New here, acquired two old (working) welders, hoping to put them into action soon!

[albrightree]

I accidently reversed leads on a AC TIG machine with the balance set to one side. It didn't weld good at all, and the tungsten (inverter using gold - 1.5%?) eroded back into the cup very quickly. The weld looked contaminated, but I when I increased the amps to get a puddle the whole tip of the tungsten blew off, dropped on the aluminum, popped out of the crater, and left a mess. Gotta wonder if this isn't bad gas/not enough flow ? When the solenoid opens at 0:29, it sounds like the gas is flowing at the machine, but I don't hear that hollow sound at the cup, or any after flow. I would turn up the flow until I could hear it. Maybe a fresh tank will make a difference. The welder sounds like its making all the right noises except for the gas.

Here's a picture with reverse leads :




The red star looks like its the part of the tungsten that melted off and fell in the puddle, and blew up.

Is there any possiblity that the leads got swapped when you cleaned the selector dial ? Check the wiring diagram on the cover and match connections on the machine. Most of the wires should be marked.


Best of luck


PS oops, I meant CFH, not CFM sorry for the confusion.

[IROCZman15]

awesome. thanks guys!

So, Friday I got my Argon cylinder replaced with a full one. I also bought some green colored 2% lanthanated tungsten. I went to the sheet-metal place and the boss was out for the day and nobody else was "authorized' to sell meany scrap 6061 aluminum without his permission. weird, but oh well.



Got a chance to test the TIG welder and it still did the same thing. I smelled a burning smell from the welder and saw a small puff of smoke at the dinse connector, like before. I decided to fully disassemble everything, and lo-and-behold, found that the dinse connector was barely connected to the hose. I guess the supplier ships them this way? I would have never expected them to do this, but it was a simple fix. Tighten the threaded connections between the hose-and-dinse. I cleaned everything up, and pressed the foot pedal,
and,
finally
FINALLY...

saw a silver puddle of aluminum start to form! What a moment that was! Even thought it was ugly, and my form, materials were sub-par.. I just went for it. Trying to lay down some beads, while beginning to play with the foot pedal, torch distance etc. I dipped the tungsten a few times and since I was tight on time, I just did a quick cleaning and went back at it.

While these welds are not good, not pretty, and not something i am proud of, I am relieved that I can rest easy knowing the welder is capable of welding aluminum... but now I have to learn it ! I am up for the task. Now, I can get comfortable and try to get in some good practice!

So, in the end, I am pretty sure that the improper connection underneath the dinse cover on the hose (the hose-to-dinse) was not letting the electricity flow properly, and also not letting the gas flow properly. What is weird, is that it TIG welded seemingly just fine when doing DC- on steel... I guess the loose connection was just enough for DC- but not good enough for AC. very interesting

[123weld]

well, sounds like albrightree, was quite the detective on this one. ur dc welds may have appeared somewhat ok, but he noticed the color wasnt quite right on them too.

[albrightree]

Glad to see you got it going. I think green is pure tungsten, which should be ok on your machine (transformer, non-inverter).

Where did you go for aluminum, Jersey Sheet Metal in Dover ? I used to use them, when I needed large quantity of sheet metal premade. Most of the time I use the Ed's Trading Post in Great Meadows. It's right across the street from the go-go bar just before the turn for the Race track. Don't be fooled, that big barn is full aluminum, and steel forms, beams channel, angles, and tubes. He has a press, and a shear for materials up to 8ft. He has the best prices around. Greg is the proprietor, I don't know who Ed is, never met him. I don't think he has a website, but you can call.

Kenvil Weldery has a lot of stuff, but he is a little more expensive, he has a brake a shear, and a ironworker, plasma table , Milling machines , lathes, surface grinder, line boring tools. He does work for NJ transit, port of Newark, Newark airport, JCP&L, machining and welding. Bridges, towers, tunnels, underground missile bunkers, big machinery, you name it he'll fix it. He also has a few older chevy's, I think the Pickup is on the website.

Both shops are open in the morning on Saturday, but call ahead on Thursday, or Friday, or send drawings (they both take hand sketches if they are clear) so they can have stuff ready for pick up.

