tig welds??

[boost freak]

my name is jesse. i ran across this site from googleing.lol. but anyways i have a welding question. i started tig welding again for the first time in like 4 years. i did a couple of ones were good then all the sudden one day i go to fire it up to do some welding and the welds look like ****. i checked all my setting thinking maybe one of my frends were messing around.. but they all looked good?? sometimes it well start welding good then it starts putting wholes in the weld? what am i doing wrong now??

mild steel
straight argon
2% tugsten
post flow at 10
but joint
tig rod

[cruizer]

Type and model of machine used would be helpfull

[boost freak]

linkon 185 tig..ill try to take some pics.

[Craig in Denver]

Be sure to remove mill scale on mild steel. It will cause porosity. Either a flap disk or grinding wheel. A powered wire brush isn't enough, it will only polish the mill scale. 15 CFH should be enough argon. You didn't dip your tungsten and then continue the weld? A contaminated tungsten will have a green arc and will cause porosity.

[boost freak]

i think i need a different cup. we i went to school i didnt use this big of a cup like i got on there. i was thinking maybe also the tugsten was wrong.. its got the red strip on the end and its 2 % is that the right one?

[flop-a-welder]

are you getting a draft? try putting up wind blocks that would keep any wind from blowing on your weld zone. turn your gas up to at least fifteen and make sure that everything is tight on your torch. put your ear up to the torch and listen for gas to come out or the cup. sharpen your tungsten to a nice sharp point and take all the stuff off of the metal where it is going to be welded even though i dont think that the mill scale is your problem.. right off the bat i thought that you arent getting enough gas to your weld puddle. also where are you dipping your rod from? sometimes tht will make a difference too. just keep playing with it till you get it to run good welds every time

[boost freak]

i had wieler come out to my shop and look at my machine and he couldnt figure it out?? the only thing left i can think of is that maybe my grinder wheel is making the tugsten weld like ****. they said there going to come out one more time and if not then to send my machine offf

[boost freak]

so they came out for the second time and they still couldnt figure it out.

[Aeroweld]

Did you just put on a "fresh" bottle of gas? If so it could be contaminated Argon or maybe a mix bottle by accident or mislabeled.

[boost freak]

its the right bottle. still waiting on them to come out one more time suposnly..