"Crater fill"?

--Someone told me about a setting on a welder called "Crater fill". Can someone explain what the benefits are? Thanks,

Reply to
steamer
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I have never seen a machine with this setting.

The concept of filling the crater usually occurs at the end of weld bead where the arc is typically broken. This will leave a crater at that location.

There are two ways to avoid it - runoff tabs which are cut away later and arc control at the end of the bead. With foot-controlled amperage, the deposition can be reduced until the arc goes out. Otherwise, electrode manipulation can be used to deposit enough metal at the end of the bead without burnthrough.

A crater leaves a weak spot which can affect the service life of the jo> --Someone told me about a setting on a welder called "Crater

Reply to
Thomas Kendrick

Crater fill is also called "down slope".

It refers to the end of a TIG welding pass.

Normally when the arc just stops, the molten weld pool will often cool rapidly . As it does this it will form a tiny crater at the end of the weld bead. This crater can lead to problems if the weld is for a water tank, boat, air tank, or anything else that must retain a seal of some kind.

Crater fill is a simple version of a down slope that fades your power down gradually instead of suddenly.

The way it works on Miller machines is that you set the Crater fill timer for , let's say, 3 seconds. When you take your foot off the pedal at the end of your weld bead the arc will now take 3 seconds to fade down from your last setting to zero.

You can accomplish the same thing by just feathering your foot pedal manually, but the crater fill timer makes it easier and very consistent.

Crater fill is most useful on aluminum, where it is very commmon for a crater to form at the end of a bead.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Ernie, Where is this setting on the Syncrowave 250DX? Thanks, Steve

Reply to
Steve

On a 250DX you have a real down slope, if you got the sequencer module. I don't think the basic 250DX has the downslope feature.

The manual will explain how to get the downslope activated. It can be a little tricky.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

On my Hobart Tigwave 250, which I thought was a Syncrowave clone, there is a switch and control called "crater fill", which performs just as Ernie described.

Reply to
George Dubovsky

Ernie, I have the pulser and the sequencer. I am still trying how to figure them both out. Thanks, Steve

Reply to
Steve

The trick to using the sequencer is to turn the FINAL SLOPE dial up from zero.

With the left side of the machine set to these settings reading Left to Right

TIG, RMT, RMT, HF-Start

Go to the FINAL SLOPE knob and turn it clockwise. When you do this the light will come on next to the knob and the Amperage Control will automatically switch from RMT to PNL, meaning that to use the sequencer you can't control the amperage with the foot pedal. You have to dial it in on the main panel.

The Contactor control will also automatically switch to TRIGGER HOLD. You can tap the button and reset it to RMT to use the foot pedal to start the INITIAL SLOPE and INITIAL AMPERAGE, and ramp up to your panel set amperage, when the pedal is depressed, and trigger the FINAL SOPE and FINAL AMPERAGE when the pedal is released.

TRIGGER HOLD means the sequence will be started by one tap on the pedal and ended with a second tap on the pedal.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

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