a little bit to assist with vision. Meaning that since you are holding the torch with your left hand and moving left-to-right, you need to have your part that needs to be welded already to you your left, so that way you can have visibility of the tungsten. As you get it closer to you, you need to tilt your head more and more until you can't anymore and have to stop. One thing that will prevent you from doing is putting the full weight of your arms on your wrists and forearms. Try to learn to lightly lean your arms on your forearms/wrists so that you can easily glide them along a rest of sorts, but they are not in free-air completely either.

Oscar wrote:From the perspective of the video, it looks like you are using a 45 degree torch angle. This simply will not work. Your chosen grip for the torch will simply not allow it IMO. Yes everybody has their preference, but yours will be particularly limiting if you try to learn this way and forge your muscle memory for this grip. You need to keep the torch 10-15 degrees from the vertical. That will impede your vision of the tip of the tungsten, if you don't do anything about it. Meaning you need to scoot out in front of it and learn to tilt your head just a little bit to assist with vision. Meaning that since you are holding the torch with your left hand and moving left-to-right, you need to have your part that needs to be welded already to you your left, so that way you can have visibility of the tungsten. As you get it closer to you, you need to tilt your head more and more until you can't anymore and have to stop. One thing that will prevent you from doing is putting the full weight of your arms on your wrists and forearms. Try to learn to lightly lean your arms on your forearms/wrists so that you can easily glide them along a rest of sorts, but they are not in free-air completely either.

ok, I'll work on that, thanks

Olecoot wrote: ok, I'll work on that, thanks

Also, cut the gas flow even more. For that size cup (I have one just like it) 15CFH is fine. Too much and it causes turbulence that can cause problems.

Coot, try holding the torch by the handle instead of the back cap. Straighten the torch up MORE...only a little tilt from vertical while "pushing" the puddle. Keep the tungsten about the thickness of the tungsten above the base metal. As soon as ya get the puddle started, push it the size of the puddle and back step half, push the puddle back half. It's a dance contest. Try it without lighting up and no gas flow (if ya got a torch with a valve). Gas flow about 15...like twice the cup size (cfm). If you hold the torch handle 90 to the direction of travel it will keep your fingers out of the puddle.

Olecoot wrote:gave it another try this evening. same settings on the welder. 125 and lift arc. 1/16" filler 1/8" steel cleaned up with a flap disc and brake clean.

Please consider using something like Acetone to clean up your parts. Welding on something that has been cleaned with brake cleaner can kill you.