Welding Resources and Tips

Modifications for Your TIG Welding Set Up

Some TIG welders or multi-process welders don’t offer the full range of options that you could need for a TIG welding project. For example, if you need to weld aluminum, AC will be a necessity for a TIG welder.

If you own a TIG welder with a wider range of options, you need to know how to use them best without blowing a hole in your work piece or running a crooked weld bead. Here are some tips for modifying your TIG welding set up.

Choosing the Right Cup Size for TIG Welding

There are a lot of myths out there about how to pick your TIG cup. For example, some welders believe you need to choose the TIG cup based on size of your electrode, but that isn’t necessarily true. The most important part about choosing a cup is understanding how much space you’ll need on your pass. As you walk the cup, the right size will make it much easier to focus your arc.

For a more narrow root pass, you’ll need a smaller cup for the narrow weld joint. If you’re welding further out on a  wider part of the weld joint, you’ll need to use a wider cup to keep the arc focused on the right part of the weld joint without getting the cup in the way.

TIG Weld with a Higher Frequency

Some TIG welder inverters offer the option to adjust your AC frequency, which can really focus your arc. However, taking your frequency too high could really mess up your weld if you don’t have a high quality tungsten. Here are a few tips for jacking up your frequency:

For starters, you can crank up your frequency to 50 hz to just get a more focused arc in the weld puddle. In order to build up a fragile part, you can bump that up to 60 hz without letting things get too lively with your arc.

If you’re working on a tight edge, turn it up to 100 hz to get a higher degree of accuracy with your weld. Most welders rarely take their frequency over 150 hz for finer work.  Once you get close to 400 hz, your arc and tungsten could become a bit unpredictable and you could do some serious damage to your work piece.

Welding in the 100-150 hz ballpark will serve you particularly well if you need to get some deep penetration in a smaller weld joint. If you’re dealing with a T-joint, you’ll especially need a focused arc that will get sufficient penetration into the metal.

Besides focusing your arc at a higher frequency, you can also improve your travel speed a bit. Just make sure you’re ready to pump some serious wire into the weld puddle when you get the weld puddle moving.

TIG Welding with a Foot Pedal

One of the most popular modifications for a TIG welding set up is a foot pedal that allows you to control your amperage without having to take your hand off your torch or redirect your attention as you weld.

Sometimes the standard foot pedal that comes with a TIG welding machine will not give you enough control over your welder’s settings, so if you haven’t had success with a foot pedal in the past, don’t rule out picking up a higher quality pedal that will be more sensitive and easier to use.

Learn More about TIG Welders and TIG Welding Supplies

Visit the TIG welding page at Baker’s Gas and Welding.

 

Get Started with MIG Welding This Spring

With all of the MIG welders on sale at Baker’s Gas and Welding this Spring, now is the perfect time to learn about MIG welding machines, set up your MIG welder in the garage, and strike an arc. However, before you get to work, you’ll want to learn some basic MIG welding techniques. Here is a run down of some essential MIG welding tips that will help you get started when you strike your arc.

Perfect Your Wire Speed

Running your wire too slow through a MIG welder will leave your weld weak since it won’t have enough filler metal and the arc will be erratic. You’ll have a much harder time getting your travel speed right if your MIG welder torch is jumping and bouncing around while you weld.

However, if the wire speed is too fast, you’ll have sparks and a big messy weld puddle that will be extremely hard to control. The sound of the welder will be much louder when compared to the gradual hiss that you would expect when the wire speed is correct. Some welders compare the sound of the correct wire speed and amperage to the sizzle of bacon frying.

Don’t Forget the Shielding Gas

Shielding gas will keep your weld free from contaminants and will keep your arc running smooth. You can pick up flux cored MIG wire if you’d rather not mess with shielding gas, but don’t try MIG welding without a way to keep your weld puddle clean.

Ground Your Welder

If you can’t get your MIG welder to run smooth, your problem could come from your grounding clamp and not necessarily any of your settings. A solid ground will keep your arc from jumping or spattering while you weld.

