Post your best welds!
Yes that's exactly what they look like. I have tried a red, blue and green tungsten fwiw, and none of them made any real difference. Only thing I've seen matter is how fine a point I get the tip to. Seems a really fine tip doesn't last long, but it's easier t keep the heat focused in one small spot with it, played with that a bunch but didn't see any dramatic differences.
I think you should try a larger style gas lens like below. I run the style below in #10 and #12 when not using the pyrex style for stainless work.
Gas lens+20-25cfm argon
Local welding supply store should have what you need.
I'll have to stop by the local welding supply store and see what they have. Fwiw I'm not using a water cooled torch. ****** does get hot, so I have to kind of do a little at time. Not a big deal, as I'm not doing this for a living. Whether that has anything to do with it or not I can't say either.
I know that what I've welded with this machine that was regular mild steel, or chromoly has come out looking numbers better than the stainless as well.
I have not tried anything alum as I don't have any alum filler rod, or anything alum. laying around to play with but I have in the past been able to get pretty good looking stuff with aluminum. I find a lot of power with that works best, and I can get a puddle formed quickly and drop filler in, then back off right away with the pedal and get a nice dime effect with it. Not any John Marcella type stuff nothing close to that but a ton better than any of my stainless welds. My chromoly welds all seem fine as well, I use about 80-90 amps with that and the gas flow same about 15, same #7 tip and same tungsten.
I
I have not tried anything alum as I don't have any alum filler rod, or anything alum. laying around to play with but I have in the past been able to get pretty good looking stuff with aluminum. I find a lot of power with that works best, and I can get a puddle formed quickly and drop filler in, then back off right away with the pedal and get a nice dime effect with it. Not any John Marcella type stuff nothing close to that but a ton better than any of my stainless welds. My chromoly welds all seem fine as well, I use about 80-90 amps with that and the gas flow same about 15, same #7 tip and same tungsten.
I
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 24,241
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From: Turnin' Wrenches Infractions: 005
I used red tungsten if I can remember correctly. It was pretty small I wanna say 1/4. When I ground the tip I would get it super sharp, then barely knick the tip to give it a tiny flat spot on the end. If you leave it like a needle then the flame branches out funny and isnt very focused. If you put a big flat spot on the end the flame was wider, so I found the very sharp tip with the tiny flat spot to be optimal for heat focus. The flame will only protrude out of the flat if everything is done right.
How is your purge being regulated? Sharing one tank? I helped someone before who was running his torch and purge off a y to one tank. In this case 15-20cfm was being split and really ending up with adequate/more coverage in the pip than needed but not enough at the torch. If you are doing this I would try a higher cfm.
But still get a lens.
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I've heard of some guys trying to y off a single reg and cranking the flow up and having issues as there is really no way of knowing how much flow you are getting to the torch.
Single bottle w/2 regs is just as good as having a two bottle dedicated set up IMO.
I've heard of some guys trying to y off a single reg and cranking the flow up and having issues as there is really no way of knowing how much flow you are getting to the torch.
Single bottle w/2 regs is just as good as having a two bottle dedicated set up IMO.
Without reading all the post pertaining to your issues one thing I'll mention is keeping the molten tip of the filler wire under argon coverage til it solidifys and cools a bit. This is a very often overlooked cause of cooked stainless welds. I see it often, guy welding and his filler wandering out of the argon cover. Try this, establish a arc and dip the filler while it's still molten pull it away. Stop and look at the end of the filler, it'll be black or gray and funky. Now do the same thing paying attention to keeping the filler under argon til the arc goes out and it cools. I weld stainless nearly every day and always keep my post flow set very high for this reason. Keep the torch and argon coverage on the weld and filler wire til cool.
Just to show that I actually do this for a living not just a Internet armchair expert. The shiny golden looking welds are two that I hand welded the black looking weld is from my orbital welding machine.
Not sure where you live, but down here in Texas, I believe a welder can make a pretty good living. I know of a guy who owns an underwater welding company here (friend of a friend), and that dude can't spend money on hookers and blow fast enough to get himself in trouble.
Underwater welding is major money, I looked into that once and those guys get paid like a lawyer.
You can make decent money problem is I've managed to progress to management and am on a decent salary, and with the family and everything starting over now isn't disable, u less I got into a situation where I was laid off and had no choice.
If I was in my 20's with no mortgage or kid or wife id have already changed paths
You can make decent money problem is I've managed to progress to management and am on a decent salary, and with the family and everything starting over now isn't disable, u less I got into a situation where I was laid off and had no choice.
If I was in my 20's with no mortgage or kid or wife id have already changed paths
They should not.
I've heard of some guys trying to y off a single reg and cranking the flow up and having issues as there is really no way of knowing how much flow you are getting to the torch.
Single bottle w/2 regs is just as good as having a two bottle dedicated set up IMO.
I've heard of some guys trying to y off a single reg and cranking the flow up and having issues as there is really no way of knowing how much flow you are getting to the torch.
Single bottle w/2 regs is just as good as having a two bottle dedicated set up IMO.