Very first try with 200DX

[Buzz]

Well I got to do some welding today, These are my first bird turd passes

[Buzz]

When I first tried to make a pass I kept melting the crap out of the tungsten, I tried and tried to make adjustments and it still just globbed up and melted back the tungsten, I did this about 6 times grinding the tungsten back to a point. I kept looking online and at the owners manual until I realized that I had the torch plugged into the + and the ground clamp plugged into the -. Switched it around and Bingo works fine now.

[Zmechanic]

Hey, those aren't so bad. Better than what my very first tries looked like.

You should now be at that hell-bent addicted stage (if you are like me anyway), where you could just burn hours and hours putting metal on metal.

Keep at it!

[Buzz]

Yeah, I was up till 2 am last night lol

[hooda]

My first words are Good Job! For a first try, looks pretty good. The only thing that will improve your skill is SEAT TIME!!. I would suggest that you get some 1/8" pieces of aluminum, in the 8"-10" x 3"-6" range, like at least a half dozen such pieces, and get practicing on aluminum. Your skill level (at least as far as my experience was) is that once you get real comfortable running aluminum, Steel and stainless are a snap!. Keep it up. By the way, have you noticed that once the helmet is down, and the arc is struck, everything else in the world disappears? It's extremely theraputic.

[Jake98]

Those look way better than my attempts so far.

[Buzz]

Thanx for the kind words and encouragement, I haven't tried AC with aluminum yet, I did go to the steel yard and grabbed a bunch of small strips/pieces of both mild steel and aluminum.

[Tinker]

Hi Buzz, congrats on the 200DX. I've had mine a little over a month and it's been a great machine for me. I'm betting that you're going to really like the way it handles aluminum once you get it set to your liking. The best advice I got when I was taking classes at my local community college was not to be afraid to put the pedal to it to get the puddle going since anything thicker than sheet really soaks up the heat.

Gary

[Buzz]

Im getting a little better, I want to finish my welding cart project before I take on the Aluminum

[hooda]

See? just a little more practice, and your weld quality is waaay better! Keep up the great progress!

[Buzz]

I am having a blast playing with this thing. It is so smooth, Like you said its therapeutic.

[Jason]

Looks like your getting much better penetration. A little more practice moving straight and even and your golden. Looks good

[Spike]

WooHoo...
another tig welder is born.

With practice and time your hand will get steadier, your heat control easier to manipulate, your penetration complete and your weld spacing more and more even.
It's all just practice, patience, and time.
When i want to stretch my skills, i find harder and harder materials to master welding. Once you get the hang of using the pedal to control your puddle and getting complete penetration and get some good timing, i would get some aluminum scraps. hooda is right, it will force you to become a much better welder in order to get it to work, and your steel welds will become an order of magnitude better... but don't jump into it too early, you need to get an understanding of puddle and heat control, otherwise you're going to end up melting out a LOT of holes in metal in frustration. =)
I weld thinner and thinner gauges of aluminum as i get better, and new metals that are harder and harder to weld- Like copper, brass, & titanium.

Keep up the practice and you'll get it before long!

[Buzz]

Im almost done with my welding cart, soon I'll start playing with AC and aluminum.

[Titan winch]

I like to see posts showing the 200DX . In case anyone is interested this is actually one of my favourite models. It is actually only recently that you are starting to hear more from users with this welder

[brad3579]

Looking very nice Buzz.
What part of Minnesota are you from?

[Buzz]

I like to see posts showing the 200DX . In case anyone is interested this is actually one of my favourite models. It is actually only recently that you are starting to hear more from users with this welder

Mine works great, I love this machine so far . I still have yet to try AC aluminum

Looking very nice Buzz.
What part of Minnesota are you from?

Im in Minneapolis, you?

[brad3579]

Im in Minneapolis, you?

Lino Lakes, just down the road

[Buzz]

Lino Lakes, just down the road

Cool, Im trying to make out the car in your avatar, Camaro?