Need help tig welding

This means nothing without knowing the size of your tank.

Tom, you did use soapy water on your gas connections, right? You can lose a lot of welding gas in a hurry if you forget to ..

GWE

Check your flow meter..most of them have various flows for other gases around the outside of the glass. If not..Ill go look at mine, which DOES have the other gases around the glass.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

I would bet you lunch that you have a leak somewhere.

Do the soapy water thing.

Steve

I'm not using CO2. I'm using pure argon with a flowmeter designed for CO2.

This is an 'S' tank, 92 cf. Tom

hanks Gunner. That will be helpful. I think CO2 is MUCH heavier than argon and it takes a helluva lot of argon to lift that ball as high as CO2 does. I tried welding again with the india\cated flow turned way down and there was enough gas to shield the arc. The ball hardly got off its' butt and there was enough. The gass tank pressure barely went down on the second try. Thanks, Tom

I will be interested in what Gunner finds. I would think they would be almost the same.

CO2 has a molecular weight of 44. Carbon is 12 and oxygen is 16.

Argon is 40. So should be within 10%.

Dan

Then it should last about 6 hours. It should drop about 333 psi per hour.

Maybe set it for 5 cfh should be close.

Indeed.I checked all 5 of my flow meters..and they all indicate that argon and co2 are virtually the same. One lists Argon/Co2..and its in the same place as the straight argon.

One should remember that one reads the gauges at the TOP of the ball, not the middle or the bottom.

One can get by with minimal gas, I set mine so I just hear it, cant even feel it. Now if there is a breeze...thats another story. I think I tig about 5-10 CFM and mig the same, but my welding outfits are outside in a covered but open to the sides welding area.

I can just blow talcum powder on the bench, and still get a good arc. Until the wind blows..then it all turns to shit. I made up a shield gizmo..Rectangular with one open side for tig when there is a breeze or wind. Got to be careful though and dress properly when using it..tends to really give ya a sun burn.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

I think your flowmeter is showing the wrong flow. One of my ball flowmeters shows CO2 &CO2 /Argon mix as the same. And pure Argon flow compared to CO2/Argon mix is about 10% greater. Your flowmeter may be leaking internally, passing gas around instead of through the metering tube. ERS

"Gunner" wrote

Not this one. There is a note on the tube to read the center of the ball.

All my tig welding is indoors. Basicly all welding period, gas, stick and tig. I took my welder outside and ran it with a genny to do a field job, it was a PIA moving everything and the genny was LOUD. No more, the genny has been sold.

Got to be careful though and dress properly when using it..tends

So I can weld naked and save all those salon fees? ;-) I remember the burns my dad came home with, I'm careful with the clothing. Tom

"Eric R Snow" wrote

You may be right. I bought the flowmeter used 20 years ago. I'll have it over hauled and calibrated for argon. Tom

Where are you located, Steve? I'm partial to beef, not ground up. There's not a bubble in the system. Tom

Flow meter might not give a reasonable value for Argon due to the design.

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

Tom Wait wrote:

And to add - if you have a friend or another flow meter or pressure type flow meter - the lower cost type - put two in the same line - and calibrate your CO2 model with the Argon flow meter.

You might have documents already when you bought it - and a ratio.

Likely you will have to add more flow since the CO2 slams into the meter parts harder than the Argon does.

Martin Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

Tom Wait wrote:

Greetings Tom, Both ball flow gauges I have are easily repaired by a novice. Look inside the the thing by unscrewing the clear housing. You will see how the gas is forced to go through the tube by some sort of sealing arrangement at the base of the tube. One of mine was re-assembled such that it leaked around the tube. Where the tube fits into the gauge base is a hole with an o-ring and a piece of fine screen. Someone had put this screen ON TOP of the o-ring. This prevented the tube from sealing at the base. Reversing the screen and o-ring, which put the o-ring into contact with the gauge tube solved the erroneous reading of flow. These gauges are really simple inside. Just a tapered tube with a ball inside. If the ball is the correct weight and size, and if the gauge is fed the proper pressure (which should be stamped on the flow gauge), it should read correctly. Why don't you take the thing apart before you send it out for repair? It's not a life support device and won't kill you if you put it back together wrong. ERS