Pitted tungsten ?

Guy I know has a small production shop , making small lot custom products . We were talking today about TIG welding , he was showing me the machine and settings and such . While looking at the I noticed that the tip of the tungsten was pitted and rough . Is it supposed to be smooth ? He welds both aluminum and SS with the same one from what he said . I've just met the guy , we have mutual friends , and I'm currently machining some small parts for him . He wants me to try my hand at TIG welding some stuff , so he can do other things , so I'll probably be asking some questions ... f'r instance , he hasn't been using the pulse function , and has had some problems welding light guage aluminim to heavier stock and I'll probably try to set that up . Guess I should mention this guy is self-taught - and must be a good pupil because I thought his stuff looked pretty good . If this works out this will be pretty much full time between the welding and machine work . Just exactly the right time too , the wife has been pushing me to apply at WM ... sez it's better than nuttin' .

Reply to
Terry Coombs
Loading thread data ...

Lanthanated and Ceriated Tungstens work on AC (for aluminum, magnesium) and DC (for everything else).

As long as he is cleaning off the tungsten before switching polarity he should be fine. Also on DC the tungsten should be sharpened to a pencil point. On AC you will want to form a ball on the tungsten using a clean piece of copper or aluminum by switching the polarity to DC Electrode Positive. Form the ball and then switch it back to AC. This will give you a much better ball than AC.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Thanks Ernie . I was braggin' you up to this guy , he's never had any training , didn't know what some of the functions of his machine are . Everythng I know about TIG is "book larnin'" , but I can run a pretty decent MIG and stick bead . I've printed your response for my own reference ... I suspect that I'm going to be doing some TIG in the future . -- Snag

Reply to
Terry Coombs

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.