Titanium Welding

[Adambomb]

Hello fellow everlast owners, I own a PT250EX. I got the 250EX specifically due to the wide adjustability of the pre and post flow because I wanted to start dabbling in welding titanium. I read anything I could find on the internet about the subject, watched and read what Jody had to say on the subject, as well as many others. I started out with simple fusion lap welds of some .015" equipment tag coupons. I didn't worry about back purgung the weld, since I was ony getting a feel for how the material reacted. To date, this is my best attempt

You can see at the top the white flaky stuff on the backside of a previous weld. This is contamination of the weld due to a lack of an inert atmosphere. Because of the atmospheric contamination, I can rip the weld in half by hand, it is so brittle. One thing I had not heard of until i spoke with Performance was toxicity of welding titaniu and needing a respirator. I have a respirator, but I'm fairly certain it won't fit under my welding hood. I'd like to hear any others experiences with welding titanium, tips, tricks and Mark, a link to your source about the dangers of breathing Ti fumes. I can't find anything on the subject.