A look back at this weekend tig welds

[fun4now]

congrats on getting off to a good start. dont be in too big of a hurry to atempt aluminum, you dont want to get re-discuraged.
i find it best to set the welder so full peddle will just blow threw, that way i am usualy about 1/2-3/4 peddle in that range. best to kep it hot and as fast as you can progress wile maintaining controle. i'm still fairly new to TIG but with a good O/A background i am off to a good start. and have moved on to useable aluminum welds, still need a lil work on apearence though. but that will come with time, i just keep at it when i get a chance.

[Samurai Dave]

TIG welding can be your friend

That is great! Finding the right combination of factors to FINALLY get the metal to behave is exciting. I too have learned how to fine-tune my TIG technique by following some of the sage advice on this forum.

Next to observing others weld, reading advice is the next best thing. Though first-hand observation is best, it doesn't always follow that the welder being observed is open to being questioned about their technique. (Some hold their cards close to the vest, since they don't need the competition from another welder in town.)

The folks on this forum are very willing to share advice. Sift through the advice and try the ones that seem reasonable. Even try a few that seem uunusual, just to see if they work. (I've been pleasantly surprised a few times.) Some of equipment or accessories mentioned is new to me and I have purchased, or put on my short-list for future purchases.

[Bart]

I bought a synchrowave 180 a couple of years ago and when I find some time to step away from my growing family I have made attempts to learn how to TIG on steal. I haven't had much luck until this weekend, I think I finally broke through some problems I have been having with my welds. Before I get to far into what I learned this last weekend, I first want to say thankyou to everyone on this forum, it was all threads that I have been reading that helped to reinforce the procedures I should follow when tig welding.

While in the past, I have been slowly making improvements in my metal prep of the joints before I weld, this weekend I stop looking for the happy medium that would give me good results. I read a couple of threads where people stated that your work space and metal had to as clean as if you were painting. I also found out that some of you don't recommend brake clean as a surface prep. So I stepped into my garage and sanded down my work surface and metal so it was spot less. Then hit both with PPG Wax and Grease remover. I started to lay down some welds and could see a big difference in the way my arc looked. I finally felt like I had control over where I wanted the heat to go. One problem I still was having though was the heat saturation of the metal I was working with. After the weld was done, you could see metal blued in a large area around the weld. Not close and consintrated around the weld. What I eventually found is I was coming on to slowly with the pedal. So I soaking the metal for too long. I started coming on with the pedal a little fast and thats when the fun really started. I was getting a nice little pool going. I also started to find the filler rod would start to liquify and be drawn towards the pool, instead of me having to force the filler into the pool. While my welds aren't was pretty as many of you can do, I think I finally got the basic down. Now I can start consintrating on getting a rythem with the torch to get consitant welds that are straight.

I'm so excited I'm finally starting to get a grasp of TIG welding. I was really worried I was going to invest in a synchrowave and end up never making any progress in learning tig. Now that I feel comfortable with steal, next step is learing aluminum.

THANKS