TIG issues, 3 topics

[Denis G]

Google "TIG welding arm rest". You don't need to buy one, just see how they are used and then adapt something yourself.

I like what Oscar said. You need to work on simple shapes and projects first until you build more confident to tackle more complex jobs.

Not sure what you mean by "nearsighted with glasses". If that means nearsighted "without glasses", then don't use them at all. Simple is better.

[123weld]

Being able to see is key, and sometimes a non-traditional fix is what it takes!
.

in this case, the traditional way of shutting the door on a rainy day, would have worked. then the hose he listed as "problems", wouldnt be. am i right?

[Insect]

Several folks have asked/suggested practicing straight beads in the flat position
Along those lines, I'm assuming you're using the bricks to keep the work off the wooden table because you don't have a metal welding table available, right?

Advice taken: Today most of the effort was on straight line paths. It's a thin stock, so 2" and pause due to heat, it does teach fine motor skill and awareness of heat flow, helpful.

Right about the bricks, so I put a 1/2" plate of aluminum on the table, ground is still to the work, but the alu is slippery and flat, not like balancing on bricks, a bit better control, and allows me to put hand on a woodblock when needed. I know the pro's use the table as a groundplane (or positive plane in tig, etc.) just fine, that scares me at this stage, I need to learn a little more about electrocution risks. Firmly grounding the workpiece is the simplest way I know of not getting shocked in a bad way.

I was watching Jody's vids before coming here, he is a wealth of information, and takes quality videography under arc conditions, still follow him.

The door :, I prefer to keep a door open to let some fumes pass, it reduces my potential for maganese poisoning which is known for causing irritability, aggressiveness, or muscular tremors.

Some of the passes below were at one end or the other as far as amperage so don't laugh too much. I like to collect symptoms of each end of a control variable to discover what the median should look like in most things like this, I filled up some old tubes with lines too afterward, will keep at it. Argon was at 2200 new a month ago, now 650psi, on an 80 cylinder (my pseudo-hourmeter of total welding practice time so far). I guess I exchange it at a certain value?

Thanks

[William McCormick]

It's the pointy form of 15 deg.

Your advices were helpful, here is what I did:
1) Reduce cup from #6 to #5
2) Increase argon from 10 to 13 CFH (Welds finish clean, not grey colored now)
3) Bought a 2.5 magnifier for the hood
4) Put 3000 lumens of light right on the weld. (helps my dynamic range of the view)
5) Put a blower on my head to clear the fog off the magnifier lens
6) From straight tig to now a pulse at 95 hi / 20 lo / 33Hz / 33% cycle time. (Focusing more on pulse, been back and forth, pulse seems 20% better at agitating the puddle to bridge gaps for me)
7) Helmet to 9.5 shade, previously around 11

I can finally see, it makes a big difference. The weld it now useable, but not pretty.

Present problems:
The blower is pulling the hood a bit, I need to hang the airline from the ceiling.
I keep dipping the puddle more than I want to.

Questions:
1) When we dip the electrode briefly and weld action continues OK, do most of you stop, replace, resume, or just keep going?
* Context, this training is eventually for an ultralight aircraft fuselage, quality expectations similar to the bicycle industry, etc.
2) Is my WP-26 torch too heavy and thus causing problems, would a WP-9 even fit my 'Hitbox 200" welder, would it feel better for low amp work, or not worth it?
3) I often find myself doing a 2nd pass before argon afterflow is done (to stay out of oxidation), to smooth things out where bridging was lacking. Is this an unacceptable practice?

This has been quite helpful, I am thankful.

Below some pics of today's work (I always wear 2 gloves... just a pic)
Attachment 1728163 Attachment 1728164 Attachment 1728165

When I was taught to weld by my father he would make me practice without filler wire. I had to just wait and preheat until both base metals would bond and then I would fusion weld the part together, for steel it is better to add wire of course for the finished product, but knowing that if you wait for it, and do not apply to much heat that you can bond the metal makes you a better welder for sure. You use much less wire and you get a nice hollow concave weld even when you add a touch of filler wire. Once you are sure you can then it becomes natural.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[William McCormick]

Advice taken: Today most of the effort was on straight line paths. It's a thin stock, so 2" and pause due to heat, it does teach fine motor skill and awareness of heat flow, helpful.

Right about the bricks, so I put a 1/2" plate of aluminum on the table, ground is still to the work, but the alu is slippery and flat, not like balancing on bricks, a bit better control, and allows me to put hand on a woodblock when needed. I know the pro's use the table as a groundplane (or positive plane in tig, etc.) just fine, that scares me at this stage, I need to learn a little more about electrocution risks. Firmly grounding the workpiece is the simplest way I know of not getting shocked in a bad way.

I was watching Jody's vids before coming here, he is a wealth of information, and takes quality videography under arc conditions, still follow him.

The door :, I prefer to keep a door open to let some fumes pass, it reduces my potential for maganese poisoning which is known for causing irritability, aggressiveness, or muscular tremors.

Some of the passes below were at one end or the other as far as amperage so don't laugh too much. I like to collect symptoms of each end of a control variable to discover what the median should look like in most things like this, I filled up some old tubes with lines too afterward, will keep at it. Argon was at 2200 new a month ago, now 650psi, on an 80 cylinder (my pseudo-hourmeter of total welding practice time so far). I guess I exchange it at a certain value?

Thanks

I change tanks at 300 psi. That is when you will start to get funny smells even from high-quality Argon cylinders. Argon scavengers oxygen and other contaminants from the walls of the cylinder, the tank's siphon tube keeps extracting from the bottom of the cylinder while the lighter contaminants stay at the top of the cylinder. Once you hit about 300 psi you can start to get dirty gas.

From your beads, I can tell you are conforming to the puddle rather than making the puddle conform to you. You should practice without wire first. You should try pumping the peddle as well, to create each individual bead using no filler wire. After you make consistent welds, then try filler wire and only a little bit of it.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[Kelvin]

The door :, I prefer to keep a door open to let some fumes pass, it reduces my potential for maganese poisoning which is known for causing irritability, aggressiveness, or muscular tremors.

I wouldn't sweat manganese Parkinsonism too much with tig welding ... it's mainly a thing with the smoke from stick welding. Then again, there's hex chrome if you use stainless...

[123weld]

The door :, I prefer to keep a door open to let some fumes pass, it reduces my potential for maganese poisoning which is known for causing irritability, aggressiveness, or muscular tremors.

suit yourself, whatever - welcome to the industry. that tune dont mean much to me. that would be much less than par to what outdoor field welders get each day. never been much of a problem of ship/pipe welders going into convulsions along the trenches or madly insane upon retirement i could have ur door open , and be able to see through my cheaters/lenses from rain. your doing/got something else wrong. i could litter this entire page w/ pics of my tig repairs in chinese kitchens if i wanted to, as i had a chinese restraunt chain acct for over a decade. talk about humidity, go fix a sink, next to a steaming commercial chinese range covered in water , w/ raging woks. then all that rice-noodly crap they steam/boil - talking about humidity, thats about as good as it gets, and i dont need no hose to see. and just so ur aware, your spokesman/represtetative is still bent over the last time w/ me in another thread (before you came along. ) unfortunately he decided to carry it on into ur thread, while i was trying to help

[Rondo]

I like to keep a WP 9 torch around for low amp applications. Flex head even better for me. The small torch is night and day from the 26 as far as manipulation is concerned.

['Stang]

I would suggest changing to a CK 17 torch also. But, if you look at the picture of his torch, he has amp control buttons on it. It is hard wired to the machine. Years ago I had a Diversion 180 with the same type of setup. Major hassle to change the torch. One reason I no longer have that machine.

[Oscar]

if you look at the picture of his torch, he has amp control buttons on it. It is hard wired to the machine..

IMO, that is the biggest draw-back from that set-up. It forces him to use some hand fine-motor control just to keep the ON button pressed, and will "use up" the flexibility of the finger-hand-wrist control that would otherwise be "loose" and available for better maneuverability.

[G-ManBart]

in this case, the traditional way of shutting the door on a rainy day, would have worked. then the hose he listed as "problems", wouldnt be. am i right?

Maybe, maybe not. Without a lot more information, or actually being there, it's just a guess.

What isn't a guess is that his hands were in an awkward position that needs to be fixed and he couldn't see. He fixed the vision issue. People can make all sorts of suggestions about settings, torch angle, etc and none of it will make any difference if he can't keep the torch stable just like none of that will matter if he can't make a flat, straight bead.