Don’t Skimp on Safety Preparation

Welding will send sparks and chunks of metal into the air. Always wear clothing that is either flame resistant or at least clothing that is cotton that won’t catch fire like synthetic clothing. A welding helmet will be essential for protecting yourself from heat and sparks, and if you want to cut or grind your metal before striking your arc, you can pick up an auto-darkening helmet that will make it significantly easier to prep your metal on grind mode before striking your arc and engaging the shade on your helmet.

MIG welding gloves are also essential for safely welding since the heat and sparks could damage your hands, as well as protecting your hands from ultraviolet light beams.

Keep a Steady Travel Speed

If you’re new to welding, it will be especially hard to keep a steady, and straight travel speed while you weld. You’ll have enough things to keep track of while you work that you’ll have to think of ways to keep your travel speed steady and your MIG torch zeroed in on the weld joint without drifting out of it.

The best way to start is by using a simple motion with your torch as you weld. Welders recommend moving the torch in a slight circular motion or a kind of back and forth motion that overlaps. Doing this effectively may require propping your torch slightly with your thumb or free hand depending on the relation of your metal work piece to your welding table.

Don’t Be Afraid to Run a Little Hot

You’ll find amperage setting instructions on the inside of your MIG welder’s cover, and they will help you figure out the best amperage, shielding gas, and wire speed that matches your metal type and metal thickness. However, you’ll usually have to tweak your settings. In fact, welders tend to run better if you can keep the amperage a little hot. That doesn’t mean you should really crank it up—that will just leave you with a mess.

However, a tight arc and a hot amperage will make it possible to create strong welds in a shorter amount of time. If you do run your welder too hot, you’ll notice that the arc and weld puddle will be hard to control, so you’ll need to keep an eye on that. You don’t want to end up with a sloppy weld. However, when it comes to creating a strong weld, a little extra heat will go a long way.

Learn more about MIG welders on sale at Baker’s Gas and Welding.

Check out the MIG Welder buying guide.

Increase Productivity by Adjusting the Pulse Feature on your TIG welder

Today’s TIG welding guest post comes from Andrew Pfaller of Miller Electric:

There are proper tools designed for every job to prevent damage and to increase ease of productivity throughout the task at hand. When you are not appropriately equipped for a particular job, it can make it very hard to complete the job successfully.

It can be even more frustrating to have the correct tools, but lack the knowledge or experience to utilize these tools properly. One particular tool that comes to mind is the pulse feature on welding machines.

When utilizing the pulse feature on the Miller Maxstar^® or Dynasty^® TIG welders, there are several variables to adjust that can yield significant benefits.

• Pulses Per Second [PPS] – This variable is the number of times the machine switches from a high to low amperage each second. Often times it is referred to as the pulse frequency.
• Peak Time [Peak t] – Peak Time is the percent of the pulse cycle spent in the high or peak amperage
• Background Amperage [BKGND A] – During the low amperage portion of the pulse, this variable sets the amperage as percent or ratio of the peak amperage.

A frequency at the lower end of the available spectrum can be used as a training tool for beginners when they desire to weld thinner materials. Common settings for this type of application would be:

• 0.5 Pulses Per Second
• 40-60 percent Peak Time
• 25 percent Background Amperage.

The addition of filler material at each higher amperage pulse will help melt the filler. Having a visual aid denoting when to add the filler material enables even a novice to achieve the “stacked dimes” appearance. Furthermore, by reducing the heat input for a portion of the weld, an operator has more forgiveness to reposition or progress the torch forward.

Adjusting the Pulses Per Second provides the most visible change to the weld operator. For a majority of applications, a good starting point for the pulse variables is:

• 120 Pulses Per Second
• 40 percent Peak Time
• 25 percent Background Amperage

By increasing the Pulses Per Second, one should quickly note a tighter arc cone. Increasing this frequency can result in better directional control, a smaller weld puddle, and increased penetration. With the proper settings of these variables, the pulse feature can increase weld quality, weld penetration, and travel speed – all of which translate into increased productivity.

Weld strong and live long.

