Noob TIG welds

In traditional Everlast forums fashion, I submit to the group my first TIG welds from my PPro 256. Don't laugh too hard ;) .

Attachment 6039

These were done on 1/16" sheet steel with a 1/16" 2% ceriated, DCEP at 50amps. The steel, only just yesterday, was edging a flower bed, so I cleaned it up as best I could and decided to practice on it. I did notice what I believed to be contamination in the puddle, which almost looked like rust spots, floating up from the leading edge. Anyways, tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Thanks
Mike

There's on doubt the weld is good enough to hold a flower bed together. :D
Just joshin'.

That's pretty good. Now, go back down a bead without any filler rod and practice melting in and re-puddling. It's good practice to 'blend' welds to see what contaminates were caught on the first pass. It also shows you where voids were captured. It's kind of an anatomy of a weld by re-weld and I learned a lot by doing it.

I was taught to gas weld before arc. The first step was running beads with no filler on 1/16" plate. (it was two weeks before we picked up a rod.)
A burn through was bad and so was a cold weld with nothing showing on the back side. A student passed that first project when he could run a foot of bead with no holes and without any filler and the back side showed consistent melting the length of the bead. The same drills with TIG will really help with arc control and tell you whre the 'bottom' of a plate is. Use the filler rod to repair the burn throughs and grade on the appearances of both sides.

Another great drill for heat control is welding the edges of 12 and 16 gauge metals. You'll sure see what 'chase the heat' means when a corner is approached!

TIG, as compared to O/A welding is like carving soft ice cream with a spoon instead of chopping wood with an axe.

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Originally Posted by JBnID

That's pretty good. Now, go back down a bead without any filler rod and practice melting in and re-puddling.

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Thanks JB, that's a good idea. I also like the of welding small gauge on edge (which my flower bed edging should be perfect for ;) ). I'm still working out the right way to grip the torch as well. I should mention that I running with the torch switch in 2T mode. Since I've become familiar with SMAW, I thought it best to learn TIG in terms of what I know (i.e. controlling the puddle with the torch, and not changing the amps). It seems to me that a longer arc unfocuses the heat, and a shorter arc concentrates it.

As for my grip, I'm grasping the torch by the handle underhanded, so that the torch goes between my thumb and index finger, and I can operate the topside torch switch with my index finger. I feel like I'd like to grab the torch further up, closer to the electrode, but I wouldn't be able to do that and use the torch switch in 2T.

Thanks
Mike

I first started Tigging in 1985 and used the torch under my hand and choked up close in the neck, but that's the hot part of the torch. I taped a heavy coil spring around the neck so I could hold on longer. As my eyes get worse, I'm experimenting with a 'pencil hold' as you describe and I've built my welding station with a raise-able table to accommodate that.

The first time I've ever used a 2T switch was in testing my new PP205 last Friday. It could work really well on stitch welding or structural work but nearly everything I do is odd shaped with very thin sections, fragile corners or long points and the foot pedal absolutely MAKES the machine, under those circumstances. The variation of heat input is THE primary reason for using it.
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I would think with the right up and downslope settings someone could get very good at welding to a thin corner....with enough practice. With a foot pedal, the corner can be welded and a little cowboy welded up out of pure filler rod to guard it.