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31st Mar 2020, 05:04 PM #1New Member
- Join Date
- Jan 2014
- Location
- Carlton, Melbourne
- Posts
- 1
TIG was working fine. Now this...
Hoping for some advice. I tried some TIG welding on my inverter last year and it worked well. However, I've just set it up again in exactly the same way and the welding arc is terrible! The torch, the machine, everything is the same as it was last year. The only new element is the gas, a brand new bottle of argon.
As you can see from my image, the weld is terrible. The arc drifts around, it's noisy and the steel just melts, regardless of how high the amps are. Here's my set up -
- DC inverter
- Earth clamp positive
- Pure Argon around 6 lpm (measured with flow meter)
- Amps around 100 but I've tried altering it and it's still erratic
Everything is clean, there's no leaks...My gut feeling is that it's the gas as it's the only new element in the set up. I've called the gas supplier and they've never heard of a mix up before.
Any help would be much appreciated as I've wasted 2 days on this.
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31st Mar 2020, 05:30 PM #2Senior Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2015
- Location
- melbourne
- Posts
- 473
Do you have a mig welder with argon mix? If so, could you try swapping the cylinders, either try the argon on mig and see if that works OK, or swap the mix onto the tig and see if it is wrong the same way.
That might confirm or clear the gas as an issue.
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31st Mar 2020, 07:44 PM #3Senior Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2019
- Location
- Newcastle, AU
- Posts
- 238
If mine looked like that I'd check that I remembered to turn the gas on, then check that I cleaned the metal properly. It's usually one of the two for me...
One time the shop did give me 5/2 instead of pure argon, it looked more bubbly than that but worth noting.
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31st Mar 2020, 08:09 PM #4Diamond Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2006
- Location
- Mallacoota,VIC,Australia
- Age
- 53
- Posts
- 1,010
Make sure all your connections (torch lead & earth lead) are secure on the welder, that your tungsten has a clean grind on it and that your using a copper coated tig filler rod. You say that you measured your gas flow with a flow meter, I'm taking that as meaning you used one of these Argon co2 gas flow meter scale tester flowmeter for mig welder tig welder FE uu | eBay at the end of the torch itself then if so your flow rate should be okay. If your flow rate isn't enough then really you should start burning the tungsten away as it'll get hot. Apart from that I agree with you that the gas is contaminated or the wrong gas mix.
All The Best steran50 Stewart
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.
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1st Apr 2020, 08:26 AM #5Senior Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2019
- Location
- Brisbane
- Age
- 69
- Posts
- 452
Tig trouble
Hi from the old goat.
If your using up to 100A 6ltr/min is a bit low. Cup size of 10mm or larger and tungsten out past the cup by 1/2 dia of cup bore. Make sure your torch angle is 15 deg off vertical and pushing the arc. Bring the gas up to 8-10 ltr and check the O ring on the back cap. I have seen on a cheap torch the rubber around the head de vulcanise? When the gas was turned on the head swelled up and allowed air to get in.
What size tungsten are you using? Could we have pics of the torch parts?
Regards
BC
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1st Apr 2020, 03:38 PM #6
Hi kenbartos
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Regarding the gas problem. Either a mis labeled cylinder or a shielding gas leak. Check the line right back to the cylinder regulator with soapy water.
A leak at a connector,or an O ring or seal draws air in and can give that appearance in the weld bead.
Grahame
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1st Apr 2020, 05:42 PM #7Senior Member
- Join Date
- May 2013
- Location
- Rockhampton, QLD
- Age
- 68
- Posts
- 455
Welcome to the forum.
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1st Apr 2020, 06:34 PM #8
Can tell you now, if you are buying from a reputable supplier, chances are it's not the gas.
What tungsten stickout?
What diameter tungsten, and what 'flavour'- ceriated, zirconiated, etc (check tungsten tip colour)?
What was your cleaning regime for the material before you started welding?
Some tungsten types are polarity sensitive.
Too much tungsten stickout from the collett body and outside the cup, will take the arc out of the shielding gas envelope (gives a dirty weld).
Same as above applies for too long an arc.
Too low an amperage for the tungsten size can also make a sooty finish. For 100A, aim for a 1.6 up to 2.4 tungsten. 3.2 is too big.
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