I also keep a bunch of aluminum shapes , forms, and tubes in stock. If you should need a really short length of aluminum square tube or solid round , or whatever. send me a PM of what you need, I can let you know if I have some. One mans cutoff pile is a nother mans treasure. BTW My factory is in Flanders, behind the shop-rite on RT206.


Good Luck

[IROCZman15]

This is fantastic information, you guys on this website have been excellent. Thank you for all of this information, from day 1 when I first got the welders home, to where I am at now, it has been quite an adventure.. but it is heading in a very good direction. Thank you all.

I went over to jersey Sheetmetal in Dover. I have bought some aluminum and steel from them before when I was doing fabrication projects in recent years and the guy usually just says gimmie a few dollars cash etc. Sadly, the guy was not in that day and nobody else was authorized to make a deal with me. So that was a minor inconvenience, but in the grand scheme of things, turns out it wasn't immediately necessary for me to continue with my troubleshooting process. The company I work for does use Jersey Sheetmetal for a lot of aluminum cabinets, shelves, pre-made complex storage boxes etc, so I was really just hoping to find out what type of aluminum they use on these projects, because I take home lots of little scraps or cutoffs. So basically I am getting my scraps from Jersey Sheetmetal already, but I didn't know what kind of aluminum it was, neither does my boss, so I was going to ask Jersey Sheetmetal that day and also ask for some 6061 if they could sell me any for $20 or so.

That's awesome to know about the place right by the dragstrip. I had no idea of it! Anytime I am in that area, I am usually in the camaro and going racing at the track. However, if I ever plan on going to spectate for an event, I will make it a point to call ahead and possibly stop by Ed's Trading post. Cool!

I have driven past Kenvil Welding so many times and thought about stopping by. Often times I will be going to the tree/brush recycling place that shares the same driveway. I think there is also a welding shop at the top of the hill in Mine Hill on rt 46, and they make like iron gates and such.

Thats awesome to know that you also have some metal 'treasure" if I ever find myself in a bind and looking for something unusual. I appreciate you letting me know. If I am on rt 206 and not in a rush to get anywhere quick, I will take a look for your factory. Hopefully I can remember this.


I came home from work yesterday and had a quick 30 minutes of free time so I excitedly fired up the Tig welder on some scrap pieces. I am learning a whole lot and have to focus a lot more on arc length, puddle control, and pedal. But wow, this is neat.... and I have along long way to go still!

[Agape Guy]

How exciting --- good deals! I'm envious! Keep posting pics of your progress/use of the old guys please. It's really interesting!

[IROCZman15]

Thanks!!! Will do.
I had been pretty busy recently with traveling out of state and racing the car, along with a normal work week so i haven't had a chance to play with the welder since about Tuesday of last week. So, today after work, I decided to take an hour and try to work on my travel speed and distance. I have been watching some really informative welding videos on youtube and wanted to start to practice some of the stuff. Just after I finished today, I grabbed an old barstool to use for me to sit on while I weld. The chair I had used was way too low for my work bench and I was literally eye level with the vice/bench. On the other hand, when i was standing to tig weld, I had to work the foot-pedal with one foot, which left all my body-weight balancing on my opposite foot. Obviously this is very unsteady and silly. So, I now have a barstool which puts me at a great height and hopefully I can now get more "comfortable" with my arms and posture.



i decided to film a short video of the welder in action:




and a video when i was done making some test passes on this aluminum coupon:




Question, I have seen some people say to just have a rolled/balled tungsten tip for welding aluminum, and others seem to have a pointed end. Whats the best?



As mentioned, I was trying to see the difference in travel speed, arc distance, and torch angle. Standing up makes me dip the tungsten more frequently, so I hope the barstool will help me to not dip so often.

[albrightree]

Nice job, looks like your getting the hang of it. Yes, being comfortable really helps you improve your welding. Having props to keep your hand steady and in position when welding is very helpful too.

