? about 200 Square Wave

J

Jeff Tures

Member
I've recently bought a 200 Square Wave Tig machine. My experience is limited with tig. I seem to be able weld mild steel OK, but 1/8" aluminum I'm trying to weld is a nightmare. I have it set on AC Tig and the other settings as the manual says to do. Buy the way Lincoln, your manual sucks. All I get is a funny fuzzy flame that doesn't melt anything. I cleaned the aluminum with a stainless steel wire wheel before welding.

Any help is appreciated.
 
What are your settings? I don't use that welder but I am pretty good with aluminum.

General settings for 1/8" I would use 140 amps, 65% EN and 100hz
 
So what's the problem? Smash the pedal until you get a molten puddle, back off a little, dab and move, rinse repeat.
Less thinking and more doing. Aluminum likes to be welded faster so just move on out!

60% is a little low IMO if it's clean material. Miller defaults their stuff to 72-75% depending on the machine. I tell people 68-72% is an all around great spot to be in
 
What color tungsten? You shouldn't run green. Red works, purple, LaYZr is also good for Al and anodized Al. Also you don't need to ball it because it is an inverter, if you are trying to ball green. You should go more % EN then 60% if it's not building a puddle.

If you have more specific questions you can call Lincoln Electric's applications department hotline or live chat with some experts.
866-635-4709
 
Last edited:
DrewP said:
What color tungsten? You shouldn't run green. Red works, purple, LaYZr is also good for Al and anodized Al. Also you don't need to ball it because it is an inverter, if you are trying to ball green. You should go more % EN then 60% if it's not building a puddle.

If you have more specific questions you can call Lincoln Electric's applications department hotline or live chat with some experts.
866-635-4709
Click to expand...

I'm using 2% Lanthanated. I was looking at articles on Welding tips & tricks and read that maybe I had the argon set too high. I'm not sure were that should be exactly. I made a few adjustment and now I'm getting a puddle. I used a tig in school about 6 years ago and had no problem with aluminum there. But then again the teacher told us exactly how to set up the machine.

Thanks
 
bigjoe said:
Does that machine have auto setting ? I always ball my tungsten first around 16 cfm argon.
Click to expand...
That won't help him.............

No need to ball the tungsten as these are inverter welders.
Next a good rule of thumb to get started is your gas flow should be double (roughly, remember this gets you in the ballpark, it's not perfect) the size of the cup. So a #10 cup should be around 20 cfh
 
Do still sharpen it for stainless? Can you explain why the inverter makes the ball negligible, Just asking
 
bigjoe said:
Do still sharpen it for stainless? Can you explain why the inverter makes the ball negligible, Just asking
Click to expand...
The rule of thumb is to sharpen it to a point for steels and stainless. For aluminum you sharpen it to a point then put a blunt on the end.
With a sine way it tends to ball up anyway, doesn't happen with inverters which use square waves. They may round off very slightly but nothing compared to a inverter. Plus with adjustable frequency having a point will help you pinpoint and focus the arc. with most transformer machines you are stuck at 60 hz so that wide arc and ball just seem to flow nicely together. Hard to narrow and arc with a big ball on the end of the tungsten.
That's my .02, others may see it different
 
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