Aluminum snap, crackle, pop?

By ww_kayak Date 09-22-2005 13:05

OK, I know this is a loaded, and often asked, question, but... I'm trying out my new Thermal Arc Pro-Wave 185TSW inverter based TIG. I'm a noob, but I took a class last year, and was actually pretty good at tigging aluminum. Now, I can't even get a slight puddle to form :-( I'm just getting alot of popping, and splatter. I assumed electrode or surface contamination, but cleaning those up has made no difference? There is alot of black speckled craters and a yellowish powder on the surface. The arc doesn't seem to wander too much, but it is flared out( 1/16" out to 1/8" or more at the surface)

1/8" aluminum plate ( in fact, it's same plate that had some real nice welds on already)
150 Amps( foot control)
80 Hz freq.
20% on the wave form?
3/32 pure tungsten with rounded tip
#6 cup
15 CFH argon

Suggestions? Trouble shooting techniques?

Thanks

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 09-22-2005 13:21

Not sure why you posted a technical question on the "for sale" board, but ok.

The yellow dusty stuff indicates you are consuming your tungsten electrode. Most often this is a sign of contaminated gas or no gas.

Recheck all connections and flow.

Recheck bottle to make sure you actually have pure argon.

By ww_kayak Date 09-22-2005 13:44

LOL, I have no idea either?

Thanks

By acs welding Date 10-28-2005 13:00

you should run 20 psi on aragon and hes right sounds like u have no gas flow !!! are you on ac?

By srw2506 (*)

Date 11-14-2005 20:36

Argon gas,20-35 cfh,pure tungston(green band),balled on end with reverse polarity,clean metal and filler metal,welder set on AC,high frequency continuous.