Hi, all. This afternoon, I used the Dynasty in tig mode for the first time. Pretty neat. I was welding up the seams in an 18 ga. mild steel drawer I had the sheet metal shop bend up for the welding cart. I learned a lot, like positioning myself to actually see the arc, finding a position that allowed me to steady my torch hand on my knee, remembering to turn on the gas, and lots of others. Once I could see the arc (also had to increase the hood sensitivity) I didn't contaminate the tungsten any more. Researching Ernie's posts helped a lot, thanks Ernie. I was using 1/16" 1.5% lanthanated tungsten at 50 A. I definitely could use a better tungsten grinder.
The best looking welds were toward the end when I quit adding filler as an experiment. The edges fused together very neatly. I'd guess filler on the inside would increase the strength by reducing the stress concentration, but it won't matter in this application.
Pretty cool. I'm definitely glad I got the welder.
Pete Keillor