Hello 52lincoln, as the others mentioned, when the polarity is set correctly you will likely have a very nice, quiet, smooth arc coming off of the electrode end of your tig torch. If you get it wrong, the tungsten will appear to burn-up and ball on the end almost instantly(tungsten diameter and amperage might also play a part here, need to have a large enough diameter tungsten to handle a particular amperage setting). Pay attention to the type of tungsten as well. Pure tungsten will not work with your set-up. 2% thoriated is common, yet other types are possibly suggested based on a bit of radioactivity associated with the grinding dust that comes off of the thoriated tungsten as well as amperage handling of other types of tungsten. Check out the search function of the forum and you will find out a host of information to help you with starting techniques, settings, grind profiles for the end of the tungsten, selection of diameters for particular applications, and a lot of other information to help you to get the most out of a scratch start, air cooled tig rig. Even though scratch start tig is a relatively basic and simple tig application you can do many things to improve your quality, speed, and consistency. Good luck and keep us all posted. Hope some of this helps as well. Best regards, Allan