General notes gleaned from Welding newsgroup....

Tungsten electrodes:
For quite some time, tungsten manufacturers have added an oxide to pure tungsten to improve the arc
starting characteristics and the longevity of pure tungsten electrodes. Below is a chart that lists the
major commercially sold tungsten types, their American Welding Society (AWS) and International
Standards Organization (ISO)classifications, and the amount and type of oxide contained in the
electrode.
Material

AWS Class

ISO Class

Oxide Content

2% Thoriated
2% Ceriated
1 1/2% Lanthanated
1% Lanthanated
Zirconiated .
Pure Tungsten

EWTh-2
OWTh-2
EWLa-1.5
EWLa-1
EWZr-1
EWP

WT20
WC20
N/A
WL10 1
WZ3
W

1.7-2.21% Thoria
1.8-2.2% Ceria
13-17% Lanthanum
0.8-1.2% Lanthanum
0.15-0.40% Zirconium
None

Tungsten electrodes and color codes:

Green
- Pure Tungsten-good for low amperage AC. this tungsten is only used for AC welding.
Red

- 2% Thoriated - good general purpose tungsten for DC, can also be used for AC, but not
the best. - 1% Thoriated - Not very common anymore.

Brown
- 2% Zirconium - The best for high amperage AC (never DC).
- l% Zirconium
Gold
Blue
Black

- 1.5% Lanthanum
-2% Lanthanum - Lanthanated tungstens are the best all around tungsten for AC and DC
- 1% Lanthanum

Orange
Grey

- 1% Ceriated - 2% Ceriated - The best for extremely low amperage DC.

Below is a description of each of these types and their uses:

PURE Tungsten Electrodes
Color Code Green.
Pure tungsten electrodes (EWP) contain a minimum of 99.5 percent tungsten, with no intentional
alloying elements. The current-carrying capacity of pure tungsten electrodes is lower than that of the
alloyed electrodes. Pure tungsten electrodes are used mainly with AC for welding aluminum and
magnesium alloys. The tip of the EWP electrode maintains a clean, balled end, which provides good
arc stability. They may also be used with DC, but they do not provide the arc initiation and arc stability
characteristics of thoriated, Ceriated, or Lanthanated electrodes.

2% Thoriated Tungsten Electrodes

Color Code Red
The thermionic emission of tungsten can be improved by alloying it with metal oxides that have very
low work functions. As a result, the electrodes are able to handle higher welding currents without
failing. Thorium oxide is one such additive. To prevent identification problems with these and other
types of tungsten electrodes, they are color coded. Two types of thoriated tungsten electrodes are
available. The EWTh-1 and EWTh-2 electrodes contain 1 percent and 2 percent thorium oxide (TH02)
called thoria, respectively, evenly dispersed through their entire lengths. Thoriated tungsten electrodes
are superior to pure tungsten electrodes in several respects. The thoria provides about 20 percent higher
current-carrying capacity, generally longer life, and greater resistance to contamination of the weld.
With these electrodes, arc starting is easier, and the arc is more stable than with pure tungsten or
Zirconiated tungsten electrodes.
This is the most commonly used tungsten material because it was the first to display a significant
improvement over pure tungsten. This is a good general use tungsten for DC applications, because it
has a low work function and operates well even when overloaded with extra amperage. While many
companies still use this material because it is specified as part of a qualified weld program, there is a
definite migration to other tungsten types, namely 2% Ceriated and 1.5% Lanthanated, due to their
superior performance in most applications and the fact that they are non-radioactive. The thoria
contained in 2% Thoriated tungsten is slightly radioactive and many welders and safety officers are
leading the move away from this material. The American Welding Society, in their A5.12 Specification
for Tungsten and Tungsten-Alloy Electrodes for Arc Welding and Cutting state the following on this
issue:
"thoria is a low-level radioactive material. However, if welding is to be performed in confined
spaces for prolonged periods of time or if electrode grinding dust might be ingested, special
precautions relative to ventilation should be considered. The user should consult appropriate
safety personnel."
2% Zirconiated Tungsten Electrodes
Color code Brown
This material is used primarily for AC welding. The AWS states, "This electrode performs well when
used with alternating current as it retains a balled end during welding and has a high resistance to
contamination." This electrode has reduced in importance as other alternatives have become available.
Pro-Fusion's recommendation is to try 11/2% Lanthanated tungsten for your AC welding. Zirconiated
tungsten has very poor performance in DC welding Tungsten.
1% Zirconiated Tungsten Electrodes
Color Code White
AC Welding applications. Better start up than Pure Tungsten, Balls up well and has a more stable arc
than Pure Tungsten. Better current carrying capacity and high resistance to contamination during
welding. Best suited for AC TIG welding applications.
Lanthanated Tungsten Electrodes

Color Code BLACK (1%)

