My neighbor got one of those cheap Harbor Freight TIG welders recently. I've never TIG welded at all, but since I have more experience welding than him (stick, MIG) he wanted me to see if I could get the thing going for him.
If you're not familiar with these inverter TIG machines, they are very stripped down. There are three LEDs on the front panel, one each for "power," "welding," and "over heat." When I try to get an arc going the "welding" LED comes on and stays on indefinitely. You can hear the gas solenoid open up when the light comes on, but it stays open indefinitely as well. According to the poorly translated manual the "welding" LED should go off automatically after the arc is broken and the gas solenoid should shut off. The other problem is that I can't get an arc going. Bringing the tungsten down to the work causes a tiny spark, and that's all. No amount of scratching, tapping, or carefully lowering the torch will start an arc at any power level setting.
Since I have absolutely zero experience with a TIG welder it's hard to tell how much of this is my fault and/or how much is the machine's.
Any enlightening comments you may have will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!