A PowerTIG 250EX and problems
The welder I had previously was a simple 200 amp DC welder and everything was going decent but I wanted to upgrade to the 250EX.That's where the problems started.
Using the same bottle of argon and electrode as before I now can't reliably start an arc with DC. The weird part is that I can start the arc on the old welding table, on a piece of stainless steel laying on the table and on a piece of copper, the arc in the copper is dead stable, on the stainless a little less so and a little strange on the table with long arcs that appear to come almost from the collet. The only way I can reliably start an arc on the stainless piece that I'm attempting to weld is to warm the electrode by starting an arc on the copper and then quickly moving to the part.
The pieces I'm working on are freshly machined and washed down with acetone and I've gone so far as to clamp the ground directly to the part. I've tried from 10 - 20 cf argon, base current at 140 and using the foot pedal or lower and the torch switch. The electrode seems to have an etch right up to the collet from the starting arc.
I'm not blaming the welder yet, the last time I used a welder with half the capabilities of this one, the first Apple computer had just come on to the market, any idea what I have done ?
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