Welding transmission housings

The welder is a miller syncrowave.
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The woman instructor was back and apparently her and the day time instructor looked over the machine and changed out the argon tank. They couldn't get it weld either with the old tank. She said sometimes that happens even thought the gauge showed 500 pounds. Big difference with the new tank.

She also showed me how to weld toward me. Instead of right to left, I go top to bottom. I can see the puddle now and I couldn't see if before. I wait for the puddle to form and watch it kind of shimmer, the dip, move it wait for the shimmer than dip and so on. Major difference. I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere now. I wish I'd have done that at first. My main problem is I can't seem to go in a straight line and when I get tired at the end of class it

Next week she wants me to try aluminum. Said I'll love it. I hope so.

This is my attempts at welding towards me.20220521_142654.jpg
 
That's a lot better, and she's right...sometimes weird stuff happens when the tank gets low. I honestly think that's usually because of a touch of something else in the bottom more than lack of pressure, because I've run tanks down to almost zero with no issue. Regardless, it's better that it's the tank than you or the machine!

There's still some obvious contamination showing on your beads, but that appears to be coming from the metal. I see areas where it was hit with a grinder and the rest left alone and that will always cause ugly beads. Get the metal down to white, shiny stuff and you'll see a huge difference. It will also be easier to see the puddle.

I don't know what sort of torch setup they have on those machines, but a gas lens helps tremendously as you can have the tungsten much farther out, and easier to see. Even better, they make Pyrex gas lens cups which are clear. You can see through them, and they act somewhat like a mirror to reflect the light from the arc down onto the puddle...it's much, much easier to see using them. They're a bit more expensive than ceramic alumina cups, and they can't handle quite as much heat, but for learning they really help, and for awkward positions where you can't see well no matter what, they help a lot as well.

The Syncrowave 250DX is a fantastic machine. I've had over a dozen of them and the first one I had looked just like what you're using. I just bought/sold and traded up newer machines multiple times to get my current machine...they all weld beautifully and have a lot of power. I actually get better results on aluminum with one than I do using a newer machine with all the bells and whistles like pulse and adjustable frequency....not sure why, but it's true.
 
The material was bead blasted. The shiny part was where the instructor tried to get the machine running. I'll try hitting it with a grinder next time. All tig machines including mine have a gas lens.

Here is my home machine. I don't think i need a syncrowave.


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alloy said:
My main problem is I can't seem to go in a straight line
Click to expand...

I get this problem sometimes when doing practice beads on a plate not an actual joint, with a joint at least you kind of have some reference of a line to follow. I have tried chalk lines parallel to the beads im doing or a piece of strait metal to the side with the same idea to give me a reference line.

Stu
 
alloy said:
The material was bead blasted. The shiny part was where the instructor tried to get the machine running. I'll try hitting it with a grinder next time. All tig machines including mine have a gas lens.

Here is my home machine. I don't think i need a syncrowave.

Click to expand...
It will be interesting to see what happens when you try cleaning with a grinder. I haven't tried TIG welding on anything that was bead blasted before, but I guess it's possible that depending on the media used it could drive surface contaminants into the metal. If nothing else it's worth trying as an experiment.

My first TIG welder (still have it) is an Everlast PowerTIG 210EXT. It has a lot of features and I like it just fine on steel and stainless, but for some crazy reason I have never been able to get results on aluminum with it that are as good as the Syncrowave. I've literally spent hours with the two machines next to one another and gone back and forth trying to get the results to look the same. I can get close, but not quite....I guess it's just me!
 
stupoty said:
I get this problem sometimes when doing practice beads on a plate not an actual joint, with a joint at least you kind of have some reference of a line to follow. I have tried chalk lines parallel to the beads im doing or a piece of strait metal to the side with the same idea to give me a reference line.

Stu
Click to expand...
Excellent point...chalk lines are good, and so is scribing a line with a ruler and something sharp.
 
I've looked for clear glass pyrex lenses for my torch but they all seem to be short, and much larger. Like just a tube of clear plastic.

The pyrex lenses seems like a great idea and I'd like to try it.

I put a picture of my torch up earlier.

What do I need to do to use the pyrex lenses? I believe the torch is a WP17.

I jsut ordered 15 more 1/8" plates to practice on. I learned that the woman instructor has a field truck at her work. Am told it's a a large deisel 4 wheel dually. That's a pretty seriuos truck I'd say. Someone must be pretty confident in her ability. We are lucky to have her as an instructor. She's a very nice younger lady, facial piercings and all.
 
@alloy
I've been following along, rooting for you and learning what I can.

I'm barely a novice welder and zero TIG experience.
However, regarding cleaning the coupons and abrasive blasting specifically.
I can't imagine abrasive blasting is acceptable, except as a first step in a multi-step cleaning process.
After blasting, some other mechanical and/or chemical process would have to be used to remove whatever contamination the blasting caused.
For instance, if the blasting media had been used to clean aluminum transmission housings, then used on steel coupons, the coupons would certainly be contaminated with aluminum.

There may be a specific type of blasting media that is appropriate for steel coupons. However, even if used in a "For Steel Only" blast cabinet, it will redistribute some portion of whatever it had removed from the previous part(s).

I think the last mechanical cleaning process is supposed to be a wire wheel or brush, with stainless steel bristles, used only on steel or stainless steel, followed by (at least) a wipe down with Acetone.

I've stuck my neck out here. Welding experts be friendly. :grin:
 
I have soaked smaller pieces of steel in cleaning vinegar overnight to remove the mill scale at that point it needs very little cleaning/grinding before you can weld it. I don't have a bead blaster but there have been times I have sand blasted rusty metal and then finished cleaning with a flap disc then Acitone before welding.

TIG welding is pretty cool, but it needs to be clean. For my junk pile of metal sometimes it's a lot of work getting things cleaned up before welding, sometimes it's just easier to fire up the MIG and get on with it.

Tim
 
alloy said:
I've looked for clear glass pyrex lenses for my torch but they all seem to be short, and much larger. Like just a tube of clear plastic.

The pyrex lenses seems like a great idea and I'd like to try it.

I put a picture of my torch up earlier.

What do I need to do to use the pyrex lenses? I believe the torch is a WP17.

I jsut ordered 15 more 1/8" plates to practice on. I learned that the woman instructor has a field truck at her work. Am told it's a a large deisel 4 wheel dually. That's a pretty seriuos truck I'd say. Someone must be pretty confident in her ability. We are lucky to have her as an instructor. She's a very nice younger lady, facial piercings and all.
Click to expand...
CK has a pretty good page that shows most of the options for your torch. I've seen kits on Amazon and eBay that had pretty much everything you need as well. For most work I prefer the larger diameter gas lens setup....although I hate that people call them "gas savers" since that really isn't what they're intended for. They give better gas coverage for a given CFH and let you run the tungsten much farther out and if you save a little gas in the process, that's a side benefit. For a CK17 size torch and general use I like the stubby kits as well...makes them a bit more compact and easy to use.

Gas Saver Kits - CK Worldwide

www.ck-worldwide.com www.ck-worldwide.com
 
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