Not enough penetration

by Stian
(Norway)

Hi there! Thanks again for a great site! I have been reading here since December, a few months before I got a hold of my first TIG machine. Since then I've been welding like crazy, thanks for all the tips and tricks! But, I have one question, I've been primarily welding thin SS plates, now I have to weld some 4-6mm mild steel plates, corners, flat welds, and some other different varieties. The problem is that I can't seem to get enough penetration, with a 3/32" electrode and 120-150 amps, 10L/min gas flow, I only have a puddle about 3-4mm wide, and things are going veeery slowly, it seems I can't get enough heat into the metal fast enough. It all results in a very hot part, had not much weld to brag about.

I'm sure you get alot of these questions, but I thought I'd give it a try... Anyway, any tips is greatly appreciated!

The TIG welder I have is a chinese type 160AMP with AC/DC

Thanks again

Stian
Norway


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Stian,

it sounds to me like your issue is amperage.

personally, i have welded quite a bit of steel in the thickness you reference using a Miller Dynasty 200dx and I usually max it out at 200 amps.
Not that i absolutely need all that amperage, but I do want to get the job done and travel as fast as i can to avoid heating the part up too much.

try to use a tight arc length and see if that helps.

if not , its your amperage limitation.

you may have to do multiple passes ,

thnks for the post,

jody