how are my welds

[dgarnier]

I still had my old meter on the argon tank, and its in cfh. I also am going to try and turn the argon down, to see if its cooling the puddle down too much?

[dgarnier]

ok tried 7cfp and 25cfh and at 45 amps the weld look the same as they did with 12cfh. The only thing that was differant was with 25cfp I couldnt get a puddle under 35 amps, but the filler rod would melt before a puddle started

[performance]

That is because you are holding too much of a torch angle OR the filler rod is too close. Stand your torch UP more and lean over to see the arc. Not comfortable, about as comfortable as squatting down to drive the ball in golf, but that's how to do it properly. Filler should still be in the gas envelope, but not in the arc.

[dgarnier]

ok...I will work on holding the filler back a bit more. I have reworked my table so the table is just about eye level now. Not the best set up but I can keep the arc nice and tight. I am really starting to think the heat lines on this steel are due the heat treat it got. Going to stop by the and pick up some more scrap this weekend and hopefuly they are working with some other kind of steel this time.

Thanks for all the help so far guys

[dgarnier]

Ok got some stainless from the scrap yard - not sure what type, but i did use 309 1/16 filler, the stainless is 1/16 and I use a 1/16 tungsten. First set the machine at 80 amps ad ran a bead but using the foot pedal with just enough to keep the puddle moving. I was also able to keep the tungsten less then a 1/16th from the puddle

After the weld cooled it was a copper color thoughout.

Then i bumped up the amps to 90 and ran another bead, but this time used more amps to get a wider puddle. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. After this weld cooled off it was gray like the base stainless

[Tritium]

I seem to remember reading somewhere, possibly on weldingtipsandtricks.com, that gray was an indicator of too much heat. I may be wrong though.

Thurmond

[Timberwolf]

ya the second weld is too hot. I know your only doing practice beads, but try cutting it in half and doing a T joint, butt joint, and lap joint (so maybe more than just in half) but for something like that I would be using .035-.045 filler.