It Wasn't Me - Again - TIG Welding
From
Bob La Londe@none@none.com99 to
rec.crafts.metalworking on Thu Aug 28 12:27:25 2025
From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking
Some of you might recall my years long failure to learn to MIG weld. I
could get things to come out okay with aluminum with my spool gun, and I learned to be okay with gasless flux core, but I couldn't make a MIG
weld to save my life. I even bought a decent name brand machine (Miller
212). Everybody kept telling me how easy it was, and I just kept
failing. It turned out to be the gas manifold inside the MIG gun. It
had no holes. Since then I use MIG (GMAW) and Flux Core (FCAW) interchangeably as needed for the application.
A few (several maybe) years ago I picked up an AHP TIG201 AC/DC
TIG/stick welder. I don't have a lot of applications where I, "have
to," use TIG so I don't. Everybody told me it was much harder to learn
than the methods I already used, and that was my experience. My welds
sucked, I couldn't see anything while welding, and my tungstens pretty
much turned to blobs. I did get one "good" weld sorta kinda for a
customer job making some t-handle 304 stainless core pins for a
commercial fishing net sinker mold. It looked more like I had torch
welded it, but to be honest I think I could have O/A torch welded it
better.
A couple days ago I again was trying to make some t-handle core pins and
I ruined enough stock to make 20 pins to barely scab together 6. They
looked scabbed. Where it didn't look like a scab on a nasty wound it
looked like a volcano shit on it.
I get that TIG is a harder skill, but this was terrible. Nothign was
looking like I thought it should during any part of the process and my tungsten electrodes (even when I didn't dip them) were coming out
looking like a crunchy Q-tip. Most of you probably already know the
problem, but this machine welded poorly like this from day one brand new
out of the crate. This machine was as new as it could be whne I bought
it. The container was still on a ship from China.
AHP has a decent reputation for the price. Basically if the machine
doesn't smoke in the first hour it will last for years.
Yesterday I decided to do what I did with the Miller that wouldn't MIG
weld for me. I walked out in the shop and started checking everything starting at the torch. I was going to find the problem or destroy the
machine trying. Pulled the trigger (finger switch rather than foot
pedal) and I saw the flow ball jump to where I had it set. I could hear
the gas flowing. I couldn't feel anything at the torch.
It had a hose leak where the quick couple plugs into the machine for the
gas. That was easy to fix, but then there was another leak inside the
cover for the DINS connector. The main hose was leaking right there.
Its was kind of a strange setup, and wasn't repairable any practical way
I could think of due to how the hose clamps on over where the cable is
crimped on.
I bought a Harbor Freight Vulcan TIG kit/assembly. It was maybe $10
more than a replacemnt from AHP, but no freight, I could pick it up
today (yesterday) and it came with some extra consumables. Cups, gas manifolds, collets, and even a few ceriated tungsten electrodes. The
only thing I had to change was the gas connector on the adapter cable
that comes with it. I used the old one from the AHP hose/torch assembly.
When I fired it up it was like somebody flipped a switch. No I don't
mean the finger switch zip tied to the torch. I mean I could see.
EVERYTHING. I could see the arc. I could see the puddle. I could see
the electrode. It was almost like the arc shots WeldTubers post in
their YouTube videos. Then I promptly melted the part I was testing on.
LOL It took my 5 or 6 tries and a couple dipped and reground
tungstens, but I finally made some welds that looked like they were TIG
welded instead sprayed with the north end of a south bound chicken with diarrhea. I made a few touchy autogenous tack welds between a 9mm 304
rod and a 3/32 (2.4mm) "18-8" washer and they looked better than
anything I'd ever done before with a TIG torch.
Okay, you can blame me for not doing a basic check for a gas leak long
ago, but I didn't expect the hoses to be bad out of the box. Sure after
it sat in my shop a few years not working right the hoses could have
failed, but I never even thought to check that specifically because it
was like that from day one, and I was told TIG welding is much harder to learn.
They say its a poor trades/crafts person who blames their tools, but I
need to stop doubting myself. This is not the first time I kept butting
my head up against a welding problem to finally realize it was the
machine. With my AC cracker box, I finally realized I was doing jobs
that were hitting and exceeding the duty cycle. With both of my
portable flux only machines the duty cycle was so short as to make it
hard to tell I wasn't welding all that badly until I hit the duty cycle.
I improved those by cutting giant holes in the cases and mounting
cooling fans on them. The Miller came with a defective gas manifold,
and the AHP came with bad hoses. If I had not automatically assumed I
was the problem I would have probably figured out the real problem and
found an improvement or solution much sooner. In some cases years sooner.
FYI: The Harbor Freight Vulcan comes with two different sizes of DINS connectors for gas through DINS machines, and an adapter cable with a
side hose for use with a larger DINS and a separate gas port on the
machine. The torch also has a gas flow/shutoff valve for machines that
do not have an automatic gas solenoid. The torch is rigid and feels a
little larger and clunkier than the AHP torch, but it looks like it has
the same type of connector under some heat shrink inside the handle as
the AHP torch. The AHP torch that came with my machine is a flex head
and the Vulcan is a rigid head. I may switch torches. I can think of
several positions that might have made the job I was doing easier with a
flex head. The Vulcon also feels a lot heavier because it has heavier
thicker rubber hose and cable attached to it. Both torches are industry standard type 17 interchangeable for components. For $99 US, I think
the Vulcan TIG torch kit is a good deal. I would buy one again knowing
what I know now, but I do wish it was a flex head.
P.S. I have had decent luck with Vulcan welding equipment. Well as
little as I have. I have a Vulcan, Lincoln Viking, and a Miller auto
dark welding hood. They are all very good, and I actually use them all,
but I like the Vulcan the best of the three. Until recently when the
lining came out with my hand I really liked the Vulcan welding gloves as
well. Better than most other welding gloves I've used.
P.P.S On a largish weld out a few years ago where my son and I were tag teaming a project with two welders I actually hit the duty cycle on the
Miller 212 a couple times. Because I had ignorantly butted up against
that with lighter machines in the past I finally was able to recognize
it when it happened. In some of the hobby groups I have had people tell
me I should never hit the duty cycle on that machine because you are
always stopping to cut, grind, cleanup, etc. The thing is with a good
MIG weld there is very little cleanup to do, and we had tacked up the
entire project in one go. When we started welding it was non stop. For people who may not know on some (many?) machines they will shut down
when they overheat. The thing is they often (always in my case) start
welding badly before they shut down. I found when welds were running
just fine, nothing had changed, and then it started welding badly and destabilizing it was running up against its duty cycle and needed to
cool down. Its hard to stop when you are in the groove, but you have to.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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