[914pete]

Hi, first post. Really like Jody's videos. I bought a AHP Alpha Tig 201XD recently and have been practicing with it this week mainly on AC and 1/16 6061 sheet. Just running beads for now. I have zero experience tig welding. Pretty good with a MIG and O/A torch. Anyway, I keep getting popping sounds while running beads. I can hear the usual buzzing AC sounds (like Ive been hearing in youtube vids) in the back round but I'm also getting erratic popping sounds similar to mig welding. I'm practicing on clean scrap 1/16 6061 sheet. I even thoroughly cleaned it with a dedicated SS brush and acetone. Still getting the popping sounds. I've been using 3/32 and 1/16 2% lanthanated tungsten and two different 4043 filler rods which I cleaned as well. I'll be honest, my beads are not that pretty and I've tried all kinds of settings and the popping is always present throughout a 1-3" bead.

I just practiced again a little. 1/16 2% Lanthanated, 1/16 4043 filler, 1/16 6061 sheet thoroughly cleaned. AMP 30, switch to TIG, AC, 2T, pulse off, AC FREQ 50%, Post flow 5S. Standard #6 cup on a #9 head (this machine came with an interchangeable #9 and 17 head. I keep the amps low around where I can achieve a decent bead at full amps because I still am not use to using the foot pedal.

Any suggestions?

Also, does anyone have this particular machine? The main amp dial is WAY off. Like setting the dial to 50 amps shows only around 30 amps on the digital readout. Normal? Can I expect ALL the dials to be way off? I wish I knew someone that had this machine and has used it a lot because I have so little experience with TIG welding, I'm not even sure if it's working correctly. LOL

[cj737]

Aluminum needs more amps than less. If the material is 1/16, you probably want to be set around 80-90 amps. The foot pedal will let you taper off as you go.

If the pedal is not ranging accurately, it may be the potentiometer internal to it that can be adjusted. The "popping" is often a symptom of a poor ground. If you lay aluminum on a steel table, clamp to the steel, the ground can go "hunting" while welding. Especially with thinner material that may warp as you weld. Maybe tack you practice piece to a larger, thicker piece of aluminum then clamp to that.

A #6 cup wants about 12-15cfh of argon (just an FYI). You didn't mention the AC Balance. Around 30-35% is normally very good.

[Oscar]

CRANK UP THE AMPERAGE! If you need to get one of those AC clamp ammeters, so be it, but you need to get a lot of amps fast to get the puddle going.

AC Frequency is Hz, not %. 60-100Hz is typical.

AC balance is %. 65 - 70 % EN is typical. Equivalently, it can be stated as 30 - 35% EP. Double check your machine so you can know which is which. Blindly adjusting things will get you nowhere fast. As was mentioned make sure you have a good "ground" connection. And make sure your aluminum is not anodized. You need to triple or quadruple your post flow because that inadequate WP9 air cooled torch will heat up so much the tungsten will not be able to cool off before the 5 second post flow is up, and will instantly oxidize as soon as the shielding gas is gone. Ideally, for aluminum you want a WP20 water cooled torch (which uses the same front-end consumables as the #9). If water cooled is not an option the big ol' clonkin' WP26 is the next best thing. It's size sucks, but AC TIG welding heats up torches and the torch cables so much faster than DC TIG welding it's easy to ruin 9/17 torches once you wrap your head around the fact that aluminum needs to start out HOT and gotta weld it fast, generally speaking, or else you risk heat-soaking the whole part and blowing out edges left-and-right.

[914pete]

Thanks for the feedback! Ok, had a chance to practice again last night. I tried running anywhere from 30 amps to 120. 120 was HOT but I got to practice using the foot pedal. Using a WP9 air cooled torch 5 and 6 stubby gas lense. 15SCFH on the Argon. I tried 10SCFH up to 20SCFH no difference. I had better luck with the 30amps probably due to inexperience but either way, still a lot of sputtering and popping along with the normal "buzzing". I also found around 70hz on the AC Freq. worked better then say closer to 100. I've tried the AC Balance to basically every setting....still confused what cleaning action is going on since I'm not really noticing any difference where I set it....If I crank it up all the way to 80% it does melt the 1/16" 2% Lanthanated pretty fast. I'm wondering if its simply oxidation. I've been using a dedicated SS brush and Acetone to clean the practice .070 6061 plate but this is scrap I bought at a local Metal Supermarket so it could have been sitting around for a long time. And I tried clamping the ground to the work piece which made no difference. No issues with getting an immediate arc resting the plate on the welding table and the ground clamped to the table. Although, I'm wondering how accurate the setting positions are considering the Amp dial reading is WAY different then what the digital readout is. Is that normal? Like I'll set the dial to say 50 amps but the digital readout will be around 30. One thing I noticed immediately was the difference between HF 4043 and 4043 I picked up at a welding store. The 4043 from the welding store was shiny and worked much better. But either way, still getting the annoying sputtering.

