Thread: TIG Welding Galvanized Steel

Firstly Gazza I got to say those welds are looking way better. That rusty powder shows a temporary loss of shielding gas (change in breeze ?). The welds look a bit cold - need more amperage.
With mag lens - I'd assumed you had a focus issue, but if the issue is the helmet shade darkness well that's another issue. Yes definitely block the light coming in behind your helmet. I have mine on level 9 most of the time. I'm long sighted and I've got a 2.0x mag lens in my helmet and it is great for tig work.
I use those wide mouth vicegrip style welding clamps as props if needed - clamp onto anything and quick to move around.

thanks Mick, yeah i can hear and see the change when the wind blows on the arc i have a decent amount of argon flowing probably 1.5 times to what i use indoors but nothing too excessive, im using a cheap chinese regulator as i dropped my $85 one the one im using came with my mig welder and isnt really ideal for the tig so i just adjust the gas by listening to it, i should really look for ball float gauge as both my regulators have dial gauges

forgot to add guys i had no problems at all TIG welding the the galvanized steel, actually i had 4 times the amount of smoke cutting the metal with the chop saw, when i was welding the 4 meter and 500mm pieces together only a very small amount of smoke came out from the ends of the 4 meter lengths which i was very happy with although the chop saw might be a problem

Originally Posted by WelderMick

Firstly Gazza I got to say those welds are looking way better. That rusty powder shows a temporary loss of shielding gas (change in breeze ?). The welds look a bit cold - need more amperage.
With mag lens - I'd assumed you had a focus issue, but if the issue is the helmet shade darkness well that's another issue. Yes definitely block the light coming in behind your helmet. I have mine on level 9 most of the time. I'm long sighted and I've got a 2.0x mag lens in my helmet and it is great for tig work.
I use those wide mouth vicegrip style welding clamps as props if needed - clamp onto anything and quick to move around.

Agree on the need for more amperage. Assuming the fillet welds were also Tig welded, they look very cold.
The welds are looking much better than your original examples.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you need to do whatever it takes so you can see both the arc and the molten puddle.
If you are set on the idea of Tig welding your trailer, then I suggest setting up a couple of tarps or similar as wind breaks as wind can drive you insane while using gas shielded processes outside.

those are just large tacks done with the mig karl

i looked onBOC's ebay pages and couldnt find any helmets under $100 for tig they are all for mig/mma/stick welding so i think the helmet i have now is the same thing not designed for tig welding

Originally Posted by RustyArc

I'll say this a 3rd time - he's not using a "real" TIG welder. As the arc shortens, the welder will boost the current *way* above 70A, so he could easily be welding with 120A or more. I've measured my little BOC stick inverter will putting out 160A as the arc shortens even though the dial only goes up to 130A.

Not discounting what you said, which is true, dedicated Tig welders have effectively a vertical volt/amp curve, while stick oriented machines are the more conventional drooper type characteristic. Of course as you said, inverters can have the best of both worlds, provided they have the required circuitry, which Gazza's machine doesn't.
No doubt gazza's machine is fluctuating the amperage far more than a "proper" tig welder, but I would be very surprised if it were enough to produce symptoms as severe as gazza is experiencing, it takes a bit to blow holes in 2.5mm steel, particularly when you consider the increased mass in the RHS corner. I have tig welded with droopers a reasonable amount and can't say I have experienced fluctuations severe enough to produce what gazza has experienced although I could see it potentially eating 1.6 tungstens if a super short arc was held for prolonged periods.

No such thing as a tig helmet, gaz. Any of them would be equally suitable to all processes.

I'd still be cleaning more. On the continuous tube, about half the width. The equivalent down the butt (it already looks like you're cleaning enough along them). Bits and pieces of the butts still look a bit cold but all in all much better.

so its my welder and not my welding technique? do u think i have enough penetration or will i need to redo the welds? what if i reduce the amps by about 5amps and sit longer over the puddle so i dont blow a hole on the thinner sideand i still get good pentration on the other side?

Originally Posted by Legion

No such thing as a tig helmet

While that is true, some (auto)helmets are just not suitable for low amp TIG work i.e. they don't darken.

I'm just an amateur but it looks like you have enough on the butts. Fillets will reveal more, since it's hard not to melt the edges of an open butt against those radius corners. Some of the weld on the radius looks like it might be sitting on top though. Tight fit fillets will show if the toes are bedding in properly.

Reducing amps and sitting longer is not what you want to do. Within reason, I prefer more amps and faster travel.

Read this and watch the video:

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...ding-heat.html

ive watched a fair few if not all hes videos Legion looking and learning from his advice, i see in that video my pace is around his pace on 80amps i just cant weld any quicker without blowing holes on higher amps

Gazza, it's hard to tell from the front-on photos, but if you look at photo six, it looks like fillet weld on the right hand side (not the one at the front) is crowned high and I doubt there's much penetration. So if all the welds are like that I'd be worried. On the other hand, that might just be a tack - too hard to tell from the photos you've sent.

Is it the welder or the weldor? Rusty seems to think it's the machine, but I'm pretty confident it's technique. So hard to tell without being there and watching what you do. The fact that the welds are getting better would indicate that it's you that's improving rather than the machine learning new tricks.

yeah Mick i read u said that before and i answered its just a tack with the MIG mate not a weld

Hey gazza, what dimensions are those bits in the pictures? I might have a shot on the weekend with my machine if I can find some suitable scrap. 60A?

Legion its 70x50x2.5mm (all the galvanised pictures) and im also using 50x50x3mm painted (blue steel) i dont know exactly what amps but heres a picture of my setting

i forgot to ask guys since ive done the prep work yesterday i dont plan on doing any welding for a few days whats the process of re cleaning the surfaces for welding? just so i dont muck around with crap welds again and all that grinding off welds