tonights tig practice a complete bust

I've really been slacking off on my practice lately. I moved into a new position at work recently that has my stress and time maxed out. Tonight I had it all planned out. the wife was going to her friends "food of the month selling party thing" or something, so I was home with my son who is asleep by 7:30. I had received a bunch of good clean 1/8" aluminum scrap cut off's from a sheetmetal shop, I had a fresh tank of gas, a brand new 1/8" gold tungsten, a couple lengths of 5/32 40403 rod, a baby monitor just in case and a couple good hours to kill. I was EXCITED to sit back down at my table and run some beads.



but I got nothing. I couldn't run beads for whatever reason tonight. I feel worse than starting from scratch. I haven't welded aluminum since spring and I'm paying for it. tomorrow, I will be putting together a list of supplies I need and ordering up a restock. If I'm going to practice, I'm going to do it with enough supplies to change things up and keep going!

even worse was when I switched back to steel to make myself feel better I swapped the cables around but forgot to flip the ac/dc switch. took me a full minute before I figured that out. what a putz! I cut my losses and called this session a bust!

next time I'll get it. :mad:

Uh, you swapped the cables around? I've never heard of that, I'm pretty sure you just leave the torch in the (-) connector. Maybe that's what caused the less than optimal results. Did the tungsten stay needle sharp, or did it ball up and the arc wonder all over the place? Enough gas flow? Was the aluminum clean, really clean? I don't think there would be a problem welding steel with AC; it's just not needed.

Your practice was not a total loss. You learn a lot when making mistakes and I have made tons of them. I learned a lot from them and continue to do so. I think learning from mistakes are a better way to learn than doing everything perfectly the first time.

Yeah, with tig I've never switched the electrode. Only when stick welding.

Also, if you are having difficulty with aluminum, try some nice clean material and just do some autogeneous welds on the surface (run a bead on the plate with no filler) to get back in the groove (no pun intended) of pushing the puddle. Then introduce the filler metal. One thing to remember is that every time you dip cold aluminum filler into a molten puddle, you remove heat from the puddle to melt the filler. (sometimes helps to understand that when trying to troubleshoot welding issues)

I am really glad I posted up about my misadventures. For whatever reason I thought the last time I welded aluminum I had to swap the leads. Just went and double checked the manual and you guys are correct. Actually makes me feel better that it was a mistake of my memory more than anything else!

you're reversing your AC balance settings by reversing the leads, so it's no wonder :) theoretically, that'd be the only difference I can think of.

Are you sure you didn't hit your head when the honda got away, that be my excuse and I sticking too it.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by ogorir

you're reversing your AC balance settings by reversing the leads, so it's no wonder :) theoretically, that'd be the only difference I can think of.

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I did mess with the balance as it seemed like the tungsten would heat up and not hold an arc...... probably adjusting it the WRONG way doh!

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Originally Posted by 67cudafb

Are you sure you didn't hit your head when the honda got away, that be my excuse and I sticking too it.:rolleyes:

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lmao, you think like I do! I couldn't even blame it on beer!

One big thing to remember when welding aluminum is that it can get too hot. Sometimes you have to let it cool down in order to not burn through.

Another thing to watch is the first part of the weld. The tig weld will be smaller as the material is not up to heat as the end of the weld is. It seems that the weld puddle spreads out more as the weld progresses. So what I do is a little bit of back stepping for the first few inches as the material is cold. That allows it to heat up and look like the rest of the weld.

Aluminum welding will make you a better all around tig welder as aluminum magnifies the problems with set up and your method.

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Originally Posted by Steve

One big thing to remember when welding aluminum is that it can get too hot. Sometimes you have to let it cool down in order to not burn through.

Another thing to watch is the first part of the weld. The tig weld will be smaller as the material is not up to heat as the end of the weld is. It seems that the weld puddle spreads out more as the weld progresses. So what I do is a little bit of back stepping for the first few inches as the material is cold. That allows it to heat up and look like the rest of the weld.

Aluminum welding will make you a better all around tig welder as aluminum magnifies the problems with set up and your method.

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I was using clean 1/8" aluminum plates that were about 6" by 10". I was actually having some issues getting a stable arc. I wiped them down with acetone before I started.

I'm pretty sure it was mostly "me". I do have a little practice from early spring where I could lay decent beads. I need more rod and tungsten before I can really get back to it and trial and error what works better.

Revkev6,

You're one of the few who didn't call in and blame it on the machine when this happened. I'd like to thank you for using this forum to discuss the issue, showing how this forum can work for customers, as it was intended. Again, thanks. Its great for us....and for our customers.

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Originally Posted by performance

Revkev6,

You're one of the few who didn't call in and blame it on the machine when this happened. I'd like to thank you for using this forum to discuss the issue, showing how this forum can work for customers, as it was intended. Again, thanks. Its great for us....and for our customers.

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I KNOW it's not the machine because I haven't done enough tig welding to be consistent yet. Previous attempts have been successful but they were done with a bit more controlled environment. I had consulted my miller tig calculator, I had correct sized fresh filler rod and tungsten, as well as having watched all of jody's videos of the 250ex functions.

this time I used what I had left over. I think that had alot to do with it!

I'm making my list of "needs" today so that hopefully I can get back to practice!

edit: about "contacting customer support" I couldn't imagine doing that at this point??? Forums seem a natural way for me to work out issues of settings (and venting frustrations at my lack of ability!). Maybe it's a generational thing. I'm 31 and Forum's with good support and user interaction seem easier to deal with.

