The ac balance on my tig welder is as below. -5 =80%en -3 40%en -1 20%en 0 +1 20%ep +3 40%ep +5 80%ep It has got + and - 2 and 4 also. My question is if I want 60%ep 40% en do I go for +4 giving me 60%ep or -3 giving me 40% en. I know I can try and test but just wondered if I am missing something and what the difference is. Thanks. Steve
Marginal knowledge here for this, but I assume that ep = electrode positive, e.g. = electrode negative?
Not sure what you are trying to achieve but going towards ep gives you more cleaning and en gives you more penetration.
I am just curious as it looks like I can achieve 60 ep 40 en in two ways, either - 3 or +4 why would the settings be set out this way. Steve
You need AC current, the reason for it is that the aluminium oxide has a higher melting point than aluminium itself. If you were to weld on DC the surface layer of oxide is still intact when the aluminium underneath falls away. The frequent change of direction of the current helps with breaking through the oxide. However if you go more towards positive you have more oxide cleaning power but less power to melt the aluminium. More negative is the reverse.
I think they are describing 0 as balanced and then X percent towards cleaning or penetration rather than a percentage of waveform towards one or the other.
I have never used a tig welder and OP's post looked like gobbledegook to me but from the replies I have learned something new. Keep it up guys
The two settings you mention are not the same Steve, think of the 0 (or zero) value as 50%. I am rusty, but pretty sure the closest to your desired setting is + 20% EP.
That might be a eureka moment, something has clicked, iff 0 is 50-50 then I can move up to + to add a little ep or to - for more en, I was looking at the percentages wrong. Thanks Chris Steve
With my new understanding of the possible adjustments to the balance I have just had a practice at +2 setting which I think gives me 70% EP 30% EN, there was plenty of cleaning action so now I can start to fine tune the settings and hopefully improve. A bit of scrap, I didn't clean or wire brush it before the test weld. Steve
Had a minute to spare today so had a look at some different settings, I've had this machine for around four years now and only just getting my head around all the different settings for welding aluminium. I tried what is generally accepted at a good starting point for the balance 60% EN 40% EP, on this machine it is -1 on the dial, I set it at 80 amps and 120 htz, it took a little longer for the cleaning action but it has a narrower bead and more penetration, generally a much better weld, once the penny dropped I am now finding it a lot easier to fine tune the welder. Got to have a play with pulse next!! Same test piece but from the other side, again I didn't clean the alloy, compared to the other test it looks a much better run, as it got hotter I was chasing it a bit towards the end of the weld. More practice when I have time! Steve
Do you have to spend lots of money to get a usable tig welder?I fancy a play but Im frightened off with some prices.
For alloy welding you need an AC/DC machine, from what I have seen the inverter machines start from around £400 up to thousands, it doesn't stop at the machine though, there is the argon gas and gauges, gloves and helmet. This is the same as mine https://www.weldequip.com/swp-digitig-200.htm I have had it for around 4 years and paid £700 for it. Just a DC machine comes in cheaper. Steve
I've just revisted this thread as I've got a long-term borrow of a mate's R-Tech AC/DC TIG set Getting back into welding steel was straightforward and I'm playing around with an Aluminium fairing bracket construction for his 125 KTM enduance racer. A load of good learning so far and I'm improving every time I have a go @Birdie - having looked at your ep/en stuff with fresh eyes, I need to play with the settings. However, I'm amazed at the cleaning action of the AC arc for surfaces with absolutely no prep. A small example - done with no pre-weld cleaning, etc. I've since got this a lot better but it's certainly tricky getting a steady bead on the small-ish diameter tube (about 16mm)...
