Lincoln Electric IM958 manual Tips for Improved TIG Starting, Stick Crisp Mode Dynamic Current

B-11				OPERATION		B-11
TIPS FOR IMPROVED TIG STARTING					If start power is set within the incremental range
					mode, the machine tries to start electrode positive at a
1. Start Current:					relative setting of 1. If the arc fails to establish it will
					repeat the start sequence each time by incrementing
For the best AC or DC TIG starting characteristics it					the amount of electrode positive energy by 10% (0.1)
may be necessary to adjust the start current on the					up to the start power limit setting or until the arc estab-
front panel depending on the tungsten size. In gener-					lishes. For comparison a start power limit of 2 if
al, larger tungsten requires more energy to establish					reached will have twice the energy of the starting point
an arc than smaller tungsten. As an initial guideline,					of 1. If the tungsten has too much of a ball on it or
set the start current according to the following recom-					appears to be super heating during starts the start
mendations:					power limit can be turned down. In the manual setting
					range, the start power will not keep incrementing up to
Tungsten Size (in.)			Start Current (Amps)		a limit. Instead the start power stays at whatever level
0.020, 0.040 1/16th			6-10 Amps		is set. For example a setting of 0.5 will start the
3/32 th			10-12 Amps		machine with half the normal starting energy of 1.
1/8th			12-15 Amps		STICK CRISP MODE DYNAMIC CURRENT
2. DC Strike Current:
					REGULATION
Aside from start current, DC strike current can also be					When running E6010 electrodes DC Crisp mode is
adjusted from the set-up menu to get a hotter or softer					recommended. The V310-T AC/DC has a special
start when DC TIG welding. Strike current is an initial					dynamic current regulation that is ideal for the whip-
spike of current that lasts a few milliseconds before					ping technique common to E6010 electrodes.The
the machine goes to start current. In general, the fac-					machine regulates the welding current based on
tory default of 15 amps works for most applications. If					changes in arc length. As the arc length is increased
welding on very thin materials with small diameter					and the arc voltage increases, the machine will reduce
tungsten, strike current can be turned down to mini-					its welding current below the set point.	As the arc
mize burning through the weld material. Like-wise for					length is decreased and the arc voltage decreases the
larger diameter tungsten strike current can be turned					machine will increase its current.
up to put more energy in the tungsten.					FIGURE B.8
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
V310-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			Arc Force Control – Arc Force is a setting that helps
	1.2 to 5.0	Incremental setting			reduce sticking the electrode into the weld puddle.
					Increasing the arc force percentage will provide a
					higher boost of current when the electrode is about to
					short into the weld puddle. In Stick Crisp mode since
					the current is dynamically regulated based on the arc
					voltage, shorting the electrode to the work will be rare
					- therefore, adjustments to the arc force percentage
					will not be as noticeable in Stick Crisp mode com-
					pared to Stick Soft mode.

V310-T AC/DC TIG