For any experienced welders out there, I need some guidance on TIG welding stainless steel.
I went in today to practice (and I should note that I’ve done very little welding aside from classes with @SavHarvey holding my hand) and could not get a decent weld. Not matter how much I adjusted the gas flow, every single bead I attempted was massively oxidized (that picture is with 308L filler, but even just a plain bead with no filler looked the same).
Any ideas where I went wrong?
Thanks so much, and I hope everyone has a fantastic and safe holiday weekend!
Hi Patrick, were you using Welder 1 or Welder 2? I just ran about 20 hours of 304 TIG on Welder 1 this week, so perhaps try using that one (if you weren’t already) to rule out an equipment issue.
Re: gas flow, a good rule of thumb is 2-2.5x the cup size in CFH. Too much flow is just as bad as too little. I was using a #7 cup with about 20 CFH.
How confident are you in the alloy of the parent metal and your filler rod?
Thanks Evan!
I was on machine 2, so maybe it’s misbehaving, although I doubt it - the problem is usually with the ass in the chair I’ve found.
I was also running a #7 cup, and started around 20 CFH, and experimented with everything ranging from 15-40, and always got the same result. I DID order my 304 coupons (and filler rod) from Amazon, so there is definitely a chance that there are issues with purity, but everything seemed normal. I’ll try to book a little time on welder 1 and see if I have any better luck!
