Everlast PA160-STH pedal TIG max output adjustment

[joshuab]

Doing a little TIG practice today and thought I'd pass along this little tip for setting the max-output dial on the pedal of the PA160-STH and other Everlast welders whose max output is controlled by a dial on the pedal, vs. a dial on the front panel.

PS: As of the time I posted this, YouTube seems to be having some issues for me with the video. Only playing back in 320 resolution and freezing up sometimes on playback. Hopefully it works okay for y'all.



Just for kicks, here are some of my welds. I was playing around with lap joints at about 100-110 amps max pedal. For simplicity, I used a lay-wire technique and tried to focus on torch angle and travel speed/consistency. Other settings were: 3/32" 2% lanthanated (blue) electrode, 1/16" and 3/32" filler, but mostly 1/16" as the 3/32" was really too much. About 5-6 lpm of gas, which I think was a bit too low, as I got some porosity on the back side--but there may have been contaminants, as there was also a little boiling and sputtering. Metal was 1/8" mild steel.



First try! I'd like to see less nipping of the top edge, but overall I think not too bad. The bead on the right side, you can see where I was having inadequate shielding and/or contamination problems.



The whole thing.



Oh, now that one in the middle there, I'm pretty happy with! One thing I wonder about, though: should the bead profile be convex? It's not.



Here's my setup. People say you can't TIG weld outside, but I think they're wrong. Granted, I'm in a three-sided concrete carport that leads into a daylight basement, so I have some protection from the wind.

[performance]

I think the nipping you are referring to is underfill actually. That's an issue you have with the laywire technique that Jody hasn't really talked about. Even with lay wire you have to feed extra filler at times. He makes it look easy and effortless, but really in some shots you can see him dabbing in extra wire by "sliding" more in.

[joshuab]

That's an interesting point, Mark. If I was filling more aggressively and had a convex bead, any "nipping" of the upper corner would be filled back in.

I have heard Jody talk about the need to maintain pressure on the filler wire when using lay-wire. He talks about "satisfying" the puddle. I did notice some times in this session when the wire sort of melted back away from the puddle and I had to feed more. It only happened with the 1/16" though; the 3/32" always had plenty to give. I like the neat, small bead of the 1/16" better, though.

I think what I should be shooting for is a bead with "legs" the same width/height as the material thickness, and a 45-degree, slightly-convex surface. Is that right? So any time when the bead fails to reach the top edge of the top material, it's under-filled. On my beads, I have less filler material than the parent metal, so my weld is potentially the weak spot.

[performance]

The filler you are using , 1/16" is really too small for what you are doing. Not sure what's going on with 3/32 with giving you issues. For me 1/16 is consumed too rapidly especially for a lap joint like that. You have to work twice as hard to cover the same amount of ground. Use your torch manipulation to push the wire into place with the 3/32 and about 75-85 amps.

If you are having to constantly push wire in with the lay wire technique, then its not working for you. I'd go to the dabbing method. The laywire is something that Jody has popularized that doesn't work for everyone. I've done it, and can do it, but not something I prefer..

There are two ways to do things when tig welding.
Adding wire with the lay wire, and then you concentrate on torch manipulation back and forth up down.
The other is to add the metal when you see a need for it, and just keep the torch steady.
Both produce satisfactory welds, but the dabbing isn't any more work to me than the laywire...It's just a different way of doing it.

[joshuab]

Thanks for the feedback, Mark. If the goal is to put in a weld that is the same size as the parent metal, I do see that the 1/16" is too small. I feel like I got nicer welds that way, but it's no good if they're too small to do the job they need to do. The 3/32" was "too much" because it was impossible to keep it from nipping away the top edge, but it was definitely filling up the joint, so maybe it was better after all.

It's interesting you say that Jody has popularized lay-wire. That's probably where I learned it, but I just figured it was a standard technique. I like it, in theory, because it means that I am always putting in roughly the same amount of filler per inch of travel, compared to dabbing, where that's just one more variable for me to screw up.

[performance]

Dabbing is more about timing. The lay wire is giving you fits from the looks of it. If 3/32" is nipping away, then you are moving too quickly and underfilling still.
That's why the laywire technique can be deceiving. It's fine for small joints, but on larger ones, the deficiency shows up...you have to shove that wire in there.

Dabbing really isn't that hard. Keep your heat steady and count, 1001, 1002 etc and dab between the counts and even vary the speed at which you are counting, or you can get a cadence in your head and dab it in to it. If you can find music at 120 beats per minute, that means that you can add the dab two times a second on every down beat.

[youngnstudly]

I've used the "laywire technique" often throughout my welding career, during times when the fit up is poor or the filler rod is to small, but I have to agree with Mark that Jody popularized the term "Laywire." As for your welds, the dabbing method just takes time to master. I've tig welded on and off for 10 years and there are still times I have trouble getting consistently spaced ripples due to my shakey or inconsistent dipping. As Mark suggested, counting (in your head) helps you to stay "in synch" with your dipping. It sounds like your shielding gas is set a little low, but I think you'll also find that adding more filler material to create a more convex bead will help keeping the backside of your material clean. In other words, getting a rhythm going that will allow you to speed up your travel speed (while filling in the weld bead more) will prevent the heat from burning through the backside.

Also, don't expect every bead to be perfect! As long as you get your welds to look decent and retain strength, don't worry. You will have to weld a million things to get good enough to produce a beautiful bead on command. Welding projects are mostly done out of position anyways, especially if it's a project you can't bring to your bench and weld (like a car or motorcycle repair, for example). Welding a strong bead is most important, looks come second.

If it makes you feel better, nipping of the top corner happens to all of us at one time or another... Here's an example of a small weld on a flexplate that I did last night. Not my best weld by any means, but certainly not my worst weld either. It's a project where I had a bunch of beads to weld and I couldn't stop and analyze each and every bead. Of course I wish all my beads looked like they were machine welded, but then everyone would think they were! Some days I come darn close, other days, not so much...

[joshuab]

Those welds look pretty good to me--but I do see where you nipped the corner!