Look at my welds. Help.

[Gamble]

Harbor freight 110v arc with tig attachment. No foot control.
Gas set to 16-18
3/32 tungsten, red tip














Turned the heat down to 40amps and went slower.

[Gamble]

[fordman]

Gamble, maybe try butt welding two plates together. Get some 1/8 scrap that butts up together, clean the material real well and do a small bevel on each side. Once you figure out heat settings a little better, for the most part (at least for me) my good tig welds are consistant as far as moving the torch and you dip filler like this. - - - - - cleanliness of the metal and consistancy is key when you try and make a nice tig weld, as long as you have the heat right to ensure penetration!

[too many toys]

What kind of gas are you using. Should be 100% argon. Torch angle may be too much on the last half of the weld and bringing in oxygen into the puddle.

[Gamble]

Gamble, maybe try butt welding two plates together. Get some 1/8 scrap that butts up together, clean the material real well and do a small bevel on each side. Once you figure out heat settings a little better, for the most part (at least for me) my good tig welds are consistant as far as moving the torch and you dip filler like this. - - - - - cleanliness of the metal and consistancy is key when you try and make a nice tig weld, as long as you have the heat right to ensure penetration!

I did one piece already and went over the root pass and it turded up a little.
I'm going to home depot or lowes after work to pick up some metal and I'll try this. What thickness should I get?

What kind of gas are you using. Should be 100% argon. Torch angle may be too much on the last half of the weld and bringing in oxygen into the puddle.

Yes it's 100% argon.

[technomaster]

It looks like you got too cold and didnt wait until you saw a puddle.I would wait a few more minutes and dip and then move slowly and not to close to the puddle. it also looks like you touched the metal.

[Donoharm]

It looks like you got too cold and didnt wait until you saw a puddle.I would wait a few more minutes and dip and then move slowly and not to close to the puddle. it also looks like you touched the metal.

so how many minutes takes to start a very good puddle?

[WeldorWes]

It looks like you got too cold and didnt wait until you saw a puddle.I would wait a few more minutes and dip and then move slowly and not to close to the puddle. it also looks like you touched the metal.

so how many minutes takes to start a very good puddle?

i am very curious please let me know your Jeti tig welding secrets

[WeldorWes]

and to the OP i would suggest getting some 1/8 mild steel about six inches long and practice on that running a bead with no filler from end to end over and over agian untill you get used to puddle control then after you get that try adding filler get that down before you venture onto anything thinner ...

[Gamble]

It looks like you got too cold and didnt wait until you saw a puddle.I would wait a few more minutes and dip and then move slowly and not to close to the puddle. it also looks like you touched the metal.

MINUTES? I'll burn holes in lots of things in minutes. A few seconds sure.

and to the OP i would suggest getting some 1/8 mild steel about six inches long and practice on that running a bead with no filler from end to end over and over agian untill you get used to puddle control then after you get that try adding filler get that down before you venture onto anything thinner ...

Ok, I'll try that.
Here are more pics from last night. I waited a good 5-6 seconds until I saw the puddle forming before I started.









And some thick angle iron


These last 2 pics were done at 75ish amps


I think the filler I am using is ER70S-2, but I will double check. Had a brain fart.

[weldbead]

puddle should form in 1 second. your arc length is toolong, get the tip of the tungsten 1/8" from the steel..
get a grinder and grind the scale off the steel, wipe it with acetone on a rag..

[con_fuse9]

The lack of heat control is going to make learning very difficult.

Some of the welds in the pictures have small sections that look pretty good. The problem is that just before those sections you have overlap (not enough heat) followed by sections were it looks like a wide, uncontrolled lava flow (too much heat - or maybe just how you broke the arc).

To manage the heat you will have to
1) adjust your speed. Start slow, start moving faster.
2) adjust how fast you dip. The addition of filler will actually cool the puddle a little.
3) as you get toward the end of a particular piece of steel, the heat will have no place to go and you will need to go even faster yet (good luck!).
4) On a decent welder, you can get a little more heat by holding a slightly longer arc. If you have your machine maxed out it might not be able to keep up. Longer arc means more heat, shorter arc means less heat.

You might be able to find on the Internet people who have modified that machine to at least give you a remote contactor and maybe even remote power control. Of course to do these things right might ramp up the cost of the machine to the point you could have bought something else instead.

Oh, one last thing about practicing. You are doing what I did and its a bad habit. Practice on a slightly larger piece, flat, and draw lines on that piece. First, just follow a line, next draw two lines and make the puddle stay between the lines. When you weld free hand, I can tell you are not learning how to move your hands. You are doing quick, 3" welds which is probably about how far you can move your hand. I would say 5" minimum. For now, stay away from the edges.

