Tungsten balling up, what's wrong

[diyjer]

finally, i was able to use my 255ext which i purchased last dec. i was very busy and also was looking and waiting for the CK superflex cables which i ordered from a store in the US.

so when i received all the accessories, including gas lens, i happily and excitedly tried my 255ext for my project. i was so disappointed. the tungsten would flare and ball up after running 2-3inches of weld. i was only doing DC as i was welding mild steel. i even set the machine to DC easy setup. it's the same. the tungsten would ball up after 2 inches or a little bit more than that. i thought my settings were wrong so ok, let me put it to DC easy setup. and i was still experiencing the same. i had 10 2% lanthanated and 2 ceriated tungsten sharpened. i've used them all because all of them balled up. i even had to resharpen so i can continue troubleshooting.

i doubled check all my dinse connections. i checked the gas. i even took a video of the flow meter to make sure the ball is going up and gas was flowing. but i know the gas was flowing because i'm welding 2-3 inches in length. the work clamp is connected to the + dinse connector and the tig torch is connected to - dinse connector. i also tried different torches. the CK torches i bought from weldfabulous and also the torches that came with the 255ext. i tried 17 and 9 torches. btw, i only tried 2.4mm electrodes,set up. tried different combination, still the tungsten was balling up. also, another thing i noticed was, sometimes the 2T was failing. i've already release my foot in the foot pedal and the arc won't die until i put the torch away from the material i was welding. here's another issue why i'm thinking the unit i have is faulty. i put the machine to 1 pulse per second. during the weld, the pulsing is almost not noticeable. at 1 pps, you should really notice and hear it. it's almost like a constant arc.

i've tig welded a lot before using my cigweld 175i+ and it's nowhere this bad. i did not experience something like this. the problems with my cigweld tig feature is i can't have a food pedal with and it doesn't have gas solenoid so i have to open and close the valve in its torch.

so i bought the pricey 255ext for its bells and whistles. and i'm so disappointed.

i called everlast australia. he told me that he's surprised as well and that he already referred the matter to the technical support. in the meantime, he asked me to use the stick mode using a stick rod of course and initiate an arc. this, he said, should, in effect reset the software of the machine.

the stick mode was ok. it welded without any problem. after which i went back to tig setup. so connected the work clamp and the tig torch properly again.
this time it improved. i would say big improvement specially using 17 torch. i can now weld around 6 inches before the tungsten flares up and balled up. but not with the 9 torch. with the #9 torch, it's still the same. roughly 1-2 inches into the weld and the tungsten would flare and ball up. btw, for dc easy setup, max amp is 90a. for my own setting, with 1 pps, maximum amperage was to 85. the #9 torch from CK is rated up to 125a.

really disappointed. i had to go back to my cigweld to finish what i've already started.

not sure now if everlast australia can replace my unit or i can get a refund for it. i'm still talking to them. i don't want a refund as much as possible. i want a working unit. my hopes were very high and i was excited about it becaus i have a lot of personal projects lined up.

i hope you can help me out troubleshoot.

btw, i haven't even tried the AC, only DC. it took me a whole day testing and isolating what could be the problem.

thanks,
joe

[christian]

Gee,

Most everyone who gets a 255EXT raves about them, and for good reason. You're on DCEN, right?

Maybe you got a lemon somehow. It's undoubtedly on warrantee in Oz, so you could probably take it back for free repair or replacement.

But the sequence of events of your getting new CK torches at the very outset of obtaining the machine suggests, to me, that you may have a TIG torch problem, not a machine problem. I mean, I told you not to get that #9 torch, ha, ha, ha... So, I'd put an OEM torch and/or the OEM hose/cable, to rule-out a CK torch/hose problem. I'd check the orientation of your collets, collet bodies, and insulators, too.

Otherwise, take some photos of your front panel and post them here. Maybe we can spot something obvious setting misshap, like it being set to 4T, or something.

[Grizzly1944]

Could be that you might be using the wrong type of tungsten. Pure tungsten (green band) should never be used in any kind of inverter machine. Most of the others should work fine. Also the tungsten diameter might be too small. Even though we've seen amperage ranges for each diameter, inverter machines run hotter. I wouldn't use a 1/16" any higher than 100 amps. Just a few things to think about.

[diyjer]

Could be that you might be using the wrong type of tungsten. Pure tungsten (green band) should never be used in any kind of inverter machine. Most of the others should work fine. Also the tungsten diameter might be too small. Even though we've seen amperage ranges for each diameter, inverter machines run hotter. I wouldn't use a 1/16" any higher than 100 amps. Just a few things to think about.

hi grizzly944,

i've used the same tungsten that i've been using with my cigweld 175i+ which is ceriated 2.4mm. i've also used 2% lanthanated tungsten 2.4mm. i used up 10 different lanthanated and 2 ceriated. all balled up after 2-3 inches of welding. 255ext was set to dc easy set up which is 90amps max. and for my own settings, i put it to max 80.

