Hi, im probably the last person to get round to using my bulk buy tig welder (thanks again calvinx) Tried tig for the first time ever today, went for ally straight away, ive been reading all the threads i can on this subject and would just like to thank the people whove posted so much useful info lately, it was a big help to me today and im sure many others, as i soon got the hang of it after a few runs. Just a case of getting a steady hand now, same problem i have with the mig. There is just 2 things im not certain about,

1-am i right in thinking theres no need to use the slope down current when using the foot pedal

2-i dont really get what id call a ball forming on the end of the tungsten, but the penetration seems good, could it be that im just not quite using as much current as i should, or doesnt the ball matter too much?

Thanks everyone.

[Edited on 20/5/07 by andrew-theasby]

Does the inverter based welder ball the tungsten? I've only seen videos of them welding aluminium but they seem to work with a pointed tungsten and direct the arc better that way

Ok, ill have to give that a try next time. I did read something about that actually, but most the stuff i read suggested grinding it flat then a good burst of current would gert it the right shape, so i went with that. Thanks

My old (non inverter) machine won't ball the tungstens that I am using either, but still seems to weld ok with them "unballed"

As for current, again I have put 190 amps into a 1.6mm tungsten and it still didn't ball, whole thing was white hot but stayed pretty much pointed.

Just round them off before you start on a softpad on your grinder. Go easy as they are very brittle.

What sort of deal did you manage to get on your welder? I wouldn't mind getting an AC set myself.

Theres a few people importing them on ebay quite cheaply. I tried tonight with a dart shaped tip, and dont know if it was me or the tip that was a bit better, but it worked fine anyway, didnt burn away or melt so i think ill go with that from now on