Gold (1.5%)
Blue (2%)
The EWLa-1 electrodes were developed around the same time as the Ceriated electrodes and for the
same reason, that lanthanum is not radioactive. These electrodes contain lanthanum oxides (La203),
referred to as lanthana. The advantages and operating characteristics of these electrodes are very
similar to the Ceriated tungsten electrodes, also called rare earth.
This has been a very popular new material internationally and has recently been introduced in the
United States. The 1.5 % content (as opposed to 2%) was chosen by two of the largest manufacturers as
the optimum content amount based on scientific studies which showed that this content amount most
closely mirrors the conductivity characteristics of 2% Thoriated Tungsten. Therefore, welders can

usually easily replace their radioactive 2% Thoriated material with this tungsten and not have to make
any welding program changes. It makes the switch quick and easy. In addition, one major manufacturer
had an independent study performed on this material and it was presented at the 1998 American
Welding Society Exhibition in Detroit, Michigan. In summary, 2% Thoriated, 2% Ceriated and two
manufacturer's 1/2% Lanthanated were compared by observing tip erosion after 300 DC arc strikes at
both 70 amps and 150 amps. In both cases, the 1.5 % Lanthanated tungsten showed the least amount of
tip erosion. This material is also suitable for AC welding. Therefore, if you are considering optimizing
your welding, this is an excellent material to consider.
2% Ceriated Tungsten Electrodes Color Code GREY
An excellent alternative to Thoriated tungsten especially in low amperage welding. Takes 10% less
current to start and has a very stable arc. This non-radioactive alternative to 2% Thoriated Tungsten is
best when used primarily in DC welding at low currents. It has excellent arc starting capabilities at low
currents and therefore it has become the standard for many orbital tube and pipe welding equipment
manufacturers. In addition, it is often used in other low amperage applications where small or delicate
parts are being welded. It would not be good for higher amperage applications, because the oxides
migrate very quickly to the heat at the tip under these conditions and the oxide content and benefits are
then removed.
DCEN or AC use Lanthanated or Ceriated tungsten
High amperage AC use Zirconiated tungsten
Base Metal

Tungsten

Filler Rod

Amperage

0.010 - 0.045"
0.030" 1/8"
3/32" 1/4
3/16"-- 3/8
5/16" 1/2"

0.040"
1/16"
3/32"
1/8
5/32"

0.024" 0.030
0.030" 0.045"
1/16" 3/32'"
3/32" -1/8"
1/8" 3/16

5-20
15-90
50-160
140 - 240
220 300

The tungsten sizes do overlap, and you can fudge a little up or down, but try not to use a tungsten or
filler rod THICKER than your BASE metal. In general you want 1 amp per 0.001" of thickness for
Steel and aluminum. For stainless steel you want 2/3 of that, for copper 2X that, and for bronze 1/2.
For inside fillet welds add 30%. For outside fillet welds subtract 3O%.
Also when dealing with a really thin base metal and low amperages on DCEN, you do want a sharp
point since the diameter of the tip of the point sets the minimum amperage needed to initiate the arc.
For 1/16" material and thicker you want a tiny flat on the tip, because at these higher amperages a
really sharp point can pop off into the weld metal.
Thoriated tungsten is about the same as Lanthanated, but can take about 10% less heat. If using Pure
tungsten then ratings are shifted up 2 rows.
Lanthanated Tungsten - run on DCEP for aluminum and shift up 2 rows.

Usage notes on Tungsten rods

A very good source for tungstens is Aglevtech's eBay webstore. If you only buy one kind of tungsten,
buy Lanthanated tungstens.
Ceriated is a little better for low amperage micro welds, since it can initiate a weld a slightly lower
amps than anything else, but at higher amps it breaks down faster.
Zirconiated is the best for high amperage AC.
All I buy are Lanthanated tungstens in all sizes and then some BIG Zirconiated tungstens for fixing
heavy aluminum castings.

Torches
Most of the Small Transformer TIG units ship with a 150 amp air cooled torch. This is actually a #3
series torch that uses the same parts as a 300 amp water cooled torch. The idea is that you don't have a
coolant system removing the heat from the torch, so the torch and it's parts must be bigger, thus able to
deal with the heat.
Air cooled torches are made which take #2 series parts, but they are usually classified as 100 -125 amp
air- cooled torches.
Things can get a little confusing when CK gets into the act since they make a #2 series water cooled
torch called the CK 230 which is rated for 300 amps, and they have a #3 series air cooled torch called
the CK 210 Trimline that is rated for 200 amps. I [Ernie] own one of each, the CK 230 lives on my
Synchrowave 250 and the CK 210 lives on my Maxstar 200 DX inverter.
If you have a #3 series air cooled torch, then use the CK #4 series gas lens collet bodies. #4 series is a
CK invention that combines a short #2 style gas lens collet body with the back threads of the #3 collet
body. It uses a gas cup for a #2 series Gas lens. This makes for a very compact torch, and gets away
from the huge clunky #3 series Gas lens collet bodies. It is fine to mix and match parts, as long as you
use #2 series parts in a #2 series torch. Use a Gas lens collet body. They allow you much better access
to inside fillet welds and give much better gas coverage.
#2 series torches have a 5/16" x 24 thread. #3 series has a really odd 3/8" x 32 thread.
Gas lenses are all I use. I buy standard collet bodies and cups for my students at school because they
are more protective of the tungsten. I like students to use a standard collet body and cup until they stop
rapidly destroying tungsten. Once they have some muscle control, then they can be trusted with a gas
lens, collet body and cup.
What I recommend is getting a set of #4 series gas lens collet bodies and collets from CK Worldwide.
This gives you a collet body that screws into a #3 torch, but is as small as a #2 series gas lens and uses
#2 series gas lens gas cups. It makes the whole torch much smaller and easier to handle. 3# series gas
lenses tend to be HUGE, whereas #4 gas lenses are much smaller.
Check out this page http://www.ckworldwide.com/3_series.pdf It should give you a better idea of what
I am saying. You can order anything from CK Worldwide through http://www.centralwelding.com

