Tig welding stainless and setup with pulse

Hi all,
Ive been reading up on tig welding on the forum and im about to start practicing and welding up about 9 couplings to kegs. I am interested in appropriate pulse settings and couldn't find much on the forum so i thought to start a new thread.

Here is my setup:

I have a thermadyne prowave 185tsw tig welder which ive used on stainless, aluminum, and steel but this is my first attempts at sanitary welds on kegs. I am going to back purge the welds. I will be using:

1/16 Gas Lens
1/16 2% thoriated tungsten electrode
1/16 316L rod
#12 cup.

Wondering if anyone might have any suggestions on amps, argon flow to torch and back purge, and most importantly pulse settings. I havent played a lot with the pulse settings since most of the tig welds i have done are just on mild steel. This is my first attempts so any help would be great!

From what I remember when I welded some 2 inch tubing I had the pulse at about 20 percent on the background or low side and about a .5 second pulse rate which is on the slow side. I was having trouble overheating the 304 I was welding and I found a recommendation in a forum for these settings. I did not really get full penetration but I used short ferules and was able to weld both sides. When I tried to turn it up to get full penetration it was always bumpy on the backside. Not sugared ( back gassed) but not as smooth as I wanted either. Maybe the bumpiness is not a problem but I wonder how guys get a smooth finnish on the backside

Good short video besides other information by the post. YMMV.
http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tig-welding-equipment-pulse.html

thanks! ill will definitely watch the videos and see what i can come up with. im sure a bunch of practice is really going to help with figuring out amps with all the pulse settings options. any advice on back purge flow settings?

i keep my backpurge around 20cfm but thats also cause of the size can i use...and i dont pulse...i use straigt heat and walk the cup at 40

check out my purge set up on proper welding techniques thread

thanks guys!

tigmaster, i have a similar backpurge setup. do you just use masking tape to hook your backpurge can to the stainless part? i think the masking tape is burning a bit and wondering if that is the way to go or should i use foil tape?

just practicing still... trying to get all down before hitting the kegs and couplers.

yeah i just use masking tape...i thread an air fitting into the end of a sapparo beer can and have the weld store put me together a back purge line....about 20-30 bucks...lasts forever...then i tape the can up after i thin disc the very top off and cope a litle to fit inside of keg...then i use a locking tape measure for back up!!!

im goin to build a purge box....custom made for my kegmods..

As far as I have read you should not use filler rod on sanitary welds. Which means you have to design the weld so you don't need filler.

noiz2 said:

As far as I have read you should not use filler rod on sanitary welds. Which means you have to design the weld so you don't need filler.

Click to expand...

on a butt weld on sani tube your correct, but on any fitting like hes trying to do, you use filler. you can just fuse it, but it will be weak.

i never use anything but 3/32 tungsten on everything i make. (btw i tig weld all day building tanks/sanitary tubing/etc) for the last 10 years. so if u got any questions hit me up.

shortyz said:

on a butt weld on sani tube your correct, but on any fitting like hes trying to do, you use filler. you can just fuse it, but it will be weak.

i never use anything but 3/32 tungsten on everything i make. (btw i tig weld all day building tanks/sanitary tubing/etc) for the last 10 years. so if u got any questions hit me up.

Click to expand...

Resurrection from the dead eh?? Not. You specifically. The thread itself.

I'm curious why you tout about using nothing but 3/32 tungsten?

Also, weak or not. Most anything you find that's "sanitary ", I'll even go as far as just stainless steel. (Food oriented) The welds will be autogenous.

the reason i like it is because i dont need to swap out gear if i go from welding some 3/8" plate to doing some 18ga.

Gotcha.
One trick I used to often do, is to use 3/32 running gear and just swap collets and tungsten size to 1/16. Makes switching between the two easy and a bit faster. Yet, then again when you think about it. The changeover really doesn't take that long. Having said that, I use the big ol-fatty gas lenses with a number 12 cup for 99% of the welding I do. I've never tried to do what just mentioned with standard 2 series gear.

Like anything else, it's all about personal comfort and situations we all work with. My welding style was much different when I built commercial food manufacturing equipment then what I do now.


Edit: To add content to the thread.
I personally don't use pulse settings when I weld SS.