CRANK UP THE AMPERAGE! If you need to get one of those AC clamp ammeters, so be it, but you need to get a lot of amps fast to get the puddle going.

AC Frequency is Hz, not %. 60-100Hz is typical.

AC balance is %. 65 - 70 % EN is typical. Equivalently, it can be stated as 30 - 35% EP. Double check your machine so you can know which is which. Blindly adjusting things will get you nowhere fast. As was mentioned make sure you have a good "ground" connection. And make sure your aluminum is not anodized. You need to triple or quadruple your post flow because that inadequate WP9 air cooled torch will heat up so much the tungsten will not be able to cool off before the 5 second post flow is up, and will instantly oxidize as soon as the shielding gas is gone. Ideally, for aluminum you want a WP20 water cooled torch (which uses the same front-end consumables as the #9). If water cooled is not an option the big ol' clonkin' WP26 is the next best thing. It's size sucks, but AC TIG welding heats up torches and the torch cables so much faster than DC TIG welding it's easy to ruin 9/17 torches once you wrap your head around the fact that aluminum needs to start out HOT and gotta weld it fast, generally speaking, or else you risk heat-soaking the whole part and blowing out edges left-and-right.

[914pete]

Thanks for the feedback. I tried clamping directly to the piece I was working on and it didn't make a difference. Still a lot of "sputtering and popping" along with the normal buzzing sound. I've been practicing with 30-100 amps. 30 amps seems to work best but probably is due to my inexperience working the pedal. I've been trying anywhere from 10-25SCFH, not really noticing any difference. I'm wondering if its simply oxidation. I'm buying scrap 6061 from a metal store to practice with. Could have been kicking around their warehouse for years for all I know. I am cleaning with a SS brush and Acetone though.

Aluminum needs more amps than less. If the material is 1/16, you probably want to be set around 80-90 amps. The foot pedal will let you taper off as you go.

If the pedal is not ranging accurately, it may be the potentiometer internal to it that can be adjusted. The "popping" is often a symptom of a poor ground. If you lay aluminum on a steel table, clamp to the steel, the ground can go "hunting" while welding. Especially with thinner material that may warp as you weld. Maybe tack you practice piece to a larger, thicker piece of aluminum then clamp to that.

A #6 cup wants about 12-15cfh of argon (just an FYI). You didn't mention the AC Balance. Around 30-35% is normally very good.

[Oscar]

Thanks for the feedback! Ok, had a chance to practice again last night. I tried running anywhere from 30 amps to 120. 120 was HOT but I got to practice using the foot pedal. Using a WP9 air cooled torch 5 and 6 stubby gas lense. 15SCFH on the Argon. I tried 10SCFH up to 20SCFH no difference. I had better luck with the 30amps probably due to inexperience but either way, still a lot of sputtering and popping along with the normal "buzzing". I also found around 70hz on the AC Freq. worked better then say closer to 100. I've tried the AC Balance to basically every setting....still confused what cleaning action is going on since I'm not really noticing any difference where I set it....If I crank it up all the way to 80% it does melt the 1/16" 2% Lanthanated pretty fast. I'm wondering if its simply oxidation. I've been using a dedicated SS brush and Acetone to clean the practice .070 6061 plate but this is scrap I bought at a local Metal Supermarket so it could have been sitting around for a long time. And I tried clamping the ground to the work piece which made no difference. No issues with getting an immediate arc resting the plate on the welding table and the ground clamped to the table. Although, I'm wondering how accurate the setting positions are considering the Amp dial reading is WAY different then what the digital readout is. Is that normal? Like I'll set the dial to say 50 amps but the digital readout will be around 30. One thing I noticed immediately was the difference between HF 4043 and 4043 I picked up at a welding store. The 4043 from the

Sounds like you're still off to a bad start fighting the machine the whole way through. Unfortunately it is not uncommon for some machines to be wayy off on the settings, and then that confuses the heck out of the user. Put away that 1/16" 2%La tungsten. For aluminum that requires a lot of amperage, you need at minimum a 3/32" tungsten or better yet a 1/8" tungsten, stick with 2%La or 2% Ce. If 80% balance balled/melted the tungsten fast, then it seems that you set it to 80% EP/20% EN, which is about the opposite of what you would typically want. You typically want approximately 70-80% EN. Without pictures or video or being there to use your machine, we're still gonna be guessing just like you. There's just so many variables. You're wondering if it is oxidation - so are we but we can't even see what you're looking at. Catch my drift? Even then, if you are cleaning with acetone first, and then doing a proper SS wire brushing to the part, assuming it is not anodized, then you should be able to remove all the oxidation from the surface. Again, we can't see anything, so we're only taking your word for what you are doing to have been done properly.

