Post a pic up of your best welds

[RESON8]

The nopics gave me a ac pulse tig for my birthday, i have only ever used a mig before so I think I have some learning to do.
Main use will be alloy welding catch can etc but i also want to be able to use it for stainless and when I want a pretty weld on mild steel. For the shielding gas i see people recommending argon/helium mix for alloy can i get away also using this on stainless and mild? I was hoping to get away with only one more bottle.

[afraid]

I just use argon for everything. I only change tungsten and cup to suit the material I'm welding.

[Commotion]

Just use argon. I had a helium argon mix which sat for over a year unused. Went to use it recently and it looks like it went off. swapped it back over to the argon bottle which was same age and it was fine. Took it back and yet to hear the verdict. I didn't see a big enough difference to warrant it anyway.

[no1200]

nice work, some hours in that

[RESON8]

I had a go with the tig on the weekend, i could run a bead on steel but no hope on aluminium. Any pointers for the basics i.e. tungsten colour and cap size. I was using a white 1.6mm with a #6 cup around 90amps peak on 1.3mm sheet. With a lincoln powercraft 201ac/dc pulse invertor. Looks like the white tip might not be recommended for an invertor tig, i also have red purple and grey. Do i need a ball on the tip or just a sharp tip?

[Billzilla]

I had a go with the tig on the weekend, i could run a bead on steel but no hope on aluminium. Any pointers for the basics i.e. tungsten colour and cap size. I was using a white 1.6mm with a #6 cup around 90amps peak on 1.3mm sheet. With a lincoln powercraft 201ac/dc pulse invertor. Looks like the white tip might not be recommended for an invertor tig, i also have red purple and grey. Do i need a ball on the tip or just a sharp tip?

A 2.4 mm white (lanthinated) tunsten, ball end.

[GHZ28]

When I was at college last year we used Grey/Ceriated for steel/Stainless and Aluminium.

At home I have White/Zirconiated that I initially got for Aluminium, 2.4mm for the current capacity.
If you have AC balance you will want it set somewhere around 30-35% or 65-70% depending on which
way your balance control works. The wrong way will see the tungsten vapourise quickly so you will know
its wrong!

I now use Grey/Ceriated or Blue/ 2% Lanthanated for everything, as they both work well and can be
used with a ground point on Aluminium for finer arc control. For Ally AC frequency of 100-120 is nice,
higher for narrower arc.

Beware buying tungsten on Ebay, some sellers use the American "color" standards. 2% Lanthanated
is harder to get here in Aus, 1.5% seems to be more common, but not quite as good IMHO. So be
sure to specify name and percentage not a colour band.

[Billzilla]

When I was at college last year we used Grey/Ceriated for steel/Stainless and Aluminium.

At home I have White/Zirconiated that I initially got for Aluminium, 2.4mm for the current capacity.
If you have AC balance you will want it set somewhere around 30-35% or 65-70% depending on which
way your balance control works. The wrong way will see the tungsten vapourise quickly so you will know
its wrong!

I now use Grey/Ceriated or Blue/ 2% Lanthanated for everything, as they both work well and can be
used with a ground point on Aluminium for finer arc control. For Ally AC frequency of 100-120 is nice,
higher for narrower arc.

Beware buying tungsten on Ebay, some sellers use the American "color" standards. 2% Lanthanated
is harder to get here in Aus, 1.5% seems to be more common, but not quite as good IMHO. So be
sure to specify name and percentage not a colour band.

Better advice - I think I got the name of the tungsten wrong sorry. It's still a white tip you need though.

[Ben.]

Red = thoriated, for steel and stainless, white is zirconated for aluminium, from memory purple is Lanthinated, can do both, and is the best 'all rounder'.

[GHZ28]

Hi Bill, you are right, White/Zirconiated is/was the go to for Aluminium, especially
with transformer machines. With the advent of more and more cheap inverter machines
many in the industry are moving to 2% Ceriated/Lanthanated tungstens. It may just be
a fad, it may just be placebo effect but there is a definite move.

Zirconiated will ball with AC, so you get the traditional arc. Ceriated and Lanthanated
will actually hold a point, well truncated cone actually (I tend to just grind the point off)
and provide a tighter arc. Horses for courses.

[GHZ28]

I had a go with the tig on the weekend, i could run a bead on steel but no hope on aluminium. Any pointers for the basics i.e. tungsten colour and cap size. I was using a white 1.6mm with a #6 cup around 90amps peak on 1.3mm sheet. With a lincoln powercraft 201ac/dc pulse invertor. Looks like the white tip might not be recommended for an invertor tig, i also have red purple and grey. Do i need a ball on the tip or just a sharp tip?

For a good starting point, download the Miller Weld Settings or Lincoln Electric Welding Parameters apps, pretty sure both are available for iOS and Android. They give recommendations for gas, gas flow, tungsten and amps for TIG/MIG etc.

For gas flow, if in cfh divide by 2 for l/min and for MIG wire feed divide inches/min by 40 for m/min. Both close enough to get you well inside the ballpark.

As I said in another post, 2% Ceriated and 2% Lanthanated are the go to at the moment for steel/stainless and aluminium with inverter machines.
2% Lanthanated is blue, but hard to get here, 1.5% is gold band. I just use 2% Ceriated because its cheapish and readily available, and, its what
I learnt with at college and is not a bad compromise. But you will want 2.4mm for aluminium and 1.6mm for most steel work.

[Commotion]

I have read that these ones are supposed to be real flash but yet to try them. I still have packets of white and red electrodes to get through first.
http://www.e3tungsten.com/

[Ben Wilson]

After running out of white, I've been using red for years on aluminium. As long as you grind them nice and smooth, they seem to work fine.

[cracka]

R-S-T go together in alphabet. Red - Stainless - Thoriated.
A-W-Z are eat each end of alphabet. Aluminium - White - Zirconiated.

How I always remember.

[krisr]

I get 2% lanthanated tungstens from some ebay joint in WA without too much drama. Just buy a pack of 10 in 1.6 and 2.4 and not worry about them again. I use lanthanated rods for both steel and aluminium. Just give them a quick tickle on the grinder before switching metals and switch the machine between AC and DC for whatever you're welding and you're good to go.