NOOB Question: Aluminum + 2% Ceriated Tungsten

[diyengineer]

Hey i have a syncrowave 200. Practicing on some .125" 6061-t6 aluminum.

I need to know how to prepare my tip. I heard ball it, and then i heard grind it to point...

Which way is correct?

Also how many AC amps should i be using just to practice the basics without filler rod. I would like to get the motion down before throwing in the rod..

help please.

Thanks.

[diyengineer]

I sharpen it to a point on my grinder, and the arc seems to be more "concentrated" then leaving it flat and trying to ball it, which usually results in not a ball, more like tungsten melting and leaning one way...

I prepared the aluminum with a copper brush to remove any oxidation and then cleaned it with 99% alcohol to remove grease..

I will upload pictures in a minute of my first failed attempts. lol

[diyengineer]

What does this mean below? crap maybe im making the tungsten ball incorrectly, im leaving it on AC and striking an arc and it just melts all crazy.. FML

"With 2% thoriated tungstens the power source should be set for DCEP to create the ball and AC to weld."

I tried a few different tips grinds and im pretty sure im doing something wrong here lol...

This is without filler rod btw. the guy @ the welding shop suggested i use 4043 and its 3/32"... (thats what i bought). Just trying to get the motion down before i even throw that into the mix.

[diyengineer]

By the looks of it, my tungsten tip is no where near pointed enough. This picture i found looks like a weapon!! Mine when it was sharpened looked more like a damn stubby pencil...!

I'm charging up my phone and i will attempt to take a video. Hopefully my insanely messed up tip is the cause of all my troubles.

[mactec54]

diyenginee

The tungsen should be like the one in the photo,ground to a sharp point

[diyengineer]

diyenginee

The tungsen should be like the one in the photo,ground to a sharp point

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF6_3fl9tec"]YouTube - Miller Syncrowave 200 No filler Sound check.[/nomedia]

Check this out. Sharper tip. Seemed better then the last try. It seems to wear own extremely fast though, losing its tip formation.. I am giving it 100% on the pedal, and not pulsing it.

[diyengineer]

WOW... Whoever engineered the collet in my torch needs to be shot.

You can install it backwards.. Then it blocks the flow of argon 100% resulting in a crazy arc coming out of the tig that would remind you of a stick welder.. Fixed it and now it works like a champ!!

[bobsch]

Did you pull your video? I get a "This video has been removed by the user." error.

[diyengineer]

Yes i pulled the video, it was that bad. haha.. I posted a new thread "my first tig welding bead" check it out.

[snoeproe]

When welding aluminum it is best to have a ball on the end of your tungsten. That spreads out your arc as aluminum is more of a heat sink than steel of comprable size thickness.
Pure tungsten (green band) is mostly used for tig welding aluminum. It will ball very easily with DC, then use AC to weld with it.
When welding steel or stainless steel you want to use Ceriated or Thoriated tungsten with a sharpened tip.

[diyengineer]

Miller recommends 2% orange (ceriated) band sharpened to a point in all there new tig machines. It's on there website, in my manual, and the prax air guy says thats what they have been selling a lot of with the new millers. I guess there is more than one way to do it though, i will have to pick up some pure tungsten and ball it and see how i like it. So far i have been getting really good results with the 2% @ a point. Like you suggested i found about 1/2 of the other welders use the balled method as well. I check it out!

[pinjas]

I've gone over this thread, a lot of misinformation and lack of knowledge here.

First, it is -always- better to have a pointed tip. Don't take the phrase pointed too literally though. I usually put a flat on the end of the tungsten.
The second post in this thread showed what looks like an argon problem for sure. The first thing I'd do is tap the pedal and blow a little post flow argon onto my skin, be sure you can feel it. Check the flow rate. I'd aim for 10-15 CFM, there is such a thing as too high and too low, I'd imagine this is too low, but I can't be too sure.
There is a lot of various opinions when it comes to the best tungsten for a squarewave machine, I'd go with lanthanted 2% myself, but ceriated is probably fine as well. It looks like you've figured most of that out, but I don't really know for sure.

It was mentioned that balling the end of the tungsten is better by 'snoeproe'. I've got an older TIG machine, transformer style, nothing special about it. Zirconiated and pure works best with older transformer machines, balling occurs naturally, but you do not -want- balling, trust me on this. What snoeproe mentioned couldn't be further from the truth, the purpose of welding is to join two pieces of metal at a seam or a joint. The tighter the arc, the better. A ball at the end of the tungsten creates a very wide arc, this isn't good.
If you can keep a point to some extent, that is good, go with that. You do not want a tip as the literal sense goes, at the amperage you are welding at, probably somewhere between 120-150, the tip of the tungsten may melt off and fall into the puddle if the tip is like a pencil tip. You want to grind the tungsten to a fairly long taper ( I wish I knew how to tell you how long ) and then grind down the tip a bit so there is a flat at the end.
I would not use pure tungsten on any machine with squarewave, I would use lanthanated. Remember, a tight arc is good.