We all have our moments. ;)

Sometimes, I put my machine into stick welding mode to check the current I have set for it. (In TIG mode, my older mosfet machine will only read what current it is actually welding with.) What I really dislike is when I forget to switch it out of stick mode, and begin to setup my TIG welding. What I sometimes then do is, accidentally touch the tungsten to a grounded workpiece, which I have usually gotten all clean and ready to weld. Not only does the unshielded arc strike do a number on the unshielded tungsten, cup, and workpiece, but usually, I have no eye protection on when that happens, so I also get to see a "sun spot" where I look for a few minutes after.

Ehh, I guess it's all part of the fun of welding! :)

Some days welding does not go as planned.

I have attached some of my practice welds. I was filling good with some horizontal welds and tried to run some ~16 inch vertical welds in a groove with some scrap angle iron. The first vertical welds were horrible and I almost walked away because the welds were not going as planned. I slowed down and after a few warm up stitches the vertical welds improved. Some times these bad welds help teach us what not to do and is not all waisted time.

Picture 1 is my last vertical weld after my bad vertical welds in picture 1. Picture 3 is the horizontal welds I was filling good with.

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Originally Posted by DVA

Some days welding does not go as planned.

I have attached some of my practice welds. I was filling good with some horizontal welds and tried to run some ~16 inch vertical welds in a groove with some scrap angle iron. The first vertical welds were horrible and I almost walked away because the welds were not going as planned. I slowed down and after a few warm up stitches the vertical welds improved. Some times these bad welds help teach us what not to do and is not all waisted time.

Picture 1 is my last vertical weld after my bad vertical welds in picture 1. Picture 3 is the horizontal welds I was filling good with.

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1 and 3 look pretty decent. Woudl work out just fine in a real application.

#2 has uses too...like maybe you wanted to turn some water orange...put the water in a 5 gallon bucket and dunk that bad boy in for a few days....viola....orange water. :-)

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Originally Posted by jakeru

We all have our moments. ;)

Sometimes, I put my machine into stick welding mode to check the current I have set for it. (In TIG mode, my older mosfet machine will only read what current it is actually welding with.) What I really dislike is when I forget to switch it out of stick mode, and begin to setup my TIG welding. What I sometimes then do is, accidentally touch the tungsten to a grounded workpiece, which I have usually gotten all clean and ready to weld. Not only does the unshielded arc strike do a number on the unshielded tungsten, cup, and workpiece, but usually, I have no eye protection on when that happens, so I also get to see a "sun spot" where I look for a few minutes after.

Ehh, I guess it's all part of the fun of welding! :)

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doesn't sound like a fun way to check amperage! I've been through the whole sun spot scenario many times. before I had an autodarkening helmet, doing tack welds with a mig, minus a shield. idiot!

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Originally Posted by DVA

Some days welding does not go as planned.

I have attached some of my practice welds. I was filling good with some horizontal welds and tried to run some ~16 inch vertical welds in a groove with some scrap angle iron. The first vertical welds were horrible and I almost walked away because the welds were not going as planned. I slowed down and after a few warm up stitches the vertical welds improved. Some times these bad welds help teach us what not to do and is not all waisted time.

Picture 1 is my last vertical weld after my bad vertical welds in picture 1. Picture 3 is the horizontal welds I was filling good with.

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I haven't practiced too much on angle iron. When I have a project that requires it I practice a bit first on some scrap. 90% of my welding has been done on thin sheet metal. unfortunately it's all contaminated metal. putting patches on panels that I can't get to the back side of to clean. also hard to tell how thick the metal is. it could be .040 in one spot but one inch over it's rusted thin from the back side. makes welding in patches a long job that I end up filling pin holes.

this is one of those projects where I had to do a little practice first:

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/5638/imag0131ex.jpg

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Originally Posted by revkev6

I haven't practiced too much on angle iron. When I have a project that requires it I practice a bit first on some scrap. 90% of my welding has been done on thin sheet metal. unfortunately it's all contaminated metal. putting patches on panels that I can't get to the back side of to clean. also hard to tell how thick the metal is. it could be .040 in one spot but one inch over it's rusted thin from the back side. makes welding in patches a long job that I end up filling pin holes.

this is one of those projects where I had to do a little practice first:

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/5638/imag0131ex.jpg

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That weld is not all that bad. I notice some plug welds on the drive shaft. How far does the spline extend into the drive shaft?

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Originally Posted by DVA

That weld is not all that bad. I notice some plug welds on the drive shaft. How far does the spline extend into the drive shaft?

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the farthest set of plug welds holds a thin bushing I had my brother make up for me. i had him clean up the inside of the tube with a lathe, tap in a light press fit piece of tubing then turn the id of that to be a press fit with the od of the splined piece. Doing it that way assured I would keep the spline concentric and straight. the closer set of plug welds (and another set 90 degrees off in between the two you see) holds the splined coupler in place.

in the "old days" back when this type of driveshaft was shortened often these types of precautions werent taken. you would be lucky if they used some shim stock to fill the slight gap between the spline and the tube!


unfortunately as you can see, for anything over 24" square (the size of my welding table) I'm working on an old particle board ping pong table, using a couple of jack stands as V-blocks lol.