[Rambozo]

How about a picture of the weld? Does it sound right when welding or is there noise like on AC? Is this the same bottle of argon you have used with your other welder? The tungsten looks like it's getting contamination from somewhere.

[diyjer]

How about a picture of the weld? Does it sound right when welding or is there noise like on AC? Is this the same bottle of argon you have used with your other welder? The tungsten looks like it's getting contamination from somewhere.

hi rambozo, not sure about the sound. i don't konw about an AC sound because i haven't welded in AC. i haven't used 255ext in AC. yes, it's the same bottle of argon 5/2 i've used with my cigweld. but i haven't used pure argon with my cigweld because it doesn't in AC. and right now, i'm just welding mild steel with argon 5/2. it has no problem with cigweld 175i+. the other thing is my weld with 255ext is not as good with my cigweld. because my tungsten with 255ext is flaring up at least a bit which i don't get with my cigweld.

ok, before we go further with many variables, may i ask, what could really be the usual reason for the tungsten to ball up? from what i've read, and what i've watched in youtube with the best welders around, usually when you are in AC with the wrong direction of flow or when you wrongly connected your torch and work clamp. anything else obvious which can directly contribute to balling up of the tungsten?

i've attached here my welding photo from 255ext and from cigweld. i can not brag about my welding skills but based on my cigweld weld sample, you can really see here that i'm struggling with the way my 255ext is behaving.

[diyjer]

Gee,

But the sequence of events of your getting new CK torches at the very outset of obtaining the machine suggests, to me, that you may have a TIG torch problem, not a machine problem. I mean, I told you not to get that #9 torch, ha, ha, ha... So, I'd put an OEM torch and/or the OEM hose/cable, to rule-out a CK torch/hose problem. I'd check the orientation of your collets, collet bodies, and insulators, too.

Otherwise, take some photos of your front panel and post them here. Maybe we can spot something obvious setting misshap, like it being set to 4T, or something.

hi christian,

i don't think you can blame the torch. i did mention that i also used the torch that came with the machine itself. i mentioned that i tried all the combinations to isolate what could be causing the issue.
collet orientation? i tried different collets and there is no such thing as collet orientation because you can only put in the collet in one way. i don't understand what you mean by collet orientation but i can tell you i tried different collets. i tried different gas lens and the ones which are not gas lens.

i'll post some photos of the panel later so you can see the settings. but i can tell you that i've checked everything. did i not mention that i also used the DC EASY SETUP? the likelyhood that you can go wrong with it is slim, in terms of settings, right?

[diyjer]

hi everyone, i'm happy to say that the latest test was successful.

here is the sample weld bead..


here is #17 torch before welding showing the stick-out


#17 torch after welding. looks clean, no balling up


#9 torch before welding



#9 torch after welding



looks like the galvanized aspect is the issue after the pure argon issue.

thanks everyone for your inputs.

onwards to weekend, i will try the AC on aluminum and stainless steel. because i have projects as well involving these two metals. in fact, i will be needing one distinct feature of the 255ext which is the spot weld. how good can it be in stainless steel? i have to spot weld solid stainless steel rods to each other at certain bends. i will post that project once i've finished it. it won't be soon though.

anyway, i'll update this thread again for the weekend testing on aluminum and stainless steel....

thanks again.

[performance]

AC is not used for Stainless Steel. Only for Aluminum and Magnesium.

[christian]

Nice,

That bead-on-plate looks great now!

The proverbial planets are in alignment...

[oleblu72]

Glad to hear it Diyjer. I use to have trouble welding aluminized exhaust pipe with my Miller 251 mig I had to make sure I had it ground off or I would get welds that looked terrible.

Mark

[diyjer]

Nice,

That bead-on-plate looks great now!

The proverbial planets are in alignment...

i'm happy now, in fact i slept with the 255ext beside me last night. i put it in a soft pillow as well

[christian]

Yeah,

It undoubtedly doesn't get much better than a 255EXT for TIG welding.

[diyjer]

AC is not used for Stainless Steel. Only for Aluminum and Magnesium.

yeah, i was meant to say for aluminum. but i'm going to weld stainless steel as well. thanks

[StephenG]

I have had a similar problem... tungsten would immediately ball up; actually melt way.
Had not used the welder in quite a while, but the last I did it was for SAW.

I wanted to use the TIG torch to simply heat up some steel flat bar so it would bend easier in a bench vise.
l replaced the stick electrode holder with the TIG torch forgetting that DC TIG needs to be DCEN.

Newbie mistake.

[christian]

I can top that one.

Recently I was TIG welding and fouled/dipped my tungsten, so I removed it from the torch and left it on the bench, and then took a soda pop break.

I came back to the bench and took the 2" long tungsten and just ground off the little blob with my 20V/cordless angle grinder with a flap disc on it.

As I got back to welding, the tungsten quickly balled up and shrunk back almost to the collet...

Of course, I apparently wasn't looking closely enough when I picked up my tungsten, because it wasn't my tungsten at all. It was a stub of cast off filler that I sharpened and cinched-up into the torch.

Ha, ha, ha...