[ljdm1956]

Hi, first post. Really like Jody's videos. I bought a AHP Alpha Tig 201XD recently and have been practicing with it this week mainly on AC and 1/16 6061 sheet. Just running beads for now. I have zero experience tig welding. Pretty good with a MIG and O/A torch. Anyway, I keep getting popping sounds while running beads. I can hear the usual buzzing AC sounds (like Ive been hearing in youtube vids) in the back round but I'm also getting erratic popping sounds similar to mig welding. I'm practicing on clean scrap 1/16 6061 sheet. I even thoroughly cleaned it with a dedicated SS brush and acetone. Still getting the popping sounds. I've been using 3/32 and 1/16 2% lanthanated tungsten and two different 4043 filler rods which I cleaned as well. I'll be honest, my beads are not that pretty and I've tried all kinds of settings and the popping is always present throughout a 1-3" bead.

I just practiced again a little. 1/16 2% Lanthanated, 1/16 4043 filler, 1/16 6061 sheet thoroughly cleaned. AMP 30, switch to TIG, AC, 2T, pulse off, AC FREQ 50%, Post flow 5S. Standard #6 cup on a #9 head (this machine came with an interchangeable #9 and 17 head. I keep the amps low around where I can achieve a decent bead at full amps because I still am not use to using the foot pedal.

Any suggestions?


Also, does anyone have this particular machine? The main amp dial is WAY off. Like setting the dial to 50 amps shows only around 30 amps on the digital readout. Normal? Can I expect ALL the dials to be way off? I wish I knew someone that had this machine and has used it a lot because I have so little experience with TIG welding, I'm not even sure if it's working correctly. LOL

Can't help with popping, but I have the AHP 200, same issue with amp display vs knob. according to AHP tech, go by the knob setting for true amps. they sent me a new display/knob control board, just have to pay shipping, rather than sending it to them for repair. supposed to be a plug n play board, easy to replace.

[BillE.Dee]

get yourself a 1/8 or 3/16 piece of practice material and use the 3/32 lanthanated tungsten (just a little stick out). Make sure you have the cables in the proper connections. Acetone the material, then brush it, acetone it again to get the dust off. Clamp the ground to the piece or clamp the piece to the table and ground the table. Use about 150 amps to get started, hold the tungsten the thickness of the tungsten away from the piece and only use about 5* tilt on the torch just peeking at the tungsten and parent material. Don't add filler and just run beads. Set the machine about 20% -30% cleaning and see how it works for you IF it balls the tungsten turn the setting the other direction. You will have to regulate the heat thru the pedal. Make sure you are in fact getting gas flow at the torch.

[robtg]

When all else fails try a different tank of argon. I have a small tank that I keep around just for testing.
Some suppliers don't purge them properly when refilling.

[Boul]

hey, have you found the solution to your problem ? ill be interrested to know how you solved this . thanks

[martinr]

I know this is a fairly old topic, but just in case anyone hits it in future, I got hit with this popping sound caused by the arc going unstable, whilst welding aluminium. After messing around with grounds, gas flow, AC balance etc, I upped the electrode from 2.4mm to 3.2mm and that did it for me. I think I got complacent/lazy, using a 2.4mm electrode all the time.

I’d be interested to know if this fixes it for anyone else ie if using an undersized electrode is a common cause of this irritating instability.

[Poland308]

Undersized tungsten can definitely be an issue. When the tungsten degrades it can send tungsten chunks into the weld pool. These will, or can cause popping.

[Jack Ryan]

I know this is a fairly old topic, but just in case anyone hits it in future, I got hit with this popping sound caused by the arc going unstable, whilst welding aluminium. After messing around with grounds, gas flow, AC balance etc, I upped the electrode from 2.4mm to 3.2mm and that did it for me. I think I got complacent/lazy, using a 2.4mm electrode all the time.

I’d be interested to know if this fixes it for anyone else ie if using an undersized electrode is a common cause of this irritating instability.

What current were you using when this happened?

Thanks
Jack