Tig welding tips, questions, equipment, applications, instructions, techniques, tig welding machines, troubleshooting tig welding process
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GreinTime
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kiwi2wheels wrote:I had an instance where I was plugging some holes in an aluminum rad tank with some 1.2 x 18mm diam discs into the hole from a 20mm tube, which had been hit with a 90 deg counter sink to locate the disc.

Using a #6 cup with a gas lens was a PITA, always burning the disc back, and this was being done on a bench , so there was no access problem, re torch angle.

Changed to a plain # 5 cup, three tacks and weld, finish. I'd sure like to understand why !
AC only cleans where there is argon coverage, so better coverage over a wider area leads to a wider weld with a wider cleaning zone for a given amperage.

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#oneleggedproblems
-=Sam=-
noddybrian
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    Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:13 pm

That makes perfect sense in theory but I seem to get a wider cleaning band from a regular collet #5 than a #7 or #8 gas lens for the same balance setting which makes no sense at all - I can actually go slightly more EN & get the same etch zone using a standard #5 so that's what I use now - I don't understand why though - only swapped out due to contamination originally - guess when you find something that works stick with it even if it defies logic / instinct.
cj737
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    Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:59 am

exnailpounder wrote:Jody suggests that a smaller standard collet body and cup can work better for Aluminum. Has anyone ever tried it? Once I put on a gas lens, I never took it off but I just watched one of his vids and he says it and so does Roy Crumrine.
I use an #8 Pyrex and gas lens mostly, but swap to a collet body and #5 for tight spaces or small pieces/thin pieces. The #5 is small enough that gas flow doesn't really see the turbulence of a larger diameter cup so the gas lens isn't as differentiated. My input.
Poland308
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I use standard alumina cups size 5-7 for almost 99% of stuff at home and at work. I have gas lens cups and standard ones up to about 12 but don't use them much.
I have more questions than answers

Josh
kiwi2wheels
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    Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:27 am

GreinTime wrote:
kiwi2wheels wrote:I had an instance where I was plugging some holes in an aluminum rad tank with some 1.2 x 18mm diam discs into the hole from a 20mm tube, which had been hit with a 90 deg counter sink to locate the disc.

Using a #6 cup with a gas lens was a PITA, always burning the disc back, and this was being done on a bench , so there was no access problem, re torch angle.

Changed to a plain # 5 cup, three tacks and weld, finish. I'd sure like to understand why !
AC only cleans where there is argon coverage, so better coverage over a wider area leads to a wider weld with a wider cleaning zone for a given amperage.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
It was near impossible to make a run between the tacks with the gas lens set up. The arc would always migrate to the disc, like welding on steel too close to a magnet. I was more or less making a series of tacks and then pulsing over them.

It was the first inverter machine I'd used, but the other alu jobs (extrusions, castings, etc) hadn't been a problem with gas lens.
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