[Gamble]

Good stuff. I'll do that tonight and take pics.

Btw I made a tig torch holder. lol I still have to mount it. I was at the store and saw this and got an idea and $2 later.



Squeezed it together and welded it.

[WeldorWes]

Oh, one last thing about practicing. You are doing what I did and its a bad habit. Practice on a slightly larger piece, flat, and draw lines on that piece. First, just follow a line, next draw two lines and make the puddle stay between the lines. When you weld free hand, I can tell you are not learning how to move your hands. You are doing quick, 3" welds which is probably about how far you can move your hand. I would say 5" minimum. For now, stay away from the edges.

Thats the whole reason i suggested the OP to get some 6 inch long pieces of 1/8 and weld end to end making six inch long beads clean the top of the plate with a sander/grinder and some acetone

[wintermute]

A couple other things which might help us give you some advice. Provide pictures of your torch tip. That way we can guage your stickout and see how your tungsten is ground. Also, what cup size are you using?

--Wintermute

[Gamble]

No problem I'll get some pics. I am using a number 6 cup. Sometimes I still get a huge flame coming out of it.
Also side note: Where can I find a how to on back purging setup for stainless with 1 tank? I went to weld something that was SS for my car today and DOH used the wrong rod. So I just made a small hole. All I wanted was a tack. Oh well.

[Gamble]

Some more of today. I finished off my tank so I can get a fresh one and bigger.
This was all on SS today. I seem to be getting better results with SS for some reason.









My stickout:

[wintermute]

Just a quick note...grind your tungsten horizontally, not laterally. The grind marks should be straight to the point...

--Wintermute

[zapster]

Good Grief!!
All that spatter on your cup is NO GOOD.

Bad gas coverage will do that..
Crappy material will do that..
No gas and the metal boils and splat's itself all over everything...

Yeah........"Splat"..


Looks more like you had no gas at all at times..Or a good wind got in the way..

The metal itself ...Well more time is needed..

Get to BARE metal and clean it good and try again..
These first pics are exhaust tubing and you don't need to start there..As you can see.
Junk metal you find around the house is no good for this without proper and sometimes major metal prep..



...zap!

[Gamble]

Ok I will grind it the other way. Any good way to clean the cup or the recommended way?
I got some 3/32 filler rod today to try out. All this so far is 1/16th.

I tried welding 2 pieces together and using 1/16th seemed rather small so I got the 3/32. That should be better I think.
More pics tomorrow.

[B_C]

Hang on I made a mistake

[B_C]

What are you welding on? Those dingle berries look like your material is plated or
something that splatters as mentioned........Get some clean cold roll steel to practice on like 1/4 " plate then work your way up to thin wall tubing......Less chance to OVER COOK IT

[Rojodiablo]

What are you welding on? Those dingle berries look like your material is plated or
something that splatters as mentioned........Get some clean cold roll steel to practice on like 1/4 " plate then work your way up to thin wall tubing......Less chance to OVER COOK IT

Now, tell me honestly; when you drop a weld that sweet, do you want to have sex with it?

Lord knows, I'd be willing to burn some skin.......

OP, the answers are ALL good. Wind is a thought also for me/ gas coverage issues. If practicing on SS, then use no filler at first; just get to a clean bead run that is not blacked out. A steady movement forward, pause, forward, pause, etc. Steady. Find a speed that keeps a puddle, and does not cave in or crater or leave thepuddle blackened.

[Gamble]

Wow that looks amazing. What causes the colors? I got some things going on this weekend so if I have funds I'm going to get a nice wire brush wheel and clean the metal and a nice 1/8th or 1/4" thick plate and go to town on it. Stay tuned for more pics tomorrow.

[Rojodiablo]

Wow that looks amazing. What causes the colors? I got some things going on this weekend so if I have funds I'm going to get a nice wire brush wheel and clean the metal and a nice 1/8th or 1/4" thick plate and go to town on it. Stay tuned for more pics tomorrow.

The material is at a given temperature when outside air hits it and there is an oxidation that occurs. When it's running too hot, you get black, and volcanic gunk. When it's too cold, you get high beads as in some of your pics, and no real color change. When in the correct heat ranges, you will see some color variations; a lot has to do with speed of weld, and gas coverage. A mig weld will show a rainbow out from the weld in a halo like ring; it shows gas coverage and heat spreading back from the steel. Tig is different because you control the puddle and filler differently as you already know.

Keep practicing; this may take you several bottles to get pretty good with because you have no amp adjustment, and a primitive machine, so arc quality is also going to be an obstacle you will learn to weld around.