How To TIG Weld

[Ji Gantor]

Hi Bahnsy,
I suggest that you turn your post gas flow down to 1 second while learning.
This will save gas as you will be pulling the trigger so many times when learning.
In the begining you will touch the electrode onto the job and then the filler rod. You will over heat the job and have a burn through or a melt down.
Don't be discouraged this happens to every body that takes up TIG welding, every pro started this way.

Ji

[Ji Gantor]

After about a week of constant TIG welding every afternoon I finally started to get the hang of it.
I used a D size gas bottle and countless filler rods. I cleaned my electrode countless times.
I tried different size electrodes and filler rods.
I welded "T" fillet and open corner welds until I could produce a weld that was strong and not to bad looking.

It all takes time.
The settings on the machine are the hard part first up.
Keep going it is great when you get it right.
Ji

[Noel]

Hi Ji,
Notice how the weld gets better as you go along,
try preheating the work piece, hold the torch closer to 90' and come in from a similar angle as close as you can to the torch (so it passes through the gas screen before melting) with your filler rod
don't start adding filler till you have a nice puddle at the start.
The heat sink at the back is a good idea but if you welding alloy I would use a different material, i.e Steel or Brass
Cheers
Noel

[Lozza]

Good advice from a pro there Noel 65% is the best compromise for cleaning/ electrode decay in AC mode.

[Ji Gantor]

Hi Noel,
Are you a boilermaker?
Please post some images of your aluminium TIG welding.

I posted my images to help new comers get started.
As you have mentioned there are lots of tricks to improve our welding technique, but what a new comer needs is how to set up the welder first, followed by some basic tips.

Pepper in the weld, burn throughs, melt downs, reducing weld bead width and oxidation all will be problems to the first timer and pro alike but in the beginning all he wants to do is run one ugly looking bead so he can see that the money and effort was worth it. I spent a week getting to know how the machine needed to be set up before anything good came out of it. I then went onto the Millers forum and started helping beginers. How to set up their machines was the biggest problem. All experts offered on that forum was clean the material. Yes I agree that having a clean plate is very important but you can still lay down a bead on a non cleaned plate. After all this is just practise, your first TIG weld could and should not be used on a project. To learn properly all beginners should screw up in all directions so they know what happens when they do that and that is why I showed what it looks like when you try and weld without gas or touching the electrode onto the job and so on. 

With this said is there anything in the set up of Bansy's machine that you can recommend that I have not covered?
Is there any other tip or image that you can post that can see him on his way?

I discovered that holding the torch at just about 90 degs is the best angle especially when doing T fillet welds. The open corner weld image I posted was still just practise. I came up with the alloy angle heat sink to prevent melting at the ends. I tried steel but it did not remove enough heat, I would like to try brass but it is so expensive I decided that the alloy angle was as good as it gets for some one that does not weld for a living. I started that weld in the middle of the plate and kept welding until I got to the end, I then turned it around and started from the centre and welded to the other end. This way it kept the heat down and prevents a melt down at the ends. I know you should always weld towards a pre heat section but this works for me at this point. Welding open corner welds is easier than welding T fillets and that is why most of the alloy tool boxes are done that way. I went and had a look at some of the welds on some expensive alloy tool boxes and discovered that their welds are not much better than mine. The beads also had pepper in them.

Thanks for your submission I look forward to many more.
Ji 

[Marc.com]

NOTE .... Make sure you have long pants on and your top button done up on your long sleeve shirt 
             or you will regrett it the next day
             Take your time and don't rush things

too true the skin has only just grown back on my arms after fully welding the KSI theme bike..... how do they do it on American Chopper....hell they don't even wear goggles or welding masks, big Paul is tough.

if you are total beginners no fancy stuff, practice with Mild steel and stainless filler rod.....it will all flow together and look decent.

[Ji Gantor]

If any one has a problem seeing the puddle or judging the distance between the electrode and the job there is a solution.
WK make this gas saver kit that comes with a clear pyrex cup.

Pretty cool.

I coupled it with a ProFax flex head and now I can see all and get the torch into where it needs to be without suspending my hands.

Ji

[Ji Gantor]

I agree with MarcFX,
How Paul welds with out any protection is stupid.
He will end up like my Grandfather.

Don't do it, it is not cool.
I wear a leather apron when TIG welding.

Ji

[firko]

I may have missed something in the posts here but....Bahnsy, do you have the pilot arc turned on?

[BAHNZY]

Whats a Pilot Arc?
The pic that i posted is the machine that i have without foot controls.
Am i missing something?

[Ji Gantor]

No Bansy you are fine.
The pilot arc that Firko is talking about is not on your machine.

The arc on your machine is formed when you pull the trigger via the AC setting.

Have you tried my suggested set up?

Ji

[BAHNZY]

Tomorrow Night i'm gunna get at it.
Be ready for the posts

[Ji Gantor]

I will be ready.

This time it should work fine.
Make sure you are sitting down and cumfy up to your work bench.
Make sure you have your forearms resting on the bench so you can steady the torch.

Ji

[GMC]

Bahnsy, you say you had the correct filler but you don't say what it is?
From the photo I assume you were trying to weld alloy as the AC switch was on.
Alloy will etch like you say as the heat absorbs into the whole job, then you will be able to form a weld pool, 2 ways around this, pre heat with oxy or just turn the amps up. If you turn the amps up then be prepared to turn it back down again mid weld.

Probaly better to learn with mild steel or stainless to get a feel for it. Probably forget about pulse for learning too, its a bit like learning to adjust the clickers on a modern shock mid race

2T & 4T.....
2T, press switch on & hold on, release to finish weld.
4T, press once to start weld & release, press again to finish.
If you have the 4T on then pressing the switch & holding it on will keep the amps in ramp up mode so it will never reach full amps & may also just etch the job.
Using Argon I assume, you need the argon for the arc to jump properly.

Tungsten needs to be as close as possible to the job without touching, too much distance will reduce the arc power.

Stuff me its' hard to type long posts, I can't look at what I'm typing because the window keeps jumping to the top with every key press, does any one else suffer from this??

[yamaico]

Bahnsy,
Not familiar with your machine but I know on my old Transtig if the ground lead isn't connected or is a poor connection I just get etching of the material with the high frequency without establishing a welding arc.