" Question, I have seen some people say to just have a rolled/balled tungsten tip for welding aluminum, and others seem to have a pointed end. Whats the best? "

When TIG welding aluminum with a transformer welder(AC-HF) pure tungsten(green) is commonly used with out a shaped tungsten (it will ball on its own, our you can pre-ball with a copper bar). You can also use other tungstens, like gold (1.5% lanthanted?) it can take a little more heat than green(pure). Others here have their favorites for differing reason ie. wave form, machine, gas type, type of aluminum. Some how over the years, I have wound up with at least 4 packages of 3/32" green(pure) tungstens. I'm not sure what type of waveform your machine is, but when your running 1/4" aluminum on a transformer welder you might want use an 1/8" tungsten if your running green tungsten. The green isn't as good with the higher amps. It will tend to erode, and act funny as it burns back into the cup. At least that is what I have observed in my transformer machines. My Syncrowave 180, Econotwin HF, and Airco 250 Heliwelder, are all transformer welders, run green, and gold tungstens well with a balled end.

Well, now you have a pair of really good welders covering MIG, TIG, stick. So you can post up some projects when complete some. You can also post up stuff in the automotive section even if its not welding. Your videos are pretty good , you should post some short ones from the races you go to.

Thanks for sharing

[IROCZman15]

Fantastic! Thank you guys. Man, I wish there was a way I could buy you all lunch for all the help troubleshooting this issue! Wait, albrighttree is nearby, maybe I can start there?!?! I mean it, Friday? pizza?

Ok, good to know about the green tungsten and the balled end. I have made it a habit not to sharpen the green tungstens so that they can specifically stay dedicated to aluminum AC welding. The blue tungstens I will plan on keeping sharpened to a pointed tip so that they can be dedicated to DCEnegative for steel tig welding. I will just take some time out one day and sharpen all the blue ones so that they are ready to go.

As for posting some projects/videos, that is a good idea. I hadn't explored those sections of this welding forum yet, as I was basically focusing on troubleshooting the machines and getting the components. But you are right, now that I have everything pretty well sorted out, I can focus on some project stuff. This wintertime a big welding project will be building a full 4" diameter exhaust for the camaro, with all sorts of bends, pie-cuts, and welded on v-band clamps. As for some racing videos, I have a bunch, but since I am not a computer savvy guy, I don't spend much time editing video or making them all fancy. I just kinda upload the raw video to YouTube and call it done. My Youtube channel is the same username I have here: IROCZman15
link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ_...SGrqmkSUqr0Ltg

[123weld]

Fantastic! Thank you guys. Man, I wish there was a way I could buy you all lunch for all the help troubleshooting this issue! Wait, albrighttree is nearby, maybe I can start there?!?! I mean it, Friday? pizza?

Ok, good to know about the green tungsten and the balled end. I have mad

ok, wait. it was me on previous page that told u about green balled tungsten. 2nd, problem/mystery woulda been solved a month prior if u didnt laugh me off, when i provided a link/fix for ur o-ring/connection problem, and set it up the way i do mine. 3rd, i believe it was me that caused u to make the video. 4th, i remeber more than a couple times, picking this thread up when it was going off the 24hr list. i faithfully stuck w/ u consistantly. So wheres my Pizza ?? the sports lounge i go to, know what i like when i come through the door. first thing they do is turn the tennis channel on, pour a piture, make a ceasar salad and a mini pizza w/ pepperoni and pinapple. they have phone, do u have a credit card ?

[IROCZman15]

ha, wait, I said I would buy everyone lunch. I only know that albright-tree is actually within driving distance, and if anyone else is, I will gladly treat them to a meal! You did mention green balled tungsten, absolutely, much thanks. I hope you didn't misconstrue any of my writing at all during this whole troubleshooting process, I never laughed you off; not at all. Maybe I didn't fully understand or comprehend what you had meant and therefore I was incorrect in skipping past it. yes, you did instigate me to make the videos, absolutely, much much thanks!

I am very grateful for all your help and everyone help), I probably wouldn't give over credit card info, but if you have paypal, I am more than willing to show my appreciation and send ya a "thank you". Send me a PM if ya want.

[123weld]

, naw, i was playin about the food bill , partly to see how u'd react. the important thing ur welder works, so all in all, its a happy ending for everyone involved