New to Tig????

Date 11-19-2008 06:37

Hello Brian, two things for consideration with the information you have supplied thus far. I am thinking you are referring to welding aluminum/magnesium possibly? First off what diameter of tungsten are you using and what thickness and amperage range are you welding on? You may need to increase the diameter of the tungsten providing you don't have other machine adjustments that need to be looked at. Next, go through your instruction manual and determine the proper way to adjust the arc balance control, it is likely that you are running with the balance too far to the cleaning side of the setting. Try moving this adjustment towards the penetration side little by little, you should notice an improvement in the condition that you have mentioned. Others will likely have suggestions to stay tuned. Enjoy your machine and best regards, Allan

By Brian T. Beard (**)

Date 11-19-2008 06:40

I am welding stainless with 308 filler, 3/32 tung., 135 amp, 3x3x1/8 square tubing. It looks to be penatrating very good.

By Brian T. Beard (**)

Date 11-19-2008 06:43

Settings are as follows: dc, tig lift arc, rmt std

By aevald

Date 11-19-2008 06:53

Hello again Brian, from the information you have supplied it is unusual to have an issue with the tungsten end "balling", especially considering the use of DC current and welding on SS. Please forgive my next question if you already are aware of this, but are you using DCEN current or DCSP? You should be on DCEN, meaning that the torch is plugged into the - terminal and the ground is positive. If not, it is very common for the end of the tungsten to have issues with "balling", considering that on the older transformer/rectifier machines one of the ways to "ball" the tungsten when welding was being done on aluminum was to apply DC reverse polarity current to prepare the tungsten end for this type of welding. So take a look at the connection and be sure that you are operating on DCEN. Best regards, Allan

By Brian T. Beard (**)

Date 11-19-2008 06:59

How far away from your work to the tip? How far should the tip be out of the cup?

By aevald

Date 11-19-2008 07:15

Hello again Brian, you will likely receive many different suggestions for answering those questions, so I can only tell you how I approach the torch set-up. If I am performing welding on a seam where the welding joint is a butt weld or possibly even a lap, I will extend the tungsten out past the edge of the cup approximately 1/4". If I am performing a fillet weld I will extend it out anywhere from 1/2" to ? depending upon the angle of the pieces making up the fillet. The reason for my answer with the question mark has to do with acute angle fillets such as the Y portion of a pipe fit-up or similar type of weld joint. In all cases I try to keep a really short tungsten to work distance, the only exceptions here would be when I am welding aluminum/magnesium/pot-metal materials. You will probably experience less arc wander if you can keep this distance to a minimum, here again this suggestion is aimed towards the DCEN welding. AC has much more allowance for this sort of thing. If you have an opportunity take a look at Miller's website, they really have some excellent suggestions for using your particular machine and any others for that matter. www.millerwelds.com is the site and you will find quite a bit of really great information there through some of the links. Best regards, Allan

By Brian T. Beard (**)

Date 11-19-2008 07:25

Thanks for your help. Seems like I need a little more getting used to. Have a good night and god bless!!!

By sbcmweb (****)

Date 11-19-2008 18:12

Miller usually recommends 2% Ceriated Tungsten with the Dynasty inverters. That may be the issue if you are using something else. You do not have to change kinds of tungstens, it does AC & DC with one.

Good luck. S.W.

By rlitman (***)

Date 11-19-2008 16:51 Edited 11-19-2008 19:49

My first guess (and probably your most likely problem):
Are you aware that on the Dynasty 200DX, the machine automatically switches the polarity of the Dinse connectors, when you switch processes between stick and TIG. Your ground should always be connected to the left side, and your torch (or stinger for SMAW) should be connected to the right side (the side where the gas comes out).
I say this, because I routinely use 1/16" tungstens (that's 1/3 smaller than what you're using) up to 135A DC (which is pretty much as far as you can push them), and still do not get balling, but if your polarity is reversed, you will have severe balling problems.

Are you using helium as your shielding gas? It runs much hotter than argon.

When you say 2%, that is 2% what? I ask, because zirconated tungsten is meant for AC aluminum use, and is supposed to ball.

By Brian T. Beard (**)

Date 11-19-2008 22:32

I am using argon as a sheilding gas and using red band tungsten(can't remember the spelling LOL). Is helium better than argon? Also as I have this machine hooked up to my Trailblazer 302 and I am outside so I am running my gas pressure at about 25 psi( for wind purposes, not heavy but still there). Polarity is not reversed. I ran some this morning and it is like it is picking up the filler metal, cause I can see sometimes thru the process that the tungsten will clear up for a little bit then just go back to balling. It could be that I am just getting to close to the work, I try to stay around 1/4" to 3/8" away from the weld.

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 11-20-2008 02:44

You might be getting a drop of the stainless on the tip of the tungsten. This happens if You get the filler rod against the tungsten or if You dip it into the weld puddle. If this is the case, You need to grind off all the steel and re dress the end of the tungsten.

The red band is thoriated tungsten, an old standby, but not the best available for use with an inverter.

By rlitman (***)

Date 11-20-2008 18:14

I wasn't suggesting Helium (its probably a very bad choice too), just saying that for a given tungsten size and current, if you were using helium, you would be more likely to overheat the tungsten.

It sounds more like you're getting contamination. Touching the tungsten to the filler or dipping in the puddle could do that (done that one a million times).
A workpiece or filler that aren't clean enough can cause the puddle to bubble, and splash.

The tungsten will cling to the molten metal like a drop of oil hanging from a needle, except you can't shake or wipe it off.

A picture of the affected tungsten would clear this up.