Welding Tips and Tricks

Well,

I finally got to get some practice in.

I seem to be doing OK on steel. However, getting a shiny wet puddle on aluminum has been a challenge.

I seem to recall reading some where that the aluminum you get from Lowe's is junk to try and weld on.

Could this be true and if so is that why it seems to be staying frosty looking for so long before it gets wet looking?

It does seem to go better if I make a few "cleaning" passes first.

Its kinda like doing a burnout. Stand on the pedal hard to get the puddle going, and then back pedal it enough to maintain your puddle without loosing wheel spin.

Rugar wrote:Its kinda like doing a burnout. Stand on the pedal hard to get the puddle going, and then back pedal it enough to maintain your puddle without loosing wheel spin.

I like that analogy! The Lowes aluminum is decent enough for practice. I had a tough time with it at first and thought it was the metal but it wasn't. Turns out it was just TIG teaching me. If you're working with that 1/8 stuff they carry, set your amps to about 125 and your A/C freq to about 10 o'clock. It'll be a little noisy but your arc will be more focused and your puddle will start easier.

If you haven't done so already, take that foot pedal apart, straighten it out and align everything. Mine was skipping on the rack and my current consistency, for lack of a better description, went out the door. I overhauled it and it made a world of difference. However, I still think the design is pretty lousy so I'm ordering a Lincoln style pedal from SSC Controls.

On the high side.. congrats, you're tiggin!!!

THat's definatly a description I can realte to

I'll definatly give it a try.

And I don't think what I've done qualifies as tiggin yet.



So far it still looks like Fido's butt after a day of eating Chili

Making progress though, It used to look like 2 days worth of chili

have u tried wire brushing the natural oxidation off the metal before you weld

known as "prepping" the metal surface

I actually found a number of things I was doing wrong

First, my tungsten was ground all wrong. Got that straightened out and now I think I've gotten pretty good at it. Did it enough

Second was the metal prep. I was just removing the oxidation with a DA and a 3M pad but then I added a SS wire brush as well as a wipe down with rubbing alcohol. Don't have anything else suitable on hand and it seems to really have made a difference.


Those, along with a burnout style start have helped by leaps and bounds. While I still have much practice to do to get my timing and pedal/puddle control down I did manage to lay a few "dime" like stacks if even only briefly.

My welds still look like Fido's butt however I guess I can't expect much with only having about 1 pounds worth of 1/8Th" rods worth of practice.




My first attempt at joining to pieces.




I think I went to hot and too fast. I did learn that it ain't as easy as Jody makes it look in the vids


However, I think all the hours I spent reading posts and watching his vids have really helped.


Jody, if you read this, Thank you


And thanks to all the rest of you for your questions and insight

just keep practicing, 1 day it will click...hopefully...

gurew wrote:just keep practicing, 1 day it will click...hopefully...

I hope your right

Definitely making some progress getting that stack of dimes look.



Even did a better job of butt welding 2 pieces together. (At least I think I did)



So far I've done allot of practice on aluminum and seem to be finding it easier than doing the mild steel I've tried. It seems (to me at least) that I can see the puddle better in the aluminum. Perhaps it has to due with the base metal being lighter and reflecting more light back. I'm also finding that feeding the filler is easier with the aluminum than the mild steel. I did pick up some 1/16th 308 SS filler and that does seem to feed a little better but again it may just be I need more practice.

I also realigned everything in my pedal and that seemed to help make things go smoother.

I think I just need to find more thicker steel then the thin stuff I have to try and practice on.

hey bill, I just bought the 225lx myself. I should be getting it tomorrow. I'm happy to see another beginner to the tig welder that is using the same welder I am. I'll be able to judge my progress! I hope you keep posting as you practice it's nice to see your consistency increasing already. I have a guy here at work who is a certified welder that is supposed to come by once I have it set up to help me with the basics. I'm like a little kid with this thing, my christmas list is about 90% welding supplies lol.

what do you have for a gas tank?? tungsten? are you happy with the unit so far??

Welcome aboard.

I have to say over all I am very pleased with this machine. I will admit that I am kinda wishing it had a higher pluse speed than 20 per sec but it's a little late now.

I picked up a 125 CF bottle for the tig. 100% argon. I started with the cheap Harbor Freight tungsten. It's junk. Don't waste your time or $$$$

I then picked up some 2% thoriated. Not bad but I like the 2% lanthinated I'm using now. It holds up real well and I find myself resharpening less and less as I get better.


IMHO it's a great little machine.

Hey guys,

I recently found the site and got psyched up again about some aluminum tigging. Decided to paly around a bit with Jody's practice drill. Including some pics below.

Syncrowave 200, 1/8" 6061, 150 AC amps, continuous mode, 3/32 ceriated tungsten, #7 cup, on a gas lens setup, 17 cfm. 3/32" tig rod

Wild Bill, go over to Everlast and check out my post on the Foot Pedal... It litterally turned my 250EX around 180 from what it was. Even the down slope works right now.. or rather, it doesn't work with the foot pedal and you can back it down with the foot pedal clear the the HF start if you need to. The design is exactly like the low profile Lincoln and I no longer feel like I'm in a Capt. Morgan commercial when I'm tiggin at my bench.

The post is over at www.everlastgenerators.com in the forums under TIG Welding. It'll tell you how to get one and how to wire it up to a 250EX.

Steve,

I have been following that post

I did realign my foot pedal and it made a ton of difference. I wonder if the plug and wiring locations would be the same between your EX and my LX



I recently won a Weldcraft WP 20 on E Bay for $66. I'm currently waiting on the adapters to get it hooked up and then I need to get some sort of water cooler for it.

Even though I haven't gotten it hooked up yet I can tell it will be much more comfortable to weld with.


featherhead,

I'ld have to say your weld beads are looking alot better than mine.