Learn more about TIG welders at Baker’s Gas and Welding

About Today’s Guest Blogger

Andrew Pfaller
Product Manager/Weld Engineer
Miller Electric TIG Division

Andrew Pfaller is a product manager for the TIG Division at Miller Electric Mfg. Co. He was formerly a weld engineer and has a degree in Welding Engineering Technology from Ferris State University.

MIG Welding Wire Feed Troubleshooting

Today’s guest post is by Ben Romenesko of Miller Electric.

Do wire feed troubles with your MIG welder ever leave you frustrated? Burn back, wire slipping, birdsnests... These are just a couple common problems customers call us about. The wire feed system is vital to successfully getting your MIG welder to perform.

Today I’ll walk you through the key components in the wire feed system so you know what to look for in each component.

Spool Hub

The first place you’re going to want to look at is the source of your wire: the spool hub. The inner spring on your spool hub sets the brake tension on your spool of wire. The intent is to prevent the spool from over-spooling when the wire stops feeding, but there is a fine line between over-spooling and over-tensioning the spool. I like to optimize the brake tension by turning the wire feed speed to its max and then cycling the trigger with at least 6” of run out. The spool should coast so the first loop of wire just starts to loosen on the spool. A general factory setting is having the tension nut flush with the end of the threads, but each hub is slightly different. Be sure that when putting a spool in the machine the loose end of the wire is not fed through any of the other loops. This will cause feeding problems.

 

Wire Drive

The second place to look for wire feed problems is the wire drive. There are two main adjustments at the wire drive; the drive roll groove and the drive roll tension. First, you’ll want to check to be sure the diameter of weld wire matches the drive roll groove you’re using. Be sure to use a knurled roll for flux core welding and a V-groove roll for steel. The knurled groove provides more traction on the softer flux cored wire so the drive doesn’t crush the wire. A knurled groove will provide more traction on solid wire, but it will also plug the gun liner much faster as well so we don’t recommend it on solid wire.

The other component of the wire drive is the drive roll tension. This is adjusted with the numbered tension knob seen in the picture. More tension is not always the best. Cranking down the tension all the way deforms the wire, causes shaving that plugs your gun liner, and allows the drive to birdsnest. Not enough tension will cause wire to slip in the drive rolls and result in inconsistent wire feed speed. Under the hood, it will look like the arc is pulsing. Here is a brief video that goes through the proper way to set your drive tension.

 

MIG Gun

The final component of the system is the MIG gun. The first thing to check is that your gun is completely inserted in the drive casting and tightened down with the thumb nut. The next component to look at is the contact tip. The size of the tip printed on the side, needs to match your diameter of wire. As contact tips wear, that hole will start to become oblong. This will change how the current picks up through the tip and potentially cause weld performance issues. If the hole looks out of round, replace the tip.

If you’ve checked all of these things and you still see problems with wire feeding, it may be time to change your gun liner. There is a monocoil liner inside the MIG gun that guides the wire from the drive rolls to the contact tip. They can become kinked, plugged, or just wear out over time. As an initial step, compressed air can be used to try to clean out shavings that plug liners. This should be done on a routine basis to extend the life of your liner. Liners are a consumable of the MIG gun so they are relatively inexpensive if you need a new one. They turn out with a nut on the powerpin end. New liners need to be trimmed to length so you need to remove your contact tip when replacing a liner. Also note that it’s important to lay the gun out straight when replacing the liner so you cut it to the correct length. Here is a video that walks you through changing your liner.

 

Wire Feed Troubleshooting

Symptom	Possible Causes
Birdsnests	Clean liner with compressed air or change liner Check contact tip for size or obstruction. Properly adjust drive roll tension
Wire won’t pass through torch	Check contact tip for correct size Change gun liner
Drive roll slips on wire	Check spool hub tension Check drive roll groove condition Check drive roll tension Check contact tip for correct size
Arc length is inconsistent	Check spool hub tension Check drive roll groove condition Check drive roll tension Check contact tip for correct size
Burn back (pinned contact tip)	Check spool of wire for binding Check spool hub tension Check drive roll groove condition Check drive roll tension Check contact tip for correct size
Wire feed starts slow	Run-in feature is working (speed will increase when arc is established)

 

About Today’s Guest Blogger

Ben Romenesko has been with Miller for over 5 years and his entire career has been spent with the Millermatic products. He originally came to the company as a mechanical engineer. He is currently a product manager at Miller’s Integrated MIG systems and oversees the Millermatic and ArcStation products.