Hoods
My perspective on LCD welding lenses is a bit different. As a welding instructor a very important
aspect of a lens is versatility. When I was teaching at South Seattle, in one 30 minute period, I would
have to:
demonstrate oxy/acetylene welding of thin sheet steel (Shade #5)
dial in a 20 year old power supply with a Cobramatic Aluminum MIG push/pull machine (shade
#11)
demonstrate TIG on 18 ga stainless steel (shade #9)
show carbon arc gouging of 1" plate steel (shade #12)
dial in and troubleshoot a Hobart Handler 120 (shade #10)
dial in a Millermatic 251 on 3/8" steel (shade #11)
plasma cut (shade #5)
You get the idea.
While my teaching has simplified at DIT I still need the versatility. The Nexgen allows complete
control of the lens parameters:
For low amperage TIG on SS I want a short delay.
For aluminum TIG I want a long delay.
When welding outside I need a lower sensitivity so the lens does not react to reflected sunlight.
When welding really low amps I need very high sensitivity.
The 3-in-1 mode is just a nice bonus thrown in. The 4 sensors on the Nexgen reduces the chance you
will block all your sensors and have the hood flip back to light. The only useless feature I find on most
of the high end lenses is the solar panel. From my experience of using Speedglas and Jackson LCD
lenses for the last 15 years, the batteries last about 1 year. Doesn't matter if you have a solar panel to
power the lens while welding or not, they last a year. In fact the spare batteries you have in your bag
will likely last a year even though you aren't using them. The low end lenses don't have replaceable
batteries. They use a built in rechargeable battery. Optrel does this on their Satellite lens/hood combo.
When they first started shipping them they were sold with the internal battery uncharged. They kind of
neglected to tell people that you had to leave your hood in the sun for a few hours before using it for
the first time. After many complaints about dead hoods, they started shipping them charged.
Now as to why I chose the Nexgen over a Speedglas is a simple story. My Speedglas XL hood died in
an accident involving a sealed plastic tool chest and a leaking can of Lacquer Thinner. Still a painful
memory... So anyway I needed a new hood and at the time Speedglas was selling the 9000 series hoods
which used a tiny dial to set your shade. After 5 years with the pushbutton controls in my XL hood I
just hated that tiny dial. So I bought the Nexgen. great lens.
Since then Speedglas has gone back to pushbutton controls with the 9002 series of hoods. If given a
choice now between a Nexgen and a Speedglas 9002X, I would likely go for the Speedglas 9002X
because Speeglas really understands how to make a hood and lens work together. My only real nagging
complaint about the Nexgen was the crappy headgear.

Usage Notes:
I [Ernie] like to use a filler rod smaller than the thickness of the base metal. Never try to use a filler rod
thicker than your base metal.
Torch at about 80 degrees from the table. Filler rod at about 20 degrees up from the table. Filler rod
size is critical on aluminum.
Keep you amperage down to the minimum necessary to get the job done.
Weld fast. The filler rod should be tapping out a steady beat like a metronome, tap...tap...tap...tap...
Every tap yields a little puddle edge. When done right with the torch progressing at a steady pace you
will end up with a "stack-o-dimes" weld.
Make sure your high frequency generator is working properly with clean contacts.
Aluminum For better cleaning you can shift your arc balance to a little more DCEP. This will get your
tungsten hotter, so be careful.
AC Wave balance is a simpler concept. By increasing the DCEP side of the wave you will
increase the cleaning action of the arc while decreasing the penetration. This is useful for thin
sheet metal or aluminum that has become heavily oxidized from exposure to the elements. By
increasing the DCEN side of the arc you will increase the penetration, but the arc will not have
as much cleaning action, and can be unstable.
Tungsten should be balled first using DC Electrode positive with the torch pointed straight
down at a clean piece of aluminum or copper. Some aluminum alloys can be welded with no
filler rod, but it rarely works well.
Diamond plate is either 3003 or 5052, both are better welded with filler rod. 4043 or 5356 are
your two best choices. 4043 is a bit softer, flows easier and at a lower temp. 5356 is stronger
with better corrosion resistance and color match. Aluminum filler metals are very different from
the base metal. 4047 will work on almost any weldable aluminum. The most common error on
aluminum is being afraid to get the tungsten in too far so you hang way back and crank the
amperage.
Welding very thick aluminum without preheating Use Straight polarity with helium gas
2% Thoriated or Ceriated electrodes, straight polarity, DC and straight helium. With helium you
have a molten puddle instantly on the thickest aluminum. You might have to wire brush the
bead afterward, but it is a quality weld. DCEN TIG on aluminum running near pure helium
shielding gas will give amazing penetration of heavy aluminum with no preheat.
I use the nickel based aerospace alloys as my catch-all filler rods of choice. Hastelloy W is my
favorite, but Inconel 625 is pretty good too. They will weld anything that is iron or nickel based.
Silicon Bronze will work on anything copper based.

