iTig-200 Noob having some troubles doing beads on 1/8

[seanm]

Hi folks. I've had this welder for about a year. I have the foot pedal. I started with 1/8 hot rolled steel, cleaned off the mill scale, wiped it down with acetone and am practicing beads. I'm using a 3/32" thoriated tungsten and 3/32" ER70S2 filler rod. For this welder if the foot pedal is attached the amp control on the welder doesn't do anything. I did some welds with the foot pedal then switched to the trigger, setting the power at 130 and then 120 amps, to eliminate me and the foot pedal for 1 variable. I started with a copper piece between my scraps and the welding table and then switched to use small pieces of angle iron, to elminate the copper sheet as a heat sink and how it might serve as a backing plate. I either get somewhat decent ripples on the front and what I think to be poor penetration in the back or I end up too hot. I'm left handed so I travel from left to right. When I was welding without the foot pedal there's more problems at the end on the right side when things get too hot. I've posted pictures of the welder knob settings, my table setup, and 4 pictures front and back of each piece. In case it isn't clear from the picture pulse is turned off. I'd like to hear suggestions and questions to get better at this. I'm trying to figure out everything (arc length, heat settings, travel speed). Thanks a lot folks.