Syncrowave 200 setup

[71TigWilly]

200 sychrowave

I tig weld all day for a living for the past 14 years. I can tell you that stay the polarity your on . And try using a smaller filler wire such as .035 wire insted of 1/16th. But since your doing gage material your amps should be around 30 to 40 if you have a foot control leave were you have it. But I have purchased the same welder for at home it's great.

Check out the pulse feature on the maching it is used for sheet metal welding . What does this do? This will take your amps and give a hi and low heat on and off in seconds were you can adjust the seconds for your discretion. See Manual on setting the pulse. That should really help alot for sheet metal work. Because its not a constant heat all the time.

Your sheilding gas should be around 25-30 you can also preset the postflow on your machine to shield after you stop welding. See manual on how to set post and preflow settings.

Tungsten your using I would keep on using it. And never dip it in the puddle always keep it clean, makes for a cleaner weld and better arc performance. Always sharpen it like a sphere.

Hope this helps you and good luck!!!

[Norhumboldt]

If you're burning through the base metal before the filler melts, use a smaller filler. For 22ga steel, I use .035 or .040 ER70S-2, or -6 if I cannot get the -2. I also keep on hand mig wire in the composition I need in .035, and cut off a piece, straighten it a bit, and clean it well. It will melt at the amperage you need to use for the 22ga; I too have a 200, and set it at 50 amps. I use most of the pedal for tacks, and then about half to three quarters pedal travel once I am going. If you're using pulse, just find a pps that gives you a bead appearance you are happy with and stick with it.

It might take a bit of practice to get used to handling the smaller wire, but it's worth the effort. I also use gas lenses exclusively these days. The cost is low, and the gas savings are tremendous. I can easily run as low as 4 or 5cfh on carbon and stainless, and for titanium I use a Monster Lens with a bit more flow. I highly recommend investing in some. Since switching to gas lenses, I've cut my gas usage and cost by more than half.

Hope it helps. I really love my 200. Yup, someday a Dynasty will be in the shop, and the 200 will pay for it (and will stay).

[R DOGG]

Thanks for the advice. TDKKART, that project trike is sick cool! I own 7 bikes right now, 5 dirt and two street, but the project I am working on right now is a 74 Challenger. So far I have replaced just about every weldable panel for sale by the a/m and fabricated a lot that were not available. I will attempt to post photos of this vehicle later. I have been using the mig the last few days due to not knowing what to do with this tig. I am off to the welding store right now to go buy some .30 wire. Thanks again.

[tdkkart]

I took a couple peeks at the amps display today while I was actually welding, it appears that I'm running at 35-40 amps on 18ga the majority of the time. Obviously a bit more or less depending on the situation.

When starting the bead don't go directly to WFO on the pedal, ease into it and watch the puddle form. Try dabbing the wire in and see what it does. At first the heat of the arc will cause a ball to drop off the wire, increase the amps to the point where you start to see a puddle then just a bit more. If the ball that dropped is close enough it will suddenly jump into the puddle and you're on your way. As I said above, if you've got a tight seam you may not need any more filler, the heat will draw the 2 sides of the puddle together till they fuse. Just keep moving the arc slowly along the seam.

Also, when welding patch panels where you're welding old steel to new steel, make every effort to get the back side of the seam clean, anything that's on the backside will draw towards the heat and contaminate your weld. If you're seeing any "sparklers" popping up in your puddle you've got contamination from somewhere, in many cases it will blow holes in your weld.

TIG is all about controlling the heat and using it to control the puddle, learn to control the puddle and you'll have it.

Tom

[arc]

thats what i was trying to say in too little of words.

[tdkkart]

I'm in the middle of a project that involves about 25ft of bead in 18ga with my SD180. I've only got about 6weeks experience with TIG so take my words with a grain.

A couple things:
DCEN is refered to as "straight polarity", and what you should be running.

I'd turn down the gas flow a bit, too much will cool the puddle and make it hard to control. Back off to about 12-15cfh.

50A is what I've got my machine set for, and I'm not using all of it. Assuming you've got a pedal back off a bit, and continue to back off as you weld. The further you weld the more preheat is in the metal.

Not having any actual small tig wire on hand I've been using .030 mig wire, seems to work fine. Also, if you're gonna be bondo'ing these patches in you don't need a tall bead so you can probably get by using almost no filler.

Are you sharpening your tungsen by going around it, or lenghtwise?? Although there's little difference in appearance, there's alot of difference in performance by sharpening it lengthwise.

Put a copper backer behind the weld if possible.

Watch your puddle, if it gets too big the hole is coming, double back a bit till it cools or back off the peddle and get ready with the filler. if you get a hole no big deal, go back and fill it later.

Tom

P.S. here's what I'm building, check back in a few days I should have pics of the
fenders I'm welding from the 18ga:

http://www1.cedar-rapids.net/tdkmotor/trikebuild/trikebuild.html

[arc]

hey no problem sorry if i didn't help much its hard to help with out seeing what is going on with the machine.

[R DOGG]

I replied twice because my reply from yesterday was not showing up until a minutte ago. Thanks for the help and I will not give up until I can weld with this thing.

[R DOGG]

I am not sure what you mean by straight pol. Yes I am sharpening the tungsten with a brand new Menards Toolshop bench grinder with a fine stone wheel. I do understand that I will need a lot of practice. Those hot rod tv shows make it look real easy.

[arc]

sorry i got all mixed up before it is dcen not dcep, dcep will not work.

[arc]

sorry yes i did that is the only polarity that the tungstan will work right on.
you should have no problems with the set up that u described that is what i use
every day. u might need to find smaller filler metal but i dont know if there is any smaller. tig is a very tricky thing and it takes a lot of practice to fine tune the puddle on metal that thin but just keep at it or may be find a local course at a collage it can be a huge help. but your set up sounds good it might be the machine i have had problems with brand new tigs before and it was just a lemon call you dealer and get them to come take a look at it. thats all i can think of.

[R DOGG]

Yes I am sharpening the tungsten on a new fine grit grinding wheel. I am not sure I understand what you mean "straight pol". Do you mean dcen?

[arc]

with tig u have to run strait pol. on ferrous material and are u sharpening your tungstan to a point it will work much better sharp. running dcep will not burn up your tungstan and make sure your stick out is no more than 1/4 in.

[R DOGG]

I have just purchaced a Syncrowave 200 and have some problems. I am brand new to tig welding but I am a certified mig welder with 23 years experience. I primarily am welding patches on cars with 18 guage to 22 guage steel. I am using a 1/16" red tungsten thorium electrode in dcen. Using 1/16" ER70S2 welding rod. Amps set at 50, argon gas with 20 lbs at the regulator. My problem is I am burning through the work piece sometimes before I can get the welding rod to melt and am having problems getting the weld puddle to flow. So far I have much better luck not burning through the workpiece with my Miller mig welder. I purchaced this tig for more control over burn through and panel distortion, but am not able to achieve this. I have tried the PPS from 10 to 1.5 with no luck. My vendor told me to try welding in dcep, but wont this burn up the electrode prematurely? Any help would be greatly appreciated.