Stainless Steel Notes

The back purging has nothing to do with the filler metal. It has to do with the reaction of hot stainless
steel to air. The only way to avoid back purging is to TIG braze-weld instead of TIG weld. Brazing uses
less heat so the stainless shouldn't scorch.
I want to pass on a little bit of knowledge about welding stainless headers. Years ago I noticed that the
FB0 at my airport was making repairs on cracked stainless headers. It seemed that every year or two he
was making repairs to the same planes over and over again. The seams and previous repair welds
would crack again and again. One set of headers required so much repair that the owner finally
scrapped them and a new set was installed. I had a chance to inspect the old headers.
These were commercially built headers. I was surprised to find that, even though they looked good on
the outside, on the inside all the seams and repair welds were covered with a crusty very rough sharp
crystal-like structure. The problem was that these stainless headers were welded with no back purge.
Back purge, or just plain purge, is the method of, when welding tube or enclosed containers, filling the
inside with argon or other appropriate gas to protect the back side of the weld. If you do not,
atmospheric contact with the molten back side of the weld contaminates, oxidizes and crystallizes the
alloys of the stainless puddle . This leaves a micro-structure that no longer has the chemical
characteristics of the stainless alloy and also has a mechanical structure that is full of micro cracks with
jagged tooth crystals and notches. This surface lends itself to quick development of larger cracks which
propagate through the thickness of the weld bead. If the header pipe has cracked once before and is
repaired without back purging then the crack will likely come again.
Obviously the original welding process was not done correctly to assure longevity of the headers.
Purging is easy, but requires a little extra equipment. Something as simple as a piece of masking tape
over the tube ends and a small hole inserted through the tape to feed gas. It is going to require two
cylinders with regulators or a single cylinder with a "Y" pipe allowing the mounting of two regulators.
You cannot successfully bleed some of the argon from the TIG gas circuit to purge the tube. Purge rates
are small needing to be only enough to feel the flow out of pinhole in the tape coverage. With a purge
the finished weld will look exactly the same on the inside as on the outside.
But if you do not have access to another bottle of argon or a second regulator that is still a way to
succeed. There is a product on the market that will protect the back side of a stainless weld. The brand
name you'll most likely find in the welding supply store is called Solar Flux. It is a powder which is
mixed with methanol to create flux that when painted on the back side of stainless welds protects the
molten metal from atmospheric contact. All you have to do is paint the inside edges of the butt ends of
the tubes which you are about to weld. Paint it on, let it dry, position the parts and weld them. The
backside of the weld will look exactly like the front side, except that the very tenacious flux residue
will give the weld bead a blackish look. The integrity of the weld is as good as the back purged weld. If
the headers eventually crack it will not be because of the quality of the weld.
316/316L is the most common "marine" stainless steel. 317L is gaining ground in commercial work
since it is even more corrosion resistant.
I have never seen 308 available as bar or tube. 308L is a welding filler metal that reverts to 304 during
the weld process. 304 is the most common non marine stainless steel, and accounts for about 95% of
the stainless steel made.
321 and 347 are variations of 308 that use additional additives to reduce chromium carbide formation

during the weld process or if exposed to extensive heat in service.

