New 185dv owner with a porosity issue
Hi all!
I've been doing stick and mig welding for several years now around my shop, equipment, etc. Nothing professional, I think I'm referred to as a "hobbyist". I've been wanting to get a tig setup for a while mostly because I run into situations with aluminum and a need for clean welds on stainless when working on cars. Well the time came last November when Everlast started the big end of year sale. I'm now the happy owner of a 185dv!
I'm local to HTP and they were running a special on 55 cf refurbed tanks so I bought one and had them fill it with argon for me. I had the tank before the welder even arrived. I grabbed some 3/32 2% lanthanated tungstens off Amazon along with various fillers and a gas lens kit. I set everything up according to the directions in the manual and got to welding on some A36 that I carefully prepped to a rough polish with a new 80 grit flapper wheel.
I think I've got the technique down pretty well and can hold a good tight arc and make nice puddles. However I'm having a nagging problem with porosity that I can't seem to beat. Gas flow rate (tried 10-50 cfh), tungsten prep, torch angle (tried to stay close to 90 deg), arc length, or amps doesn't seem to make a difference. As the puddle cools behind the arc, these craters develope. Anybody got any ideas?
Also, I tried aluminum a bit too. 1/8x2" flat, brushed clean with a new stainless brush. Set the welder at 110 amps, ac electrode in the neg port of the welder, 32% cleaning, 120 hz, freshly prepped 3/32 lanthanated tungsten. I couldn't get the arc to focus at all or make a visible puddle. It'd just buzz hard and then eventually large sections of the piece would melt and produce black goop.
At this point I'm thinking I got a bad tank of gas. Anybody got any other ideas?
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