TIG and... moisture?

   / TIG and... moisture? #1  

joshuabardwell

Elite Member
Joined
May 6, 2012
Messages
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Location
Knoxville, TN
Tractor
Bobcat CT225
I had an issue tonight while trying to TIG weld some stuff. Symptom was that the arc wouldn't start even though I could hear the HF buzzing. Tried it on the work piece and my table top. Nada. Checked ground and it was good. The welder worked fine in stick mode. Checked all settings on the welder. Switched to lift start and the arc started and the tungsten balled up in a few seconds. Gas seemed okay.

My best guess is that, because I moved the table and work piece from inside in the air conditioning to the humid outside, condensation on the surface was messing things up. Does that sound about right? It was late and people were sleeping, so I didn't pull out the old propane weed burner to dry things off and test the theory. Also, I wonder if condensation may have formed in my gas line, although I did purge it before starting.

I had wanted to use TIG because it was some 16 gauge tubing, and I was worried about blowing through with stick. I ended up getting it done with 3/32" 6011 at about 65 amps. I established the puddle on the 1/8" tubing and then carried it over to the 16 gauge. I did a series of overlapping tacks, basically, with cooling in between. It's not ideal, but it's just going to hold 3 lbs of TIG filler rod, so I don't think it's going anywhere. And now I can say I stick welded 16 gauge!
 
   / TIG and... moisture? #2  
Joshua, your points may be dirty or they could have been along with other components, wet or the point gap could need adjusting. OR you may want to make sure you have a better work clamp connection.


BUT IF your tungsten balled, you didn't switch it to negative polarity...which would keep the arc from lighting with HF.
 
   / TIG and... moisture?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
BUT IF your tungsten balled, you didn't switch it to negative polarity...which would keep the arc from lighting with HF.

I'll check, but having made that mistake once, I thought i was pretty careful to get it right this time. But I had been stick welding, so maybe I was just careless and forgot to switch the leads back. In which case, I'll feel dumb...
 
   / TIG and... moisture? #4  
I vote wrong polarity.
 
   / TIG and... moisture?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I just checked the machine, and since I was stick welding after the fact, the TIG torch isn't hooked up any more, so I can't say for sure. But y'all are right that wrong polarity is the most likely explanation. I'll double-check next time that the torch is negative, and see if the problem happens again.
 
   / TIG and... moisture? #6  
I haven't failed to switch polarity when using TIG but I still sometimes forget to turn on the gas..BIG suprise. WTH?..Oh.. moron forgot to open the gas valve.. :D
 
   / TIG and... moisture?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I haven't failed to switch polarity when using TIG but I still sometimes forget to turn on the gas..BIG suprise. WTH?..Oh.. moron forgot to open the gas valve.. :D

Definitely not that. No mistaking that!
 
   / TIG and... moisture?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Well, everything is running fine today. To be fair, I did leave the work piece out in the sun for a half hour before working on it, so it's not exactly the same as last night, but I guess I must have had the leads hooked up backwards by accident. Sheesh. I really did check and double-check that, but maybe I just spaced it.
 

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