When my TIG arc speaks... should I listen?

[Lanmanb4]

Waz out in the garage ... practice , practice, practicing..
And was making this one practice pass .. and realized that
my arc distance changed a little ... but also realized that
so did the sound ... now I guess I kinda knew that .. but
didnt give it much thought ... so ... question is .. does
anyone else out there listen to the arc while they are welding?
Could it be that TIG is not just of sight , but also of sound ..
Are we entering a new dimension? theres a sign post up ahead ..
ok ok .. got carried away there ..

[riley mcmillan]

I just watch the puddle and feed it.

[prop-doctor]

i would say yes. you can hear the difference. kinda the same as in stick and mig you can tell when it is running at its best for the amps
so practice on

[zapster]

yesterday my boss tried tigging for the first time..
he thought it was easy

anyway everytime he would touch the tungestion to the work...
it makes "this sound"....
i was running my lathe and would yell "I HEARD THAT!!!"

it does make a diffrent sound when things go "wrong"
.........listen for it......

...zap!

[Lanmanb4]

tungestion huh? hmmmm so if I accidently feed the filler into the tungsten and contaminate it .. is that intungestion? ( as in indigestion )

[Joe H]

Originally Posted by Lanmanb4

tungestion huh? hmmmm so if I accidently feed the filler into the tungsten and contaminate it .. is that intungestion? ( as in indigestion )

LOL.

Though usually if accidentally feed the filler rod into the tungsten it's electrocution! I haven't done that in awhile, but when I first started using a TIG I got shocked regularly. Does anyone else do that? What would happen is I would be leaning against the steel welding table, and if I goofed up while welding sometimes I would pull the torch away from the work, and the filler rod would end up closer to the tungsten than the work, leaving the best route to ground being through my arm and to the table. I must have done that a dozen times before I trained myself to take my foot off the pedal first. They should put a warning label about that somewhere.

[elderthewelder]

yep, i have been shocked many times over the years, I do not wear a glove on my rod hand, so if I accidentally touch the tungsten with the rod it lets me know. also if you are tiggin on a damp or wet alum item like scaffolding and your bare skin touches it, you get quite the tingle. C'mon funny feeling!!

[Lanmanb4]

Well elder ... I was going to ask that very thing ... which was "do you where a glove ? " LOL ... I have one of those kidskin gloves... you can feel thru them pretty well .. but still provides protection .. Remember , we must practice safe TIG .. LOL Is it a pretty good jolt ... at 130 A the voltage is like 15 volts ... so not too bad ... I'll stick with the thin gloves here .. cause I am still learning and dont need to be worrying about getting jolted..

[Weldtek]

Originally Posted by Lanmanb4

Well elder ... I was going to ask that very thing ... which was "do you where a glove ? " LOL ... I have one of those kidskin gloves... you can feel thru them pretty well .. but still provides protection .. Remember , we must practice safe TIG .. LOL Is it a pretty good jolt ... at 130 A the voltage is like 15 volts ... so not too bad ... I'll stick with the thin gloves here .. cause I am still learning and dont need to be worrying about getting jolted..

Generally, tiggin on steel with dcen with or w/o high freq. the shock is more annoying than dangerous. But, what ever you do, do not get shocked when tiggin aluminum on ac with hi-freq. It will ruin yer day! I personally have never heard of a welder being injured from electric shock on the output side of a machine. The danger is the line side or input power.

Although, you should always be careful when working around electricity. I know two things about it.
1. You can't see it.
2. It hurts when you touch it.

[Joe H]

The Tillman deerskin gloves I use don't seem to help a bit, I've been shocked just as fiercely with them on as without them. I think what happens is the HV arc starter kicks in, gloves are no match for it. It's not an especially painful shock, but it can still hurt you. For instance on one occasion I got zapped and it made me jump so bad I backhanded the block wall of my shop pretty forcefully. My hand ached for an hour afterwards.

[jimmyhat]

cracklin sizzling and kindda like bacon in the frying pan is a good sound!

[Joe H]

Originally Posted by jimmyhat

cracklin sizzling and kindda like bacon in the frying pan is a good sound!

Not with a TIG it's not! Anything but a quiet buzz usually means contamination.

[FearcityINC]

My teacher showed us Hi freq. by just holding the tungsten about 4" from his finger and hittin the pedal. Nice lightning bolt, he said you can't really feel it at all.....

[Joe H]

Originally Posted by FearcityINC

My teacher showed us Hi freq. by just holding the tungsten about 4" from his finger and hittin the pedal. Nice lightning bolt, he said you can't really feel it at all.....

4"

[elderthewelder]

My teacher showed us Hi freq. by just holding the tungsten about 4" from his finger and hittin the pedal. Nice lightning bolt, he said you can't really feel it at all.....

I was shown that 20+ years ago by my instructor, except i hold the tig electrode about 1/4" from my thumb nail, make sure you are not grounded, than hit the foot pedal. Great light show on your nail, pretty much dont feel a thing, and it freaks people out ( I do it on dc--not a/c. not sure if matters or not)

[riley mcmillan]

I can do that for about 2 seconds ungrounded and then my thumbnail starts getting hot. I've had my miller 330 a/bp for over 30 years and probably has ancient hf technology.

[Weldtek]

please don't try that trick on ac with continuos hi-freq.

Also, if you try it w and w/o gas you'll get different results. No gas, the tungsten will have to touch the finger!

[Dave Normandeau]

This sounds like some crap out of star wars but i was always taught "sort of as a joke but not really" to be "One With The Metal"

use every sence you have sight, sound touch,

lol, use that smell sence to because 90% of the time when you smell burning its your coverals or your boots .