Cleaning Stainless Steel:
Go to www.stellarcolutions.net and order a bucket of the powder (Citrisurf). Citrisurf - Citric acid
solution coupled with low voltage electricity will clean the stainless steel. They have been trying to
find distributors in various cities. I had to buy a 5 gallon (33 lbs) bucket of the stuff. I resold most of it
to other people.
You mix the powder with water and apply about 4 amps of 18-36 volt DC to a wand. The wand is
simple to make. Take a 7 inch length of 1/4" copper pipe. Pound the last 2 inches of the pipe flat. Slide
a piece of acrylic hose over the rest of the copper as an insulator. Attach the + voltage lead to the back
end of the copper pipe. Cuts strips of coarse scotchbrite pad about 1" x 2.5" Wrap a strip around the
flattened end of the pipe so the ends of the strip point back at the other end. Use a tiny zip-tie to hold
the scotchbrite in place. It should look like an odd paint brush.
Attach the ground wire to the piece being cleaned. Dip the scotchbrite into the solution, and scrub the
colored area. The color and oxidation will vanish before your eyes.
4130 Aircraft steel [extracted from Bearhawk forum on Yahoo groups]
What I learned without getting burnt. For those who are interested.
1. Fit up with good tight gap free joints makes the task much easier and minimizes distortion.
2. Clean joints, filed to bare metal, no scale, no oil, remove all contamination. Clean is king!
3. Prep the electrode with a nice 3 or 4 to 1 taper with all grind / sand marks linear. Flat off the tip just a
tiny bit so the point is not sharp. This will keep the arc stable and diffuse the localized arc spot which is
a good thing to minimize blow thru energy and distribute the heat a bit.
4. When you strike the arc, hesitate, let the joint warm under low current before increasing to start the
puddle. As you come up in current increase gradually, do not just jab the power to it. Wait for the heat
to form the puddle do not force the puddle by pouring power to the weld. ( See 8,9,10 ) Take your time,
it is not a race, each puddle counts and takes a little time to form.
6. If you approach a cluster in the manner above you will find a nice joint that has a well distributed
heat effected zone that looks very similar to a torch heat effected zone.
7. Upon completion of the joint, taper the heat off and hesitate for post weld purge before removing the
torch.
8.1 am stress relieving critical big mass welds with the torch. One of the key words here is dull red. I
had a few areas where I went too hot, in the orange area, and ended up with a hard zone that needed to
be redone to a dull red. Dull red, slow cool.
9. Be sure that your tack welds are completely remelted in your joint pass, give them time to melt. The
tack weld, because of quick hot application and fast cool, will be very hard. So hard that you cannot
file them! I think that this is a source of some joint cracking issues. I have had small fast tacks crack
during cooling. I have never had any distress in a slow applied and slow cooled weld.

10. Practice, Practice, Practice. In the beginning I could blow holes through .049 in a blink of the eye.
Now I can do .020 all day long and have fun.
11. Re read #8,9,10
12. Do not weld with a contaminated electrode, it is so much easier with a good electrode.
13 I forgot.
14. The puddle should flow and move like syrup, if it acts like water the joint heat is too hot. Try to
find a power setting that is generally OK and then adjust puddle consistency by moving faster or
slower and depositing more cool filler rod material to control puddle temp. It is easier than it sounds
and more responsive than chasing torch power.
15. Oh, by the time you are done, you can fill and weld big gaps real easy.
Stress Relief on 4130 [extracted from Bearhawk forum on Yahoo groups]
Normalizing is a scheduled heat treating process aimed at restoring the crystalline structure of the steel
where it is disturbed by welding. This has to be done in an oven.
Relieving is just to warm a joint up enough that the built-in stresses from heating and cooling can move
around and 'relieve" themselves. This can be done in local areas affected by the weld.
bd [Budd Davisson ]
Not even Aviat stress relieves on the Pitts, or at least they didn't. However, when they started having
longeron failures just behind the cabane junction behind the instrument panel, they contacted me and I
had them do Rockwell hardness tests through the joints to confirm what I was about to tell them: The
heat affected zone (HAZ) on TIG is fairly narrow (on MIG it is tiny, which is much worse), so the
effect on the natural hardness of the 4130, which is generally about 19 Rc, is very abrupt. It goes from
about 25-28 +1- Rc in the bead down to about 3-4 next to the weld and back up to 19 about 3/16" away,
so the hardness interface is a factor in fatigue failures.
The reason to stress relieve, however, is to relax the built-in stresses caused by the rapid heating and
cooling, which aggravate the abruptness of the hardness difference. All the steel needs to see is a dull
red for maybe ten seconds then a very slow cool down. Again, I don't think every joint needs to be
relieved but on fittings and such, which see primary loads and involve a lot of steel, I like to see it
done. We do that in the plant even though we're gas welding.
As someone said earlier, though. This is a very controversial subject. However, I've never heard of
relieving hurting anything. Not even once.
bd [Budd Davisson ]
In gas welding there are a couple of considerations that allow us to control the deformation AND the
locked-in stresses. The heat effected zone on gas welding is MUCH wider and the abrupt transition
from bead-hardness to original tube-hardness is spread out over quite a large zone. Nearly 1/2" in some
cases, so that aspect of it isn't as critical.