 

 

Don’t Forget Miller’s Build with Blue Promotion!

The price for a Miller welder or plasma cutter has dropped, from March 1st to  May 31st, with the latest Build with Blue promotion offered by Miller Electric. Welders will be able to take an additional 5-15% off the already discounted price of Miller welders and plasma cutters at the Baker’s Gas and Welding online store.

If you’re looking for a new welding machine or plasma cutter for your welding projects, these prices will be among the lowest for a Miller machine all year. In addition, if you need some new welding supplies such as a welding helmet, welding jacket, or welding table, you can use these purchases to get additional savings. Here’s how you can save money on a new Miller welder or plasma cutter.

MIG Welding Aluminum Spool Gun Tips

Learning to MIG weld aluminum with a spool gun may lead to some of your longest days in the welding shop since there are so many different things that can go wrong with your settings and technique. Everything is far more difficult and sensitive with aluminum, and therefore you’ll need to spend a lot more time figuring out your wire speed, stick out, amperage, and plenty of other key settings. Here are some tips for getting started with a spool gun on your MIG welder:

Don’t Forget to Clean Your Metal

While you can sometimes get away with not cleaning your metal if it’s brand new and doesn’t have any residues on it, the best bet for a high quality MIG weld with aluminum is to start with clean metal that you either clean with a wire brush or an angle grinder for really tough oxidation or residues. Either way, a little prep work will go a long way to preventing weld contamination. It’s also common practice among most welders to use a little acetone to clean up a weld before getting to work on it.

MIG Gun Angle for Welding Aluminum

Usually a 10-15 degree angle gets the job done on aluminum welding, as is the case for most MIG welding projects. However, in the case of aluminum, getting this wrong could case more problems with your weld than you would experience when MIG welding steel. Attention to detail is critical when maintaining the proper angle.

Voltage and Wire Speed for MIG Welding Aluminum

The first place to start with your adjustments for MIG welding aluminum with a spool gun will be your amperage and wire speed. Too much wire and too much heat will do a number on your weld and will leave you with a mess to clean up with your angle grinder. Use the chart on your welder to experiment with a few different voltage and wire speed settings before going to work.

Gas Flow for MIG Welding Aluminum

If your arc is jumping around or hissing too much, there’s a good chance that you need to adjust your shielding gas flow. Too much shielding gas will cool off the weld puddle and make it incredibly difficult to keep a steady, tight arc.

Temperature of Metal for MIG Welding Aluminum

Preheating aluminum will give you a much cleaner and neater weld that will also be easier to make. If you’re working in a cold climate, consider preheating your metal a bit before striking your arc.

Keep Testing Your Settings for MIG Welding Aluminum

Even the pros have to run a few test passes to dial in their settings just right for welding aluminum. You don’t want to cover your work piece with spatter or burn up your tip right at the start. It’s better to test your gas flow, wire speed, stick out length, and amperage first in order to work out the kinks with an erratic arc or too much oxidation in your puddle.

Wire Stick Out for MIG Welding Aluminum

A little extra wire on your tip will save you a lot of hassle and save you from burning up your tips for your MIG gun. The ideal stick out will be around 3/4”, which is much longer than what you would use for MIG welding. On some projects you may even find that you need a longer stick out than that! However, too much stick out will dump too much metal into your puddle and you could loose control of the puddle and even leave a bunch of spatter on your aluminum work piece.

Invest in a Spool Gun for your MIG Welder

Aluminum wire for a MIG welder tends to easily jam if you feed it like regular MIG wire. No matter how economical you may try to be, you really don’t want to spend your day feeding a jammed wire out of your MIG welder! You’ll save yourself a lot of headaches by purchasing the right spool gun that will make it much easier to feed wires with your MIG welder. Don’t overlook this important welding supply!

Learn more about affordable and reliable Spool Guns at Baker’s Gas and Welding here and here.