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B-10
OPERATION
B-10
PROTECTIVE GAS
Both argon and helium work when welding aluminum.
Argon is preferred, due to its lower cost and consump-
tion rate. This gas also tends to stabilize the arc, thus
making it easy to operate. For some applications,
however, the use of helium, or argon-helium blends, is
recommended due to better weld penetration and
faster travel speed. Helium is especially suitable for
welding thick workpieces. The recommended gas flow
rates are shown in table 5.
TABLE 5
TIPS FOR IMPROVED TIG STARTING
1. Start Current:
For the best AC or DC TIG starting characteristics it
may be necessary to adjust the start current on the
front panel depending on the tungsten size. In gener-
al, larger tungsten requires more energy to establish
an arc than smaller tungsten. As an initial guideline,
set the start current according to the following recom-
mendations:
Tungsten Size (in.) Start Current (Amps)
0.020, 0.040 1/16th 6-10 Amps
3/32 th 10-12 Amps
1/8th 12-15 Amps
2. DC Strike Current:
Aside from start current, DC strike current can also be
adjusted from the set-up menu to get a hotter or softer
start when DC TIG welding. Strike current is an initial
spike of current that lasts a few milliseconds before
the machine goes to start current. In general, the fac-
tory default of 40 amps works for most applications. If
welding on very thin materials with small diameter
tungsten, strike current can be turned down to mini-
mize burning through the weld material. Like wise for
larger diameter tungsten strike current can be turned
up to put more energy in the tungsten.
3. AC TIG Start Power:
For AC TIG welding AC start power can be adjusted
from the set-up menu to aid starting if required. The
V205-T AC/DC when set to AC TIG will try to initiate
the arc with positive polarity until the arc is estab-
lished. Positive polarity puts more energy into heating
the tungsten but the drawback is that is can cause the
tungsten to ball excessively or to super heat. Note
super heating of the tungsten can be noticed if the
tungsten is glowing red or orange during starting.
Start Power can be adjusted within two ranges:
Range Mode
0.5 to 1 Manual Setting
1.2 to 5.0 Incremental setting
If start power is set within the incremental range
mode, the machine tries to start electrode positive at a
relative setting of 1. If the arc fails to establish it will
repeat the start sequence each time by incrementing
the amount of electrode positive energy by 10% more
(0.1) up to the start power limit setting or until the arc
establishes. For comparison a start power limit of 2 if
reached will have twice the energy of the starting point
of 1. If the tungsten has too much of a ball on it or
appears to be super heating during starts the start
power limit can be turned down. In the manual setting
range, the start power will not keep incrementing up to
a limit. Instead the start power stays at whatever level
is set. For example a setting of 0.5 will start the
machine with half the normal starting energy of 1.
V205-T DC & V205-T AC/DC TIG
Current (A)
50
100
150
200
250
300
Helium cfh-(l/min)
29 - (14)
29 - (14)
42 - (20)
42-(20)
53 - (25)
53 - (25)