first TIG try on aluminum - disaster

My Everlast machine is a powerpro 205 which I've had since new, I've been doing pretty good with my beads on mild steel with the TIG process and I've gotten pretty good with the Plasma cutting. however, today I just tried the machine on aluminum and it was a total disaster. The machine was set to AC, AC balance was set at 90%, 5 liter per minute on the argon, using # 5 gas lens. I think the problem was with the 1/16" electrode at 100 amps trying to run a bead on 1/8 aluminum. Within 5 seconds the electrode disapeared into the cup like a huge ball, I sharpened the electrode , reinstalled it, turned the amps down to about 75 and the same thing happened. I really think the problem is the thinner electrode to say the least and I do not think its a fault with the machine since its usually user error when things go wrong.. I wish there was a troubleshooting section for this somewhere on this forum. What did I do wrong ? help

Why, oh why, do people not read the manuals?:confused: Set balance to 20 or 30 and problem is solved. BUT please download and read the manual. You can save yourself a lot of frustration and time. There is a trouble shooting section in the unit's manual.

I recommend getting 3/32 2% lanthanated tungsten also. 3/32 will work for most welds and not be so quick to melt or ball.

Mark:
To make matters worse i have the printed copy of the troubleshooting section at my disposal but neglected to read through it to try to solve the issue I was having. I offer no excuses for the errors of my way. Like you advised, I did lower the balance to about 20 and it solved the problem right away.
Thanks much

I wasn't trying to ride you about it, just a moment where you throw your hands up in despair when your best efforts seem to fall way short. It seems like lately people are having/posting problems with their welders that could be easily solved by reading their welders. In turn it makes the product look bad when people are trying to find out about our product. I get calls all the time, more lately, where perspective buyers "read" about a problem we were having with a unit in a thread or forum and are concerned about it to the point they are unwilling to commit to a purchase, but when it really wasn't a unit issue but a failure of the user to read the directions. We are phasing in manuals in the box (hopefully) to help reduce some of this, but still you can lead a horse to water....

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Originally Posted by 31fords

My Everlast machine is a powerpro 205 which I've had since new, I've been doing pretty good with my beads on mild steel with the TIG process and I've gotten pretty good with the Plasma cutting. however, today I just tried the machine on aluminum and it was a total disaster. The machine was set to AC, AC balance was set at 90%, 5 liter per minute on the argon, using # 5 gas lens. I think the problem was with the 1/16" electrode at 100 amps trying to run a bead on 1/8 aluminum. Within 5 seconds the electrode disapeared into the cup like a huge ball, I sharpened the electrode , reinstalled it, turned the amps down to about 75 and the same thing happened. I really think the problem is the thinner electrode to say the least and I do not think its a fault with the machine since its usually user error when things go wrong.. I wish there was a troubleshooting section for this somewhere on this forum. What did I do wrong ? help

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Tigging AL is something you really want watch all the videos you can about. Frankly, just because "some" make it look easy, it "is not". If you don't watch all the vids you can, you just can't learn something in 5 minutes that will take a few hours to find the ins and outs of doing AL.

Mark:
all kidding aside I dont think you were riding me and I can certainly see your point since you are dealing with these issues all the time which I'm sure is not the fault of the equipment but most of the time its user error. I love my Everlast PowerPro 205 and wouldnt trade it for any machine on the market. It is serving me well since I bought it .
The Everlast support group really stand behind their product