Tungsten balling up, what's wrong

[diyjer]

I've dealt with this two or three times this week with customers using 75/25 and reporting a serious "machine" problem. But like I tell most people...and even tried tonight and succeeded with one guy wanting to report me to my "boss" because he didn't agree with me and then got his father on the phone who said he was an experienced welder who didn't agree with me, if it is DC and lift start and creating an arc, the welder is doing it's job. If the tungsten is balling up or "burning", it isn't the welding machine's problem. It's an environmental thing.

mark,

i've rushed home. bought pure argon. the guy in the store even double checked with me if i want pure argon and asked me if i'm going to weld aluminum or stainless steel. confirmed. i went home and put the 255ext on DC EASY SETUP. same thing happened. the only difference this time is that the weld looks cleaner (not great, that's on me). as you can see in the photo, on the 7th cm, i had a bad flare up and the tungsten balled up again. photo posted here as well. somehow i'm i'm struggling to make beads. but that's another story and it's me. thought i can tell you, i can weld better using the cigweld. i'm struggling with the 255ext. again, that's not the main issue here. btw, during that 7cm of welding or so, i was experiencing flare up, little ones, until it culminated to a big one and the tungsten balled up.

so now i've used pure argon in DC EASY SETUP and the tungsten balled up just the same. what's could be my next step/move? i'm beginning to think if i really have a lemon.

i really appreciate input from anyone.

joe

[christian]

Gee,

That's not the tungsten balling up.

It looks like you've dipped your tungsten in the puddle. That's the molten metal jumping onto the tungsten. When you do that, it's time to regrind all of that off, every time that happens. Get a nice taper with a longitudinal grind on it. Keep a close arc, but without touching the puddle.

If you don't keep the tungsten free from dipping metal, it can/will often spit back particles into the puddle and make more mess.

Additionally, it looks like you're welding on galvanized. And even though it looks like you've ground off the strand to be welded, nearby galvanized/zinc coating has a tendency of contamination jumping up on the tungsten and making a mess. I mean, you can join galvanized stuff, but it can be more messy, and the fumes are toxic too.

What's your Argon flow rate? 15 CFH or 7 Liters for about 100 amps is a place to start.

That cup size looks a little small, or is that just a larger style gas lens?

Try some nice cold-rolled steel or hot-rolled steel with the mill scale ground off of it, so that what you're TIG welding is bright, clean metal alone.

[diyjer]

Gee,

That's not the tungsten balling up.

It looks like you've dipped your tungsten in the puddle. That's the molten metal jumping onto the tungsten. When you do that, it's time to regrind all of that off, every time that happens. Get a nice taper with a longitudinal grind on it. Keep a close arc, but without touching the puddle.

If you don't keep the tungsten free from dipping metal, it can/will often spit back particles into the puddle and make more mess.

Additionally, it looks like you're welding on galvanized. And even though it looks like you've ground off the strand to be welded, nearby galvanized/zinc coating has a tendency of contamination jumping up on the tungsten and making a mess. I mean, you can join galvanized stuff, but it can be more messy, and the fumes are toxic too.

What's your Argon flow rate? 15 CFH or 7 Liters for about 100 amps is a place to start.

That cup size looks a little small, or is that just a larger style gas lens?

Try some nice cold-rolled steel or hot-rolled steel with the mill scale ground off of it, so that what you're TIG welding is bright, clean metal alone.

i can tell you with all honesty, i did not dip the tungsten in the puddle. and how about the previous photo i uploaded which really shows the balling up and no spatters. i've done this so many times. i know when i dipped my tungsten into the puddle. i've posted another photo prior to this. it's the same thing. this is just worst. and with my cigweld, even if i dip the tungsten into the puddle, it's not like this as well. nowhere near. look, everytime i do this testing, i will grind 10 lanthanated adn 2 ceriated tungsten to a nice taper. so evereytime it will ball up, i will change it to a new one.

i also ground two galvanized metals where i did grind the whole surface as in clean metal. it's the same result. i hate saying this, but i tig welded galvanized with my cigweld 175i and there was no issue. i also tig welded a combination of cold-rolled steet and galvanized and no issue with cigweld.

and yes, what you can see here is a larger style gas lens.

but i'm open to any possibility, so i will weld clean metal alone tomorrow. which is kind of odd because are we saying 255ext is limited? too picky? but i'm willing to do anything just to pinpoint the real problem.

now i don't know anymore. i thought using pure argon will solve it. i'm not a welder, but i've welded with tig before with a few projects around the house. funny thing is, i was not even using 100% argon with cigweld but it gave me decent welds. as i've said, i just don't like that machine because there's no foot pedal, i have to turn on and turn off the gas on the torch valve itself, it's lift tig, and it's very basic. but it never gave me this kind of problem. as you can see, i welded fine in the photo i posted here which is a combination of galvanized iron which i grind only on the edge where it meets the cold steel. no problem at all and i can say it's a very good weld compared to my weld using the 255ext. i have done a considerable tig weld with similar appearance and strength.

for 255ext, my flow rate is 15 chf. i've tried 12chf as well. i've also tried a little over 15chf with 255ext. i even videod the flow meter using my phone just to make sure the ball is going up as it's supposed to during actual welding. i set the flow rate using the purge button. i believe i'm doing things by the book except using 100% argon which i already did today.

sorry for my english. it's not my native tongue. i'm trying to explain as best as i could what is happening.



how about this? is this not balling up?



again, thanks for inputs.

[performance]

Yes, that is galvanized or a coated metal.

[performance]

Yes, that is a horrible condition of your tungsten on the CIG weld and it is a form of ball and the tungsten is oxidized heavily. It may not be balled as much but that is poor condition.

[christian]

Well,

Maybe another piece of the puzzle is that you could be starting with the tungsten stick-out being too far.

About 1/4" is good.

How about posting a photo of your tungsten newly dressed up in the torch.

[diyjer]

Well,

Maybe another piece of the puzzle is that you could be starting with the tungsten stick-out being too far.

About 1/4" is good.

How about posting a photo of your tungsten newly dressed up in the torch.

christian, i really appreciate your input, but i know all about stick out. i've read a lot about this, i also watched so many videos in youtube, specially that of jody, on how to tig weld. i've done stick, i've done mig, and done tig with my cigweld. i've finished a few projects around the house with my cigweld. i've also tried 1/4, a little bit more, i've tried the non-gas lens, gas lens, and i still get a balling up. it's like i've tried quite a number of permutation and combination just to know where i'm doing it wrong.

btw, i also know that using with using a gas lens, you can have a little bit of a longer stick out as long as you up the flow a bit. but not to much because too much flow might also fireback in a certain way.

but yeah, i will post a photo of my stick out later. i have a day job so i can only do this after office hours.

what i want to say in a way is, if i haven't done successful tig welding previously using another machine, i will really doubt myself or i won't have the confidence to say that there is really something wrong with the 255ext i have now. i've followed everything i've learned in reading and in watching so many youtube videos from pros and from beginners on how to do and what not to do in tig and other welding processes that's why i was able to successfully tig weld using my cigweld. that's why i'm disappointed that i can't do what i've done using my cigweld with a machine which has got more bells and whistles. i'm far from a good welder, but i really know how to handle the torch, etc. again, my only mistake was that i was under the impression that i can use a non-100% argon gas for tig welding simply because it worked in my cigweld. but i corrected that variable in the equation. so i'm expecting that it will work in my favor now. it didn't.

thanks

[christian]

Well,

Forget about the repeated use of the word "Cigweld".

Start like a real newbie.

You've got the right gas now.

Get rid of the galvanized metal.

The settings for DC are hard to mess up.

It seems like your gas flow is OK.

Now, let's see your torch and tungsten in pristine condition, ready to weld.

Keep a tight arc, but not too tight.

Then let's see what your bead looks like after doing those things.

And, using "permutation" in a sentence is pretty good for any English-speaker. Ha, ha, ha...

[diyjer]

Yes, that is a horrible condition of your tungsten on the CIG weld and it is a form of ball and the tungsten is oxidized heavily. It may not be balled as much but that is poor condition.

mark, sorry if i did not make myself clear. all the balled up photos of tungsten i shared here were from using the 255ext. i never had a balling up using my cigweld 175i+.

[Grizzly1944]

Glad to know that you slept with your newest spark machine. Don't let your wife or girlfriend know that kind of stuff, I can see some kind of unpleasant event in the offing.

Now many other challenges await! Good Luck!

[diyjer]

Glad to know that you slept with your newest spark machine. Don't let your wife or girlfriend know that kind of stuff, I can see some kind of unpleasant event in the offing.

Now many other challenges await! Good Luck!

thanks. i'm excited. i have so many projects lined up. i'm doing furniture with the combination of wood and metal (mostly for joints , etc). metal simplifies the structure because it's stronger than wood per volume. and that's where my 255ext will come in. and also, there are some fixtures in the kitchen where i'm not happy of what can be bought out there so i want to create my own. i'm now looking for a metal lathe and a milling machine.

Don't let your wife or girlfriend know that kind of stuff, I can see some kind of unpleasant event in the offing.

well, my wife already knows. my wife said said to me last night: i didn't know you have 2 welding machines?
i have no problem with my wife. she's supportive. and besides, the projects that i do are all for our house, or anything to do with our house. and my wife knows this is my
only vice. which reminds me of a joke which goes like this:

a man went to his doctor.
[man] doctor, i don't drink, i don't smoke, i don't womanize. do you think i'll live longer?
[doctor] what for?

well, if i'm that man, my answer would be: to (tig) weld!

kidding aside, it's true for me. no offense to people who do, but i don't drink or smoke or womanize..hahaha. that's probably why my wife is letting me have these hobbies on metal and wood which at times are expensive. but then, i normally recover my expense because friends and friends of friends would ask me do stuff for them and they pay me. nothing structural or anything that can involve serious safety concern. i know my limits and i know i'm not a licensed welder. i remember when i first bought my small inverter stick welding machine for $300+. a couple of weeks later, a friend asked me to do some welding for a few fixtures in his garden and he wants to use metal. he paid me $500. so there you go. ROI on my stick welder. things like that. then there's a couple of projects in my house (the wife specifically asked for it) not too long ago which will require welding. one of which is my front fence which is pure metal. three companies quoted me for average of $aud9,500. i've decided to do it myself. the materials would cost me $2.4K + $1.2K for a better welding machine which can do mig (you have to justify a purchase of toy, right?). i didn't know about everlast at that time (damn..) so i bought the cigweld 3-in-1 because it was on sale. anyway, i finished the whole project in the way i like it with better materials for almost $3K which included the primer and paint in the cost. i did the spray priming and painting as well. and i get to keep the welding machine. our neighbor who hired somebody to do their metal fence almost similar to mine told me that mine is looking better anyway...

so wife is happy because we saved more than $6K. as they say, happy wife, happy life!

ok, got to go back to my day job...catch you later