To keep a longeron or something similar straight after welding a cluster to it, go to the outside of the
tube, opposite the welded joint and heat up an area about 1 1/2" long to near-welding temperature and
let it cool slowly. What you're doing is shrinking the outside of the tube to make up for the shrinkage
that is going to take place where the cluster was welded. That will tend to keep the tubes straight.
As for stress relieving: you don't have to go back and reheat a joint if, after making the last weld, while
the joint is still hot, you heat the entire thing back up, which will take very little heat, wait about five
seconds and slowly (SLOWLY) bring the torch away and let it cool very slowly.
A cluster joint or an area with a lot of steel going into it is like a dry sponge (it's a heat sink) and will
suck heat away from a joint very quickly, which is one reason you preheat it to begin with, to soak the
local area with heat so the weld area takes less to bring up to melting temps. Then bring the torch away
slowly and keep feeding in some heat while the structure tries to take it away.
Again, I'd only worry about it on high stress areas, but by doing the above on every joint and letting it
cool slowly, you'll have a very relaxed weld every time.
Gas isn't as critical as TIG because it takes so long to bring it up to temperature and you're warming up
a much larger area, so it cools down more slowly naturally. Still, never pull a torch away from a fresh
weld and walk away. The quick cooling is going to build in some stresses that are unnecessary.
Another reason gas isn't as critical is because you're working with a much bigger flame front and the
surface tension in the puddle automatically creates a much wider bead. The foot print of the bead is
much bigger and even mediocre penetration is bound to give a weld strong enough for the purpose.
Don't forget that something like a five tube cluster has over six inches of weld path in it, and it's pretty
hard for all of it to be bad.
If you lay right into the material with TIG, the material can be sitting there minding its own business
when suddenly a narrow band is melted and material melted in. It can be caused to happen almost
instantly. Then, if the heat is taken away instantly, all the surrounding metal is sucking heat out and it is
cooling quickly. It has barely started to expand from the heat, when it is suddenly cooled, but between
heating and cooling, the parts were locked together so in uncaring hands, you can get some very severe
hardness changes and locked in stresses. Look at the check list posted and you'll see where it stresses a
long period warm-up (or as long as you can do with TIG) and a long period cool off. If a fast weld is
reheated to a dull red, most of the locked in stresses will relieve themselves.
bd [Budd Davisson ]
There is nothing wrong with TIG IF YOU ALREADY HAVE IT and know how to use it, but, if you're
only going to build one airplane and will be learning to weld at the same time, gas is the way to go:
1. It isn't nearly as fussy when it comes to joint prep (cleanliness, gaps, etc)
2. The bead is so wide compared to the thickness of the material you'll have to work hard to
make a truly unsafe bead.
3. The equipment is cheap and you don't need to know as much about it (electrodes, etc).
4. Even if TIG welding, you need the torch for bending, etc.
5. All of the discussion about hardness, relieving, etc., is automatically taken care off with gas.

For the homebuilder, gas just makes more sense, but that doesn't make TIG a bad way to go as long as
you take a few precautions, which have all been mentioned.
DO NOT USE MIG FOR ANYTHING BUT MAKING JIGS AND SHOP EQUIPMENT. It's not
suitable for amateur use on airplanes.
bd [Budd Davisson ]
Machine settings (note not all welders have these controls)
There is setting named "AC Hz" and goes from 50 to 100.
That sets the AC frequency for the weld arc when TIG welding aluminum in AC. A higher frequency
focuses the arc into a narrower cone. A lower frequency widens our the arc. The higher frequency will
make fillet welds much easier.
Setting for "Weld Balance" goes from -8 to +8
For AC only, this sets the AC wave balance, try a setting of -2 to -3 to start. If the metal is dirty of
heavily oxidized, then turning it down into the lower negative numbers will give you more cleaning. If
the metal is really clean, you can cheat it up into the positive numbers for greater penetration.
Setting named "Pulse Frequency" and goes from 0 to 250
Ernie mentioned setting for 1.8 to 2.0 pulses per second. Where would that be in my 0 to 250 dial and
how can you sense the pulsing for filler input?
Try setting it as close to 1.5 as you can guess. If there is a digital readout, it should show the
pulse frequency as you turn the dial. Since the arc will pulsing it is kind of obvious, You add
metal during the high amperage part of the pulse cycle.
What would be the best way to finish the weld without running the danger of the workpiece melting at
the end. How long should the down-slope be set to and where should we aim the arc while finishing?
3 seconds is a good rule. It will prevent a pit from forming in the cooling weld puddle. Keep
moving the torch along the joint as it ramps down.
What is the best way to clean the contaminated tungsten, and if need to, how to cut the contaminated
tip. I used pliers and noticed a split in the tungsten.
A belt sander is the best solution to clean a tungsten. Otherwise just notch it just behind the
contamination using a corner of a grinding wheel, and break. A split tungsten indicates an old
tungsten. Newer ones don't tend to split.
Amperage setting
Heavy aluminum with a very clean surface, 1 amp per 0.001" of thickness for a flat butt weld, single
pass, full penetration. For steel and aluminum, add 30/o for inside fillet, and subtract 30% for an
outside fillet. so 1/8" = 0.125" = 125 amps + 30% or 40 amps = 165 amps.
In metric the proper amperage is 1 amp per 0.025mm of thickness. That covers steel and aluminum in a
flat-butt weld with no V-groove, full penetration. For copper you double your amperage. For bronze
subtract 50%. For stainless steel subtract 30%
Write those rules down on a card near your machine and use them to dial in your machine.

