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Just how sharp and polished should a tungsten be?

I'm working with aluminum and wish to create a nice neat "T" joint. I am having problems with the arc being too wide and getting too much heat spread too far and creating a large overheated fillet.

I looked at Tungsten grinders and their price seems to be outrageous. I do have a HF belt sander disk sander combo that could be used if I knew what to use for grit.

How fine of grit should I use? What angle? I know I need to keep the scratches aligned with the long axis of the tungsten to keep the arc as narrow as possible.

I'm using a 3/32 Lanthanated tungsten. I tried 1/16" Lanthanated tungstens but felt I was getting them too hot. I have gas lens collets as well as conventional collets. (I didn't notice any difference in the size of the welds based on lens vs conventional)

I can do real nice lap, stringer and outside edge welds with that nice "stack of dimes" look. The thicker material and heat transfer is throwing me here.

Thanks

Bart

Reply to
Bart D. Hull
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OK to start with you don't want a point on AC TIG of aluminum. You can start with a point, but you want to form a ball using DC-Electrode Positive. Point the torch straight down at a clean piece of copper or aluminum, bring up the power slowly until you have a perfect ball tip, then ramp back down to zero. Then switch to AC. You can also make your tungsten last longer by cheating your AC wave ballance towards "greater penetration", as long as your metal is very clean.

For a tigher bead use a 3/32" zirconium tungsten. Grind it to a pencil point, then form a ball using DCEP that is about

1/16" diameter.

A gas lens will give you better gas coverage, and better reach into the corner.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

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