Baby steps with the TIG welder
 

I've had my TIG sitting round for a while now and have just picked up gas this week and got regs etc so I couldn't help myself but have a little play.

I've not welded for 20 years and then it was MIG/Gas but given that and that the only piece of steel I had to hand was a dirty old piece of 6mm angle I'm not too ashamed of the results. They obviously need a lot of improving but I dont think too shabby for just getting back on the bike :)

that bead far left looks nice and neat , i reckon a few less amps and that would have been a goodun!

Cheers Michael, I worked from right to left so was just starting to get a bit of a feel for it by then, I'm going to practice on some more scrap and then try welding up some shelf supports for my Mum's garage. I'm also hoping to get on a course for September to get some theory and proper training.

Once I started to get the feel for the 'pool' a little better I really enjoyed it, definitely seems much nicer to do than Mig, although doing it on a flat piece of metal is one thing but upside down in dark cranny will probably be much harder, still got to figure out some of the settings on my Tig as well:confused:

its certainly a nice start :) , you should have seen my attempts at tig :o a good practice is to do corner welds with no filler then you can get a real feel for what the pool is doing and when you get it nice it comes out a beautiful rainbow colour :)

its much more relaxing and gives more sence of aacievment than mig doesn't isnt it :)

Would love a tig set but funds dont allow at the moment

If you were doing ali the two verticals in the center would be sweet ;)

keep it all mega clean (no oxide) push along with the torch in your main hand at around 15-30 deg forward lean to start with and dab the rod on the edge of the pool with your other hand keeping it in the gas at all times.
sharpen your eletrode like its like the angle of a pencil and keep the arc as short as you can.
you will see the focus of the arc is clean and defined with a good shape until you get some filler on it then its all dull and blury thats what you dont want so clean it up and start again.

hi there, I'm just having a clear out of stuff and found old instruction book on a tig welder, which will of course be no good to you, but it has a section on trouble shooting welding problems which may be of some help.
if you want it just pm me with your address and i will stick it post.
tony

Just getting back on top of things after a week away so will try and get some more time on the tig this week, will try all suggestions and post up results.

onedayTM, if you still have the book that would be great, any reference material is good, I'l papypal over expenses, thanks

your welcome to it dont bother about postage just pm your address details.
tony