Miller Dynasty 280 DX questions.

[danielplace]

Been trying pulse settings to make thin mild steel welding easier and it almost seems to be less productive than without it.

The machine has Pro set built in but those settings seem far from optimum.

I am welding very thin mild steel expansion chambers for R/C model boats.

The other question I have is the machine is supposed to be able to weld down to .004" thick steel yet you can not turn the amperage down below 10 amps. If you light the torch at any pedal amount there is not a chance of welding .004" anything it blows it away instant at .010" thick.

Just looking for pulse idea's or suggestions that would make welding the thin steel. I am making do just welding it without pulse as the steel is about .015" thick that is getting welded to matching pieces .015" thick and to the coupler at one end and stinger at the other that are about .065" thick.

Where and how do you get the machine set lower than 10 amps. I realize the pedal will back it off but what if I want the machine setting at the advertised range of 1 amp if I want and can see how that is done.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I do not have a huge amount of tig experience but many hours with oxy/acetylene torch and kinda got the hang of the welding already but just have some questions and need a little help and suggestions to hopefully benefit from the settings the machine has if I knew better how to use them. I have studied the manual and read a lot but still missing it a bit I am afraid.


Here is a picture of the first batch of 6 I welded up with the machine to give you an idea of what exactly it is I am welding.



And two more after paint. I get most ceramic coated but these are baked enamel.

[shovelon]

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but turn up the arc start, and turn down your amps. The settings are synergic. Trouble with low arc start is you have to step on the pedal more. That is what I found when doing a demo of that machine earlier this year.

What is your tungsten grind at? I would go needle sharp. And lean the torch over like you do with side cone oxy/acet. Keeping your arc concentrated on the heavier section.

As far as pulse goes you should be able to engage it going with the default settings. I would think you could still set at 20 amps. I think you can go up to 500pps as well. Is that what you are doing? Have you tried lay-rod? Have you tried 312 filler?

Keep posting. Someone will chime in with that "A-HA" comment.

[irish fixit]

I had to go into Tung Gen settings and lower the start amperage before I was happy with it. Small sharp tungsten and it really shouldn't be that hard to do.

Here's what I've managed to set it up to do and I've had two complete novices managed to do it as well once I set the machine up.

[danielplace]

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but turn up the arc start, and turn down your amps. The settings are synergic. Trouble with low arc start is you have to step on the pedal more. That is what I found when doing a demo of that machine earlier this year.

What is your tungsten grind at? I would go needle sharp. And lean the torch over like you do with side cone oxy/acet. Keeping your arc concentrated on the heavier section.

As far as pulse goes you should be able to engage it going with the default settings. I would think you could still set at 20 amps. I think you can go up to 500pps as well. Is that what you are doing? Have you tried lay-rod? Have you tried 312 filler?

Keep posting. Someone will chime in with that "A-HA" comment.

I use a 1/16" or sometimes I have tried 3/32" tungsten and it is ground to a kinda long and at a needle point.

I have tried working with the pulse PPS, peak time and the background but just when I think it might be making it easier to weld the thin stuff I try it again with any pulse and like that better.

Even at the proset and I have heard of a setting with it all set to 33. 33 PPS, 33 % peak and 33% background and that almost seemed ad good as with what the proset feuture this machine has built in.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I had to go into Tung Gen settings and lower the start amperage before I was happy with it. Small sharp tungsten and it really shouldn't be that hard to do.

Here's what I've managed to set it up to do and I've had two complete novices managed to do it as well once I set the machine up.

The Tung Gen settings ? Where is that parameter adjusted ? Spent a lot of time studying the manual and tickering with machine settings but not sure what you mean.

I just want to be able to set the amps to less than 10 with the Amperage dial. It stops at 10 and will not go lower. Is the Tung Gen setting going to allow that to go lower ?

Even the start amperage I do not guess I even know where that is set at. Never seen a start amperage in any menu the machine has. Just the main amperage and pulse settings but start amperage setting I am not familiar with.

Thank you.


I guess I am still needing some more insight to this if anyone has more to add I would appreciate it.

[irish fixit]

It's in the advance menu. Where you set the tungsten size, instead of size you go to where it displays TUNG GEN on the screen and then you can set the parameters how you want. Lowest is 5 amps.

I use a .040" tungsten for the razors shown above.

[zank]

The different start parameters for each tungsten size also set the minimum running amps. I think the minimum on 3/32" is 10 amps, 1/16" is 5 amps, 0.040 is 3 amps, and 0.020 is 1 amp. But as mentioned, you can adjust all of the settings manually in the gen program.

[irish fixit]

Yes. That covers it pretty well. I don't like the high amp hit that the standard programming does for starting the arc. It does make the start more reliable but also often messes up the work on delicate stuff like this. You have to go into the settings and change it.

Press amperage and gas/dig buttons at the same time till you enter the user setup menu. Press gas/dig button till TUNG shows in the left display. Then rotate dial till GEN is displayed in the right display. Then use the amp button to scroll through the different settings.

POL = start output polarity, STRT = start amperage, TIME = start time, SSLP = start slope, PMIN = preset minimum amperage.

For thin work like this take start amperage, and minimum amperage down to as low as they'll go.

Sorry I got called to a birthday party so had to go before really finishing my post.

[danielplace]

Awesome. This is starting to go somewhere now. I don't know how I missed these parameters for all this time. I knew there was more ever since I owned it which is only a couple months but I never found this advanced menu section until now.

Man I appreciate your help and sharing your knowledge with me.

Any more insight into the pulse portion. I understand it a little but having trouble getting the benefit out of it. I realize it is cycling the heat and helping to keep the base metal intact but once you turn the power up to replace what the pulse diminishes I feel or to me it just seems it is actually making it harder to weld this thin stuff.

Is pulse something I should even be using to make welding this thin stuff easier?

[zank]

I really like a very high speed pulse. I don't get quite down to the wall thicknesses you are at. I'm usually at 0.028-0.036 wall tubes welded to 0.060-0.090 wall. I set the machine to 250 pps, 40% peak time, and 25% background. This helps me get nice wetting on the thicker piece and a very narrow arc cone yielding excellent control. Give it a shot.

[irish fixit]

At this level pulse just adds more amps which is what you don't want. In other words when you're running at the lowest amperage the welder will do you can't pulse without going higher.

BTW I had to go into cutting mode on my hood in order to see what I was doing at that low a setting. It's not very bright.

[danielplace]

Thanks so much for the replies. I am pretty new to tig welding. Most recently only two months new at it. While I have done it a few times in the past going back 10-15 years and having a ton of fresh oxy/acetylene welding experience during that time I think I did ok but it was not much I was doing mostly the cutting and fitting. I am learning and taking in all you guy's have said and learned a ton already with a single post.

Thanks again.