The foot pedal should only be giving you a percentage of the dial setting. If the dial on the machine is
set for 100 amps, then the foot pedal is giving you 0-100 amps. The dial on the machine should be set
to about 5-10% more amperage than the minimum needed for your weld.
TIG Rod
A basic selection of TIG Rod should include Steel, Stainless Steel, aluminum, and bronze.
Steel ER705-2 The basic TIG filler for steel. It comes copper plated to prevent rust, but keep it in a
tube or bag anyway. Sizes: 0.045, 1/16", 3/32", 1/8"
Stainless steel 308L is the standard filler for 304 SS which is the most common type. 309L is a better
filler for joining any kind of stainless to steel. 316L is the best for marine work. Sizes: 0.045", 1/16",
3/32"
Aluminum 4043 is the most common aluminum filler rod. It works well for most situations, but... 5356
is stronger, better corrosion resistance and better color match for polishing or anodizing. 4047 is my
favorite for welding castings, but it is kind of hard to find. Sizes: 1/16', 3/32", 1/8"
Bronze Silicon Bronze is excellent for joining other copper alloys such as copper, brass and most
bronzes. It can also be used to TIG Braze steel and stainless steel. TIG Braze welding is very useful for
stainless steel since it doesn't actually melt the base metal so there is no chromium oxides formed on
the back face of the metal. Sizes: 0.045", 1/16, 3/32"
An advanced selection of rod would include:
Some aerospace alloys (like Inconel, Hastelloy, or Haynes alloys) are for joining odd things and are
extremely strong.
Pure Nickel is excellent for joining cast iron.
Pure Copper is good for TIG welding copper where it will be seen.
ER80S-B2 is the current top choice for TIG welding Chrome-Moly tube for planes, cars, motorcycles
and bikes.
Vendors on the Web are:
http://www.tigdepot.net
http://www.centralwelding.com

Welding Practice tips

Level 1
Take a 3/8' steel washer. Place it on a piece of white paper. Take a nice sharp pencil and place the tip of
the pencil against the paper inside the washer. Now start swirling the pencil tip around the inside of the
washer to draw a circle on the paper. Keep circling the inside of the washer, while nudging the washer
across the paper. Try to end up with the washer traveling in a straight line across the paper. You should
end up with a long swirl pattern across the page. Keep practicing until the swirl pattern is even and in a
straight line.
Level 2
Same setup, with one change. Once again slide the washer across the page while swirling the pencil tip
around the inside of the washer, but now DON'T touch the paper with the pencil tip.
This means being able to hold the tip of the pencil within a 1/16" of the paper without touching it and
without lifting out of the washer.
Level 3
Do Level 2 while standing next to the table without any part of your arm resting on the table.
Level 4
Move to a 1/4" washer.
This exercise comes from a welding textbook from 1929, and it still works quite nicely to train your
muscles for floating the torch. Normally I do not swirl the torch while TIG welding, but this still works
as an exercise to build up muscle control.
Inverters are very different. With a transformer machine your tungsten will ball up automatically on
AC, whether you like it or not. I recommend forming that ball over a block of copper using DCEP, then
switch to AC for the welding. This way you will get a more spherical ball.
With an inverter, if you increase the output AC wave frequency, you can weld aluminum with a pointed
tungsten. The Thermal Arc 185TSW maxes out at 150hz on the output AC wave frequency. I think the
Miller Dynasty 200DX goes up to 200hz. The higher the frequency, the easier it is on your tungsten tip.
Also the higher the frequency the narrower your arc. This is especially good for fillet welds on
aluminum.
OPTIONS on welders
Pulser and its function.
A pulser is a device used to interrupt a welding arc. Mostly used on TIG, but can also be used for MIG.
The idea is to cycle the arc from high amperage to low amperage. The metal melts at the high
amperage and solidifies at the low amperage. There are 3 settings for a pulser.
1. Background amperage. This sets the low amperage and is usually set as a percentage of the main
amperage. So if you main amperage is 100 amps, and the Background Amperage is set for 50%, then
you Background Amperage is 50 amps. The lower the background amperage, the colder the weld will
get between the pulses. The thinner the material, the lower the background amperage % should be.
2. Percentage of On Time. This sets how much of each pulse cycle is spent at the high amperage and
how much at the low level,by percentage. A setting of 50% evenly splits the cycle between low and
high amperages. Less than 50% of On Time gives a Spikier Pulse. Greater than 50% gives a Softer

Pulse. The spikier the pulse the colder the weld will get between pulses.
3. Cycles per second. This is the really confusing one, because it has the most profound effect. Older
TIG pulser units only allowed up to a maximum of 10, or less, Cycles Per Second (Hertz - HZ), but the
newer Inverter TIG units allow much higher frequencies. My Maxstar 200DX goes up to 200hz. The
lower pulse frequencies are for traditional pulser use, where you run between 1 and 2 HZ on the pulse.
adding filler metal on every pulse or every other pulse as you progress across the weld.
The higher frequencies have a much different effect, in that they tend to make the metal super-liquid,
allowing it to flow and wet out much smoother. These higher settings work very well with autogenuous
welds where no filler metal is added at all. These are also called Fusion or Flow welds. I also found
these higher frequencies worked well for vertical welds in heavy Silicon Bronze, and when repairing
stainless steel piping in
breweries.
Now the reason for all this pulsing is rather simple. Lets start with a piece of 16 gauge steel. At 0.062"
thickness the proper amperage would be 1 amp per 0.001' of thickness or 62 amps (for a flat-butt weld,
full penetration, single pass).
You could easily TIG weld a seam in 16 gauge Steel using a continuous 62 amps. However a spike of
high amperage will melt the metal much faster than a low amperage, so you could weld faster at 80
amps than 62 amps, but at that heat you risk overheating the metal and causing undue warp or burning
of the steel. So you mix an interval of 80 amps with an interval at 40 amps.
The low amperage interval allows the puddle to solidify back into steel without allowing the arc to
break.
By pulsing the weld across the bead you get a very orderly row of rings, that give that distinct stack-ofdimes look to the weld bead. You adjust the exact pulse frequency to suit your style and speed of
welding as well as the thickness of the metal. The other benefit is that you have put less heat into the
metal, so you have less distortion.
A smaller, consistent weld bead is often stronger than a larger inconsistent weld bead. The more
consistent a weld is the more the stresses apply along it's entire length. Any peak or valley in a weld
becomes a stress point for failure to occur.
Whether you choose to add filler metal on every pulse, every other pulse, every third pulse or not at all
is dependent upon your own welding style and the circumstances of the weld.
Where pulser units become bewildering is when you start messing with the percentage settings for the
Background Amperage and percentage of On Time. The number of possible combinations is huge, and
there is little or no guidance given in the welding world as to application.
Pro-Fusion has an excellent series of web pages with on-line calculators that allow you to punch in the
overall required amperage you want and how fast you want to weld and it will generate pulser settings
for you.
http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/welding/ pulserate.asp
http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/welding/pulseparams.asp\

It still gives no guidance as to when you want a Spike pulse, or a Soft pulse, but it gives you something
to play with. 50%, 50% and 1.4hz, is a setting that works as a starting point. All I can say is that until
somebody puts out some really authoritative research showing what pulser settings are best for what
combination of weld and material, we will all be out there experimenting on our own. I have searched
for such a book for 5 years, and given up. Hopefully some day soon the welding engineers will decide
to enlighten us lowly welders.
The guideline I can give you is that the thinner the material the more it benefits from a spikier pulse. I
have yet to find a benefit to a really soft pulse. An example of an extreme spike pulse is that you can
weld a soda can at 120 amps, as long as you set your pulser to 2% On Time and 2% background amps.
Sequencer
A sequencer is God's gift to repetitive welding jobs. Any machine with a built in sequencer will have
what is called a 2MT-Hold setting. This allows the sequence to be controlled by 2 button taps.
The first part of the sequence is initiated by the first button tap:
1. Preflow gas - This will purge air from the line and torch before the arc initiates.
2. Arc initiation via high frequency.
3. Initial Amperage - This is the amperage the machine starts at once the arc is initiated.
4. Up Slope - this is the amount of time the machine takes to ramp up from the initial amperage to the
working amperage.
5. Working amperage - the amperage needed to weld the material.
or
5A. Pulsed weld amperage.
Then a second button tap when the weld bead is complete:
6. Down Slope - the time it takes to get from the working amperage to the final amperage. A longer
down slope prevents a pit from forming in the end of the weld bead.
7. Final amperage - what the machine slopes down to before terminating the arc.
8. Post flow gas - This shields the tungsten and weld area as both cool. So all that with just 2 button
taps.
To give you an idea of settings, my machine is currently set up for tack welding together stainless steel
picket railings:
1/2 second preflow gas,
2 amps initial amperage,
1 second up slope,
80 amps working amperage,
pulser is set to 40% on time, 50% background amperage and 1.2 pulses per second,
3 seconds of downslope to a final amperage of 3 amps and 15 seconds or post-flow.
I adjust the working amperage a little up or down depending on how the welds are going.
Older machines that don't have a 2MT-Hold setting require you to push and hold the button. Releasing
the button starts the second half of the sequence.

The Syncrowave 351 at school doesn't have 2MT-Hold so we just use the foot pedal to trigger the
sequence. The main challenge of using a sequencer is figuring out what amperage you really NEED to
weld a bead. Trial and error can get you there.
To hook up a control button for the sequencer you can either just buy a remote contacter control button
from CK Worldwide, or make your own. I make my own because CK's is just too big to be
comfortable. I use OEM replacement buttons for plasma cutter torches ($20 each).
They are armored in black silicon rubber so you don't get a shock from any high freq bleed through.
The wires for the switch are run along the TIG torch cables. You can just wrap electrical tape every foot
or so. I use a heavy fiber sheath to encase the whole lot. The button is just electrical taped to the torch
handle. I have tried making fancy brackets and electrical tape works better. The wires hook up to the
first 2 pins for your remote connector. Usually pins A and B.