Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi again from an old NOOB. I have a question regarding my Miller 200 Syncrowave (transformer) and the "Balance" adjustment.

The manual clearly defines how and why to use this adjustment. I just want to know (in the real world) how you guys are using this feature. It says to start with 7 (the selection is from 1 to 10) and tune it from there. It has something to do with adjusting the AC squarewave. It says, "Set at a higher value to decrease the arc cleaning (or etching) zone and increase penetration, or set at a lower value to increase arc cleaning action of the workpiece."

So am I fair to assume that with thicker metal I can turn this up and get better penetration, but will see less etching? On thinner metal turn it down and see more etching and get less penetration (and less burn through opportunities)? Is there anything more to this than that?

I won't even ask about pulse setting and whether or not that is a valuable option this welder is equipped with. Reading through the archives I can see that pulse receives a mixed review.

TIA for your points of view. Now back to practicing my left handed welding technique.

It's not as simple as "getting less etching" besides the weld bead. The etching is sort of a "by-product", because what you are really interested in is cleansing of the oxide layer due to breaking it up with electrons going from the base metal into the tungsten. If there is not enough cleansing, then you get "pepper flakes" which are oxide inclusions/contamination coming from the base-metal itself. It would be great if we could all just turn up the penetration and get etch-less, super-clean beads from aluminum, but in the real world it just doesn't work that way unless you have super clean, brand new virgin aluminum to work with each and every single time.

I have a 200 that I really like but you can slice baloney on my electric meter so I may get a 210. I have found that what type of tungsten you use and how it is sharpened has a huge effect on your cleaning zone. Pure balled gives a huge zone. 1.5% lanthanated sharpened to a long point gives a smaller zone. It also depends on what type of weld your doing and keeping a short arc length. I find fillets to have the biggest zone, no matter what you set balance to. Butt joints and edge welds have the least. Best to do is just play around and try every variable you can think of and write down your results so you can repeat them.

Excess etching is not a good thing. Etching wider than the weld bead is a sign of being out of adjustment. You want the arc to have just enough Work negative to wet freely, and cleanly. Too much cleaning action can cause porosity, bad electrode behavior, and a wide etch band.

I use a Thermal Arc 186 AC/DC inverter.
What I'll add is true with either E3 or 2% Lan tungsten, size of which relative to job.

As the cleaning action goes up, so must the amperage, as the cleaning action goes down, so must the amperage.

If you start off with surgically clean metal, you can push the limits of your equipment, crank the amperage up and cleaning action down and weld beyond (YMMV) the stated capacity of your machine.

THIS IS FROM A GUY WITH AN INVERTER. Hope it helps in some way.

It's worth noting that the "does alum need to be surgically clean all the time" argument has been kicked around around a few times and always turns into a Ford-vs-Chevy kind of discussion. In my endlessly humble opinion.

In my experience, the zone of etching is pretty consistent, barring wild variance. This will depend on how long your arc is. Once you get Jody's 'forward, back, dip, forward' thing down, the etching is pretty consistent.

What will change is how long you have to wait to puddle (important on 6xxx) and how fast you can move before your alum is saturated with heat, other variables obviously being do you have backing, etc.

Again, I use an inverter. I hope any of this helped.

@news

I am curious by you last statement of how fast to puddle ( important with 6xxx).

What did you mean by that?


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Hey Dave,

What I meant was that if your balance is set more towards cleaning, and the amperage maybe a bit too low, one will have to hold the initiation point of the weld for too long, and "cook" the temper out of a 6xxx alloy.

With the 6061 t6, for example, the most common, in my experience anyway tubing alloy, in order to maintain the temper, "T" of the "T6", you want to get up and get moving.

If you spend a lot of time with your cleaning action too high, dumping heat into the metal, you can cook the temper out of it.

Discussions about how and exactly why and when T6 would fall apart will have to fall towards someone with more engineering (god help us) experience, but the tensile strengths of 5052 plate vs 6061 t6 plate, for example are easily found on the tubes, as is the post welding tensile strength of 6061 t6. 5052 holds its own pretty well, 6061 drops by about 80% if I remember correctly.

It's not just about the point where you light up, if it takes you that long to puddle, you're cold, and you'll have to pound heat into your work all the way through, and cook the 6xxx alloys.

Got it, thanks for the info

As a new hobbies the TIG weldor I never even thought of that


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exnailpounder wrote:I have a 200 that I really like but you can slice baloney on my electric meter so I may get a 210. I have found that what type of tungsten you use and how it is sharpened has a huge effect on your cleaning zone. Pure balled gives a huge zone. 1.5% lanthanated sharpened to a long point gives a smaller zone. It also depends on what type of weld your doing and keeping a short arc length. I find fillets to have the biggest zone, no matter what you set balance to. Butt joints and edge welds have the least. Best to do is just play around and try every variable you can think of and write down your results so you can repeat them.

That's effin' funny! I noticed my electrical bill is way up now that I'm welding more. I've tried the 1.5 and 2% Lanthanated and noticed the weld to be dull and at times speckled with black spots. Another response says that might be this setting (balance). I'll keep experimenting with each setting and make those notes. Thanks!

No prroblem Ernie. I like the lanthanated because it doesn't get a huge ball or some weird nodule off to the side to make your arc wander. I weld alum with a sharp tungsten and it usually gets a tiny little ball so I get good control of the puddle and a smaller clean zone. I have tried everything I can think of and I have settled on lanthanated and thoriated( thoriated doesn't want to light up in lower amperages) but I use it when I do a repair on alum that is in a tight spot and I know I am gonna crap up my tungsten and not have to waste my good lanthanated. I have a little not pad on top of my machine so I can look at settings when I get a new piece to weld and not have to experiment and blow holes.

exnailpounder wrote:No prroblem Ernie. I like the lanthanated because it doesn't get a huge ball or some weird nodule off to the side to make your arc wander. I weld alum with a sharp tungsten and it usually gets a tiny little ball so I get good control of the puddle and a smaller clean zone. I have tried everything I can think of and I have settled on lanthanated and thoriated( thoriated doesn't want to light up in lower amperages) but I use it when I do a repair on alum that is in a tight spot and I know I am gonna crap up my tungsten and not have to waste my good lanthanated. I have a little not pad on top of my machine so I can look at settings when I get a new piece to weld and not have to experiment and blow holes.

I have used every variety with an inverter except Zirconiated. They all work except pure. With steel, or stainless, I can use a sharp point, with aluminum I prefer a very short taper. At high amperage, intentionally ball it a bit, use very low EN, and a piece of copper. When actually welding, use as high a balance of EN as you can, the tungsten will hold together. I avoid arc wander at very low amperage with higher frequency, small tungsten